To the Media: You’re in Trouble

 

Ann Dorn

Working out at the gym this morning, I decided to torture myself watching one of the cable networks on TV. It was clear that MSNBC was following its usual agenda of attacking Donald Trump after his speech last night. Their game plan was to “fact check” the things he said. I don’t normally watch the station, but I was puzzled, then hopeful that their reporting might make a positive difference—for Republicans.

The first thing I noticed is that they weren’t fact-checking. They were weeding out the hopeful statements that Trump was making about the future. For example, they ridiculed his comment that there would be a vaccine by the end of the year—maybe even before then. Since I assume that they don’t use a crystal ball to conduct their fact-checking, why would they call that a lie? Do they know something that the rest of us don’t know?

Also included in their “fact-checking” was his saying that electing Joe Biden would lead to a dark future. And I guess they think they know otherwise. Really? Maybe they’re not peering into a crystal ball, but using tarot cards instead.

They also didn’t like his characterization of the riots all over the country; after all, they have deluded themselves into believing that they don’t amount to much.

Finally, they criticized Ann Dorn who spoke at the convention last night; she is the widow of David Dorn who was killed protecting a friend’s business. Why did they criticize her? The media discovered that she was a conservative who was willing to speak at the convention, and her husband was a Democrat. David Dorn’s family said he would not have approved of her action.

Okay. There’s a fact problem, right?

There are many more examples, but as long as I could stomach that segment, I don’t recall their identifying any lies. None.

And why does all this matter?

It suggests a few possibilities for the election and the future of this country. First, the media/Left know they’re in trouble. They criticized the dark picture that Pres. Trump presented of Joe Biden for the future; otherwise most of Trump’s speech was positive and optimistic. Who wants optimism? The people in this country want it. They’ve wanted it for a while, and the Democrats and the media only want to present hopelessness.

Second, even MSNBC fans might be smart enough to figure out that the fact-checking is different from the opinions of Donald Trump. And that it’s the same old stuff they’ve been presenting for the last four years. Fact-checking amounts to, “Well, we don’t like this stuff, and you don’t like this stuff, so you will like our presenting this stuff because you hate Donald Trump like we do.” Certainly, some people will jump on board as they always do.

But then people know little about Joe Biden today. What are his programs and policies? Do we want more taxes? Do we want more socialistic legislation? Do we trust that he will ever come out of his basement? Or if elected, will he govern from there?

I think slowly and quietly the larger public is realizing that Joe Biden is not a wise choice. And they may dislike, even hate, Donald Trump. But one thing they can say about the President is that he is transparent. He puts all his cards on the table. You know what he thinks.

And he won’t govern from his basement.

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  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Biden won’t “govern” any longer than it takes to say “25th Amendment.”

    • #1
  2. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    “Lies” to the Mainstream Media and Democrats, but I repeat myself, now means “any statement that does not conform to the narrative or makes our side look bad.”

    • #2
  3. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Susan Quinn: There are many more examples, but as long as I could stomach that segment, I don’t recall their identifying any lies. None.

    If there were any, they would have used them. A segment so weak it refutes itself.

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I keep thinking of those independents and those dems concerned about Joe’s mental (and physical!) health. Where they might have just pulled the lever for “anyone but Trump,” I think they’ll now consider, “anyone but Biden.”

    • #4
  5. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Arahant (View Comment):

    “Lies” to the Mainstream Media and Democrats, but I repeat myself, now means “any statement that does not conform to the narrative or makes our side look bad.”

    This^^^. 

    Just as any opinion differing from the most recent leftist declaration is “hate.”

    • #5
  6. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Our local leftist “news” station has a fact check section. I read their fact check of Trump’s speech against their fact check of Biden’s speech last week. It was as expected. Everything Trump said was either totally false, partially false, taken out of context, etc. Nothing Biden said was false, totally or otherwise. Nothing! The fact that there are still people out there that don’t see the one sidedness of the news amazes me. 

    • #6
  7. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Blondie (View Comment):

    Our local leftist “news” station has a fact check section. I read their fact check of Trump’s speech against their fact check of Biden’s speech last week. It was as expected. Everything Trump said was either totally false, partially false, taken out of context, etc. Nothing Biden said was false, totally or otherwise. Nothing! The fact that there are still people out there that don’t see the one sidedness of the news amazes me.

    It does me, too, @blondie. After all this time, I’m so frustrated that I can’t discuss news of the day with close friends on the Left. I refuse to talk to people who are ill-informed. When I point things out to one friend, she just shrugs her shoulders. These times are too important to not do your homework. And if a person doesn’t do that, I have nothing to say to them. At least in the area of politics.

    I’ve been meaning to write on this: I swear the WSJ is less left-leaning lately. Since one of the Murdoch sons was kicked out (he was very far left), the tone is shifting; headlines are less biased. Anyone else notice this shift?

