Osborne Ink || News that's fairly liberal, but never unbalanced.

Noise Machine Takedown

Mar 4, 2010 Faux Noise Channel, Faux Noise™, Jon Stewart, nontroversy

Jon Stewart skewers the Faux Noise fear factory.

ABC: Always Broadcast Controversy

Feb 23, 2010 ABC, ABC News, Jake Tapper, Teh Librul Media™, nontroversy

Sure, no Very Serious Beltway reporter would think to get Arab reaction to a story about public communications aimed at the Arab world. After all, it’s such a chore to chat up the nearest felafel vendor. But would it be too much to ask that ABC not give the right-wing media machine a stovepipe for its smoke?

Answer: of course it’s too much to ask. Here’s how Jake Tapper reported (“EXCLUSIVE!”) last Thursday on Obama’s rebranding of the Iraq war as “Operation New Dawn:”

The move has met with some criticism. In a statement, Brian Wise, executive director of Military Families United said, “You cannot end a war simply by changing its name.  Despite the Administration’s efforts to spin realities on the ground, their efforts do not change the situation at hand in Iraq. Operational military decisions should not be made for purposes of public relations, as the Secretary of Defense cites, but should be made in the best interests of our nation, the  troops on the ground and their families back home.”

Wise should know something about rebranding. “Military Families United” is an astroturf organization related to his better-known project, the “Foundation for the Defense of Democracies,” where he is the Director of Media Relations. FDD is one of those CPAC-welfare agencies supporting otherwise-unemployable neocon mouthpieces like Clifford May. Ironically, FDD used to be Emet, a hardline Israel lobby described thusly at The American Conservative:

In early 2001, a tightly knit group of billionaire philanthropists conceived of a plan to win American sympathy for Israel’s response to the Palestinian intifada. They believed that the Palestinian cause was finding too much support within crucial segments of the American public, particularly within the media and on college campuses, so they set up an organization, Emet: An Educational Initiative, Inc., to offer Israel the kind of PR that the Israeli government seemed unable to provide itself.

At first, Emet floundered, without an executive director or a well-defined mission. But that changed after Sept. 11, and Emet changed too, into what is now the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The name is different, but the goal of influencing America’s opinion-forming classes remains.

What makes all of this possible is the support the foundation receives from its billionaire backers. Its nearly $3 million annual budget comes from 27 major donors, most of whom are members of “the Study Group”–also sometimes called the “Mega Group” because of their sizable contributions–a semi-formal organization of major Jewish philanthropists who meet twice a year to discuss joint projects.

Wise owns the domain for “Military Families United,” where he irregularly criticizes the administration along Cheneyan lines. Other than a connection to Toys For Tots, the website seems to do little else than provide a portal for the usual propaganda:

With the disclosure that two former Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainees worked with accused terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmatallab in an attempt to blow up an American airline, we have the clearest indication yet that the President’s continual release of Guantanamo Bay detainees presents an unacceptable risk to American lives. As a nation, we cannot rely on so-called “reform camps” in places like Saudi Arabia to prevent terrorists from striking again. (Emphasis mine)

Never mind that the releases in question took place under the Bush administration; inconvenient facts are set aside for a good rant. FDD and MFU exist to manufacture nontroversy; and while the Beltway ought to know this (it’s not hard to figure out from a simple Google search) I get the impression folks like Tapper just don’t care.

At some point, the mavens of journalism decided there can be no story without two sides — never mind if one side has nothing to offer but stupid lies and fear. The rules just require a contradictory quote, is all. Because why report straight news without controversy?

And now you see why manufactured outrage — nontroversy — constantly penetrates the media. Tapper’s not alone; CNN uses Wise, too. AC360 actually reported sympathetically on Wise’s unsuccessful attempt to get White House access and repeated his hilarious claim that his organization represents 60,000 families*.

As for rebranding the occupation: as troops draw down and lower their visibility, marking a new phase with a name change is an important part of building a better relationship with Iraqis. The goal is less friction and fewer dead Americans. Al-Fejr al-Jedeed will have far better cultural translation than “Enduring Freedom.” Wise doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about and doesn’t give a rat’s ass about soldiers; he’s a paid hack for an agenda.

Folks, this is Teh Librul Media™ at work. If you can call it “work.”

*For some reason, every conservative front group claims 60,000 as its membership. It’s a leading indicator that you’re looking at fraud.

ADDING: That’s not a picture of Tapper, but of Wise. I’m starting a “ten most wanted astroturfers” list. #1 is Amy Sollenberger; Wise Guy there is number two.

Narcissus Pronoun Nontroversy

Feb 16, 2010 Faux Noise™, Obama smears, Obama's communication strategy, Permanent Campaign, language, nontroversy

In the continuing quest to promote their “narcissist” meme, Faux Noise has been counting the number of times the president uses the first-person singular pronoun in his speeches. Of course, they do this without context or comparison. Mark Lieberman makes quick comparative studies of speeches by Palin and John Boehner and finds (unsurprisingly) that this new line of linguistic attack blows up in their faces:

Satire aside, let me emphasize again my conviction that these numbers are meaningless without further context and analysis, except perhaps as an index of pundits’ idiocy or malice.  Such proportions vary widely with formality, interactivity, and other obvious factors — and there are several different sorts of I and we, as James Pennebaker explains in his post “What is ‘I’ saying?“, 8/9/2009.  But those who think that such counts and rates are a useful measure for one public figure should be honest enough to try the same metric across the board.

