Category: Blogs

I happen to know why too… but first:

Via Politico:

More people are getting their news about the upcoming election from cable television than any other source, and from Fox News more than any other cable channel, according to a POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll released Monday.

The poll found that 81 percent of those polled get their news about the midterm elections from cable channels, like Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, or their websites, compared with 71 percent from national network news channels, such as ABC, NBC or CBS, and their websites.

Among cable news channels, Fox was the clear winner, with 42 percent of respondents saying it is their main source, compared with 30 percent who cited CNN and 12 percent who rely on MSNBC.

The results show the growing influence that 24-hour cable news has on shaping the political consciousness, despite the fact that network newscasts still draw many multiples of the number of viewers of even the highest-rated cable news shows.

“Because people can tune into cable at any time of day, I think the cumulative audience is probably larger than the cumulative audience for the three network news shows,” said Chris Arterton, dean of the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

The real funny part about this, is the following:

Fox’s opinionated personalities were also rated as having the greatest positive impact on the political debate in the country. Bill O’Reilly was rated as having, by far, the greatest positive impact, with 49 percent of respondents rating him positively, and 32 percent negatively.

Glenn Beck was the second most-positively rated personality, with 38 percent of respondents saying he had a positive impact, and 32 percent saying he had a negative impact.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was the third-most-positively ranked, with 36 percent saying he has a positive impact on the discourse, but his negatives far outweighed his positives, with 52 percent saying he has a negative impact.

“To some extent, Limbaugh has become almost a caricature in a way, so I don’t know how much influence he has beyond entertainment value,” Arteron said. “Whereas, in some way, the other people on Fox are seen as more legitimate news operations.”

MSNBC’s personalities were largely ranked as unknown by respondents: 70 percent said they had never heard of Ed Schultz, 55 percent said they had never heard of Rachel Maddow and 42 percent said they had never heard of Keith Olbermann.

The reason?

(Borrowed from Weasel Zippers)

There is a personal angle to this story and I am going to share it with you.  During the 1990’s, I was a watcher of CNN, mainly because that was about the only cable news outlet out there at the time.  Please keep in mind that back on those days, I was very unaware or unconcerned about media bias.  I always knew that the media, which I referred to, at the time, as the “secular media”; always had a bias against Christianity, Christians and the Church World as a whole.

However, I really do not know when it started really, most likely, after the election of George W. Bush; but it seemed like the bias and antagonistic mentality towards Christians, Christianity, and the Church World began to come to a feverish pitch around 2006 or so.  At least, that is when I began to notice it with any somewhat real cognizant effort.   The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, is when CNN did a special called “What is a Christian?”  Which I felt was a purposeful attack on Christianity in general.  However, when they did a special on Muslims, it was titled “God’s Warriors.”  That is when I decided that CNN had “Crossed the Rubicon” in my book.  So, I switched to MSNBC.  I knew that MSNBC would be a bit like CNN, but they had tucker Carlson on there.  Therefore, that would balance it out.  I remembered tucker from the CNN days —- I also remember him being a bit of an asshole as well. I knew about his background, which admittedly made me cringe a bit. However, when I began watch his show, I found that I actually began agreeing with what he was saying.  I should also point out, that this was around the time, that I began blogging.  I was inspired, mainly by Lou Dobbs and with an utter frustration with what the Bush Administration was doing in Iraq.

However, things over at MSNBC began to change; first off, Tucker’s show was cancelled, that just flat out angered me.  I thought Tucker’s show balanced out the other opinions, like Olbermann. Then the jockeying of talent around, all of whom had one thing in common — They were all liberal.  That bothered me a bit. Therefore, I did what any sane, reasoned person would do.  I began to watch Fox News — in a very limited fashion at first.  I would watch Keith Obermann’s show at eight o’clock and then I would catch the repeat of Bill O’Reilly’s show at Eleven o’clock.