    • #7
  8. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Susan Quinn: Finally, they criticized Ann Dorn who spoke at the convention last night; she is the widow of David Dorn who was killed protecting a friend’s business. Why did they criticize her? The media discovered that she was a conservative who was willing to speak at the convention, and her husband was a Democrat. David Dorn’s family said he would not have approved of her action.

    Someone needs to “fact check” what “David Dorn’s family” said. Was not Ann part of the family? More division and disinformation. 

    • #8
  9. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    @susanquinn, I have a friend who does the same thing. The rest of us try to get her to just not vote if she’s not going to bother to be informed. 

    I don’t read the WSJ, but have heard the same thing from others, recently. 

    • #9
  10. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Rodin (View Comment):
    Someone needs to “fact check” what “David Dorn’s family” said. Was not Ann part of the family? More division and disinformation. 

    I don’t think any of them realize how racist the comment was–or could have been. Since she was not black. I wonder if the media sought out the family, or if the family sought out the media. Either way, the woman is entitled to her opinion and the actions she chooses to make. She said nothing about her husband’s beliefs. Or maybe her speaking out is not appropriate for a woman without her husband. Love that one!

    • #10
  11. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Blondie (View Comment):
    Someone needs to “fact check” what “David Dorn’s family” said. Was not Ann part of the family? More division and disinformation. 

    I’m dying to know how my friend plans to vote. But I can’t bring myself to bring up politics. It would be really rude to say, “Please tell me who you’re going to vote for, but that’s all I want to know or discuss.”

    So glad that others are also seeing the change in the WSJ! Thanks!

    • #11
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    So glad that others are also seeing the change in the WSJ! Thanks!

    Maybe this would be a good time to subscribe.  The nearest local paper is not delivered in my area.

    • #12
  13. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    So glad that others are also seeing the change in the WSJ! Thanks!

    Maybe this would be a good time to subscribe. The nearest local paper is not delivered in my area.

    We no longer get the local papers; both of them were ridiculously left. We do get the Sunday Orlando paper (my husband likes the comics and Parade, what’s left of it, and I get two crosswords including the NYT). We also get for a very small price their online news, where I get the crossword and other puzzles.

    The WSJ hasn’t come all the way back, but it is a lot better!

    • #13
  14. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Susan Quinn: And they may dislike, even hate, Donald Trump. But one thing they can say about the President is that he is transparent. He puts all his cards on the table. You know what he thinks.

    VP Pence, First Lady Melania, and number one daughter, right-hand woman Ivanka Trump all made this point. So did Mitch McConnell and a couple others, more briefly, I think. This was worth addressing as they did. President Trump should do a speech on this or build it into his standard daily strump speech patter with a self-deprecating grin.

    Maybe even take the old civil rights tune as a cue: “It isn’t nice.” 

    • #14
  15. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: And they may dislike, even hate, Donald Trump. But one thing they can say about the President is that he is transparent. He puts all his cards on the table. You know what he thinks.

    VP Pence, First Lady Melania, and number one daughter, right-hand woman Ivanka Trump all made this point. So did Mitch McConnell and a couple others, more briefly, I think. This was worth addressing as they did. President Trump should do a speech on this or build it into his standard daily strump speech patter with a self-deprecating grin.

    Maybe even take the old civil rights tune as a cue: “It isn’t nice.”

    I think he has mentioned it in passing, but I think making it a regular part of his comments is a very good idea. We never know what we’ll get from Biden.

    • #15
  16. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Short answer: “They don’t care”.  They’ve chosen to write (and speak) strictly for themselves and the lunatic fringe.  Each day’s edition (and show) provides more evidence.

    I was leafing through today’s Columbus Dispatch (on my way to the comics) when I went through the Opinion Section.  One piece was boldly headlined, “If You Don’t Know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens You are a Racist.”  After reading the headline twice, I glanced at the small bio of the writer.  She is an editorial writer for the Philadelphia newspaper.  Needless to say I didn’t read the piece (even though, yes, I do know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens).

    Shoddy writing such as this is now a staple of U.S. journalism.  I believe that each day our current crop of second rate Sociology and English majors (that call themselves “journalists”) feel compelled to top their peers when it comes to ludicrous left wing pap.

    It’s one thing to jump the shark but today’s “journalists” are clearing it in their street shoes…

     

    • #16
  17. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    Short answer: “They don’t care”. They’ve chosen to write (and speak) strictly for themselves and the lunatic fringe. Each day’s edition (and show) provides more evidence.