Of course, Faux Noise keeps hitting on the idea of Obama’s “permanent campaign” mode as something unprecedented and unnecessary even in the face of their very own 24-7 campaign of noise and nonsense. The White House seems even less interested in the Beltway village than before:

“We ran everything through one strategic filter – how does this help us win the election?” said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, who held the same title during the campaign. “Anything that didn’t help us do that, we didn’t do.”

[...]

The emphasis on impact is reflected in the 10 interviews Obama has chosen to do so far this year – three with high-profile television anchors, including an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric that was broadcast live before the Super Bowl; four interviews with prominent national magazines; a national radio interview; and the online YouTube interview that incorporated questions from the public.

The 10th interview, with the Bloomberg subsidiary Business Week, was the only one the president has done this year with a reporter who regularly covers the White House, a group often more familiar than anchors or other high-wattage interviewers with the daily ups and downs of the president and his policies.

But it’s all grist for the mill, right? Obama controlling his message is “controlling the press oh noes!” and his speeches are narcissistic because, well, just because. And our permanent campaign to fill our viewers’ heads with bullshit is no reason for the president to step up his game. See how that works?

Crying Wolf

Feb 12, 2010 11-Dimensional Chess, Financial Reform, Huffington Post, nontroversy

I’ve had quite enough of Simon Johnson sounding the alarm over Obama’s nuances. This is ridiculous — an artificial Bloomberg-HuffPo panic. The quotes that set off an overnight sensation:

Bloomberg today reports President Obama as commenting on the $17 million bonus for Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and the $9 million bonus for Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs,

I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,

and

I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.

Taken separately, these statements are undeniably true. But put them together in the context of the Bloomberg story – we have to wait until Friday for the full text of the interview – and the White House has a major public relations disaster on its hands.

Really? Downplaying personalities and saying “I’m not here to undo the free-market economy” are, what, an admission that he won’t install Teh Global Socializms™ with finance reform?

Obama has been extraordinarily consistent on the overall picture of that reform: a consumer finance protection agency, a “living will” for firms that are too big, and better rules on fancy accounting tricks with large sums of imaginary money. All of this requires legislation, and said legislation must pass through the prerequisite constitutional sausage-factory. In other words, Obama has been the opposite of his right-wing image. His stand on reform in the SOTU:

Now, one place to start is serious financial reform. Look, I am not interested in punishing banks. I’m interested in protecting our economy. A strong, healthy financial market makes it possible for businesses to access credit and create new jobs. It channels the savings of families into investments that raise incomes. But that can only happen if we guard against the same recklessness that nearly brought down our entire economy.

We need to make sure consumers and middle-class families have the information they need to make financial decisions. (Applause.) We can’t allow financial institutions, including those that take your deposits, to take risks that threaten the whole economy.

Now, the House has already passed financial reform with many of these changes. (Applause.) And the lobbyists are trying to kill it. But we cannot let them win this fight. (Applause.) And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back until we get it right. We’ve got to get it right. (Applause.)

This marked his very first threat to write legislation with a veto pen. I’m going to disagree with Paul Krugman too: Obama knows that baseball players didn’t cause the near-depression. Which is why Obama keeps saying things like this:

I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.

In other words, I am not here to install Teh Global Socializms™. The right wants to define Obama as a class warrior; he is resisting the meme. Which leads us to the Gibbs presser yesterday:

“The president doesn’t have a different view on bonuses yesterday than he had ten days ago or ten months ago,” Gibbs said. “Ensuring that bonuses are paid in that way is a movement in the right direction. Does that justify the level of these bonuses when only through the taxpayer’s assistance would these banks exist? Of course not.”

In a way, this has worked to Obama’s advantage by keeping the spotlight on financial reform and off of health care reform. But would the left-wing media conspiracy please stop crying wolf? We’re the guys who are supposed to understand nuance. We’re not the reactionaries. M’kay?

Sarahpalooza! II: Convention Crashing

Feb 8, 2010 Morning Video, Samsara of Wacky™, Sarah Palin's poltical future, Sarahpalooza, Teh Train Wreck™, The Teabag Terror, nontroversy

The revolution will be monetized.

Sorry about the audio quality at two points; there’s nothing I can do until such time as Teh Evil Plan™ sees fit to cut me a fat check to buy better equipment.

If you haven’t read my account of what happened as we tried to leave, you should.

Here’s the first Sarahpalooza for comparison:

Great Point

Jan 31, 2010 Citizens United, nontroversy

It’s hilarious when Republicans mutter about politesse and complain about “lecturing.” Jamie Holly of Intoxination puts the kibosh on the “Obama shouldn’t attack the Supreme Court!” meme:

The Constitution specifically sets up three equal branches of government. The very basis of what the Supreme Court does is criticizing the other two branches. As matter of fact this very case is an example of that. They criticized law enacted by the other two branches by overturning it. That’s the very basis of how our system works. So acting like Obama violated some sort of rule or protocol is showing that you don’t understand the very bedrock of our form of government. Now if we can get Democratic operatives to call them out on this, then we will be doing great. (Emphasis mine)

I say the Dems should start there and then call out the GOP for judicial activism.

Manufacturing Nontroversy

Jan 29, 2010 ACORN, Breitbart, James O'Keefe, nontroversy

Everyone wants to know whether Andrew Breitbart was involved in “Whodatgate,” the attempted wiretapping of a Senator in a Federal building. I say this is not mysterious; of course Brietbart is involved. After all, he admits to paying O’Keefe a salary (or “life rights,” whatever those are); and James O’Keefe hasn’t produced any new content for Brietbart’s BigGovernment.com since November, when he posted the