I should also mention that around this time, is when I began to see the writing on wall, so to speak, in the Democratic Party.  The Party that once stood for middle class people and people like me, who were held back, due to personal circumstances, was becoming the party of identity politics. I also began to see that the Democratic Party was much biased and geared against middle class and above white people —- like me.  Yes, I am aware, that identity politics and gender entitlement always was a faction within the Democratic Party.  However, until the 2007 Primary, I do not believe that it was the “mainstay” of that party.  In 2007, that all changed, with the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; it was the blacks against the feminists and that was when I decided that enough was enough.  Also around this time, my blog was hacked and I had to start over from scratch and I decided that cheering for the left; even though I was a left-of-center and not really ever a fully-fledged Democrat — was an exercise in abject folly.  Therefore, I began blogging from an Independent standpoint and as time went on, I found myself agreeing more and more with the right on most, if not all issues.

Now there are some issues that I am in disagreement with, however, they are nothing worth totally separating me from the right.  Most of them are on the framing of arguments against the left.  Example: Socialism and Unions —- I believe it to be a credible argument to say that socialism has contributed to the downfall of Michigan and the Detroit area.  Further, I believe it to be a legitimate argument to say that the Unions have added to the cost of vehicles offered by the auto companies.  The problem is that the right needs to work on the polish and verbiage of those legitimate arguments.  Casting unions in the light of some covert Communist operation does nothing but make the right look like total buffoons.

Finally, my viewing of MSNBC finally stopped, after a woman by the name of Janeane Garofalo took to the airwaves on MSNBC and declared on Keith Olbermann’s show that the Tea Party movement was nothing more than a bunch of racist white people and racist rednecks.  It was at that point, when I decided, that Keith Olbermann and his show were not something that I felt that I needed to watch any longer.  I am sorry, but when you use your show and one of your guests as a proxy to insult a particular ethnic group of people — especially one that I happen to be involved in — you are practicing the politics of exclusion; and that is, I am afraid, not something that I can and will ever support.  The Bush Administration tried this back in 2003, during the run up to and after the start of the Iraq War.  Those that were opposed to the war in Iraq were labeled by the Bush Administration and its supporters as Anti-American.  Conversely, it is believed by some, that certain persons within the Bush Administration purposely derailed the career of a covert C.I.A. agent of whom husband did criticize the decision to go to war.

This all again, is the practice of derisive politics, something I thought that the left detested; however, it seems that the left engaged in the same sorts of folly themselves — Not only in just the general politics itself, but also in the media coverage — but also in the actually reporting of news as well.  I remember well how Keith Olbermann and many of his fellow liberals liked and still do like to blast Fox News for allow opinion to seep into the normal news programs in the morning.  However, I have watched MSNBC, and have seen liberal bias in the morning news reporting there as well.  Therefore, to this writer, that nullifies any argument that the left has against Fox News or any other sort of Conservative outlet.  I mean, it only makes sense that you cannot criticize someone for doing something that you do yourself.  Then again, common sense does not seem to be in great abundance in liberal Democrat circles these days.  Just look at whom the Democratic Party installed as President — that ought to speak volumes as to the condition of liberalism, and the Democratic Party in general in this modern day and age.  I mean a perfect example of the elite liberal establishment can be seen, when Bill Maher calls those who do not want the nationalized heathcare, as stupid.  This is the attitude of the liberal populace and establishment as a whole; that most Americans are uneducated stupid people, who must have the enlightened ones makes the decisions, because most Americans are too stupid to know what it good for them — that is essentially liberalism distilled to its basic parts.  This is why I sided against them.  They do not trust people like me, to be able to make our own decisions.  Further, they wish to quell my free will, which is given to me, by God himself, to accept or reject what it is that they wish to foist upon me.

In closing of this rather long article — I am quite the windbag, when I want to be — the reason for these dismal ratings for MSNBC is that that network has and is continuing to engage in intellectual dishonesty.  This began right after the election of President Barack Obama.  This should be proof that you just cannot propagandize the American people — not for very long anyhow.  Americans are just smarter than the liberal elite and some elite among the Conservative establishment, give them credit for being.  Americans just have that uncanny ability to know when they are being sold a line of tripe.

This friends, is what makes us a great Nation and for this, I am eternally grateful.