    I was leafing through today’s Columbus Dispatch (on my way to the comics) when I went through the Opinion Section. One piece was boldly headlined, “If You Don’t Know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens You are a Racist.” After reading the headline twice, I glanced at the small bio of the writer. She is an editorial writer for the Philadelphia newspaper. Needless to say I didn’t read the piece (even though, yes, I do know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens).

    Shoddy writing such as this is now a staple of U.S. journalism. I believe that each day our current crop of second rate Sociology and English majors (that call themselves “journalists”) feel compelled to top their peers when it comes to ludicrous left wing pap.

    It’s one thing to jump the shark but today’s “journalists” are clearing it in their street shoes…

     

    Part of it is ignorance. Part of it is click-bait.

    • #17
  18. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Finally, they criticized Ann Dorn who spoke at the convention last night; she is the widow of David Dorn who was killed protecting a friend’s business. Why did they criticize her? The media discovered that she was a conservative who was willing to speak at the convention, and her husband was a Democrat. David Dorn’s family said he would not have approved of her action.

    Someone needs to “fact check” what “David Dorn’s family” said. Was not Ann part of the family? More division and disinformation.

    Everything from MSM comes with a slant nowadays.

    • #18
  19. JamesSalerno Inactive
    JamesSalerno
    @JamesSalerno

    The fact checkers are getting desperate. I’ve seen some of these warriors fact check Dorn’s family. “They’re not really Republicans!” which doesn’t matter, and entirely misses the point. Pathetic.

    They also fact-checked the claim that Trump’s three year old grandson built the Lego White House on his own. I’m with them here. As someone who has built many a Lego set in his day, there’s no way a three year old built that! But I digress… we are witnessing widespread societal collapse and Lego sets should be very low on the list of priorities.

    • #19
  20. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):
    They also fact-checked the claim that Trump’s three year old grandson built the Lego White House on his own. I’m with them here

    Hey! Aren’t parents allowed to help with those demanding projects?? Just sayin’ . . .   ;-)

    • #20
  21. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Arahant (View Comment):

    “Lies” to the Mainstream Media and Democrats, but I repeat myself, now means “any statement that does not conform to the narrative or makes our side look bad.”

    Another addition to the Lexicon.

    • #21
  22. Locke On Member
    Locke On
    @LockeOn

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    Short answer: “They don’t care”. They’ve chosen to write (and speak) strictly for themselves and the lunatic fringe. Each day’s edition (and show) provides more evidence.

    I was leafing through today’s Columbus Dispatch (on my way to the comics) when I went through the Opinion Section. One piece was boldly headlined, “If You Don’t Know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens You are a Racist.” After reading the headline twice, I glanced at the small bio of the writer. She is an editorial writer for the Philadelphia newspaper. Needless to say I didn’t read the piece (even though, yes, I do know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens).

    Shoddy writing such as this is now a staple of U.S. journalism. I believe that each day our current crop of second rate Sociology and English majors (that call themselves “journalists”) feel compelled to top their peers when it comes to ludicrous left wing pap.

    It’s one thing to jump the shark but today’s “journalists” are clearing it in their street shoes…

     

    Why are you giving the Dispatch your money?  These ‘journalists’ aren’t going to change, and the way to get rid of them is to crash their business model.  Don’t subsidize your enemies!

    • #22
  23. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    JamesSalerno (View Comment):
    They also fact-checked the claim that Trump’s three year old grandson built the Lego White House on his own. I’m with them here

    Hey! Aren’t parents allowed to help with those demanding projects?? Just sayin’ . . . ;-)

    They are obviously deprived people – they never had the joy of either having a dad help them do a Lego set or do one with their child (most often a boy.) Two boys – a grown up boy and a little boy – at a table or on the floor close next to each other doing the model, talking only a little but loving being together. It’s the only way. 

    • #23
  24. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Locke On (View Comment):

    CACrabtree (View Comment):

    Short answer: “They don’t care”. They’ve chosen to write (and speak) strictly for themselves and the lunatic fringe. Each day’s edition (and show) provides more evidence.

    I was leafing through today’s Columbus Dispatch (on my way to the comics) when I went through the Opinion Section. One piece was boldly headlined, “If You Don’t Know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens You are a Racist.” After reading the headline twice, I glanced at the small bio of the writer. She is an editorial writer for the Philadelphia newspaper. Needless to say I didn’t read the piece (even though, yes, I do know Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens).

    Shoddy writing such as this is now a staple of U.S. journalism. I believe that each day our current crop of second rate Sociology and English majors (that call themselves “journalists”) feel compelled to top their peers when it comes to ludicrous left wing pap.

    It’s one thing to jump the shark but today’s “journalists” are clearing it in their street shoes…

     

    Why are you giving the Dispatch your money? These ‘journalists’ aren’t going to change, and the way to get rid of them is to crash their business model. Don’t subsidize your enemies!

    Every once in awhile, they have some local news that I pay attention to…plus the comics…

    • #24
  25. Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw Member
    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw
    @MattBalzer

    Blondie (View Comment):

    Our local leftist “news” station has a fact check section. I read their fact check of Trump’s speech against their fact check of Biden’s speech last week. It was as expected. Everything Trump said was either totally false, partially false, taken out of context, etc. Nothing Biden said was false, totally or otherwise. Nothing! The fact that there are still people out there that don’t see the one sidedness of the news amazes me.

    Biden would’ve had to say something that contained a fact before they could.

    • #25
  26. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    The Democratic Party may have a false notion of how popular Biden actually is within the party. My son mentioned that halfway through the primaries this year, when Biden bombed some public appearance that should have disqualified him (I’ve forgotten which one), many Democrats had already mailed in their primary ballots. 

    It will be interesting to watch the election returns for the Democrats this year. 

    • #26
  27. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    MarciN (View Comment):

    The Democratic Party may have a false notion of how popular Biden actually is within the party. My son mentioned that halfway through the primaries this year, when Biden bombed some public appearance that should have disqualified him (I’ve forgotten which one), many Democrats had already mailed in their primary ballots.

    It will be interesting to watch the election returns for the Democrats this year.

    Except the people who don’t bother to go out, who would otherwise have voted for the Dem candidate, how do you count those?

    • #27
  28. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    I’ve been meaning to write on this: I swear the WSJ is less left-leaning lately. Since one of the Murdoch sons was kicked out (he was very far left), the tone is shifting; headlines are less biased. Anyone else notice this shift?

    The WSJ’s news pages have been left-leaning since the 1960s, while the op-ed page has remained conservative for the most part, under Dow Jones and now under the Murdochs. Lachlin may look aghast at some of the things it prints as much as he gets irked by Fox News’ prime-time lineup, but gets that without the op-ed page being what it is, the Journal would simply become The New York Times, with a better business section.

    Younger brother James, in contrast, is so woke Rupert tried to peddle him off to Bob Iger at Disney when they sold 20th Century Fox and the non-news cable channels before kicking him out of the company. James even got a ‘shut up’ recently from Lachlan, as did the WSJ’s newsroom, when emboldened by the Times’ newsroom’s success in purging the op-ed department for heresy over running the Tom Cottom op-ed, the Journal’s reporters tried to pressure the Murdochs into doing the same thing. It failed, and AFAIK, none of the SJW staffers have resigned in protest since then.

    • #28
  29. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    One unanswered question I’d love to know is what did the Democrats’ internal polling show prior to their convention, and what did it show after it was over?

    There’s no question the Dems and their allies in the media have been scrambling at least since Tuesday to figure out how to deal with the apparent move of swing voters towards Trump, because they see him as more willing to take on the rioting, looting and arson that’s been rampant in Blue cities of Blue states (or states with Democratic governors) since late May. Did the Democrats not even poll for that prior to their convention, and that’s why it wasn’t mentioned once (nor was China) in four days? Or did the Democrats and Biden’s refusal to say anything over four days irk swing voters, to the point they started moving away from Joe this past weekend, and that’s what was reflected in the polls that started the Dems’ freak-out on Tuesday.

    I’d be shocked if opinions changed that fast, rather than the negative opinion of the Democrats’ refusal to say or do anything about the rioting building up over the past two months, as it became more and more clear the riots had nothing do with George Floyd’s death. But if that’s the case, that indicates an incredible amount of hubris on Team Biden’s part, in that they really thought they and the protestors had spun/intimidated swing voters into blaming Trump for Blue city chaos, and there was no need to do any pre-convention polling to see if that was actually true, then were stunned by reality when Joe got a negative bounce from the convention, and learned the reason why.

    • #29
  30. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn: Finally, they criticized Ann Dorn who spoke at the convention last night; she is the widow of David Dorn who was killed protecting a friend’s business. Why did they criticize her? The media discovered that she was a conservative who was willing to speak at the convention, and her husband was a Democrat. David Dorn’s family said he would not have approved of her action.

    Someone needs to “fact check” what “David Dorn’s family” said. Was not Ann part of the family? More division and disinformation.

    Everything from MSM comes with a slant nowadays.

    And, every day, the MSM moves closer to “The Babylon Bee” when it comes to their content.  In today’s local newspaper (owned by Gannett) there was a headline “Sen. Paul alleges ‘angry mob’ attack”.  In the story there was a line of text that read, in part, “Sen. Rand Paul…claimed without evidence Friday that he had been ‘attacked by an angry mob’…”  

    This sort of “reporting”, from the AP, is inexcusable.  However, it is just another example of the daily spewing of leftist trash that we have come to expect.  Goebbels would be so proud…

    • #30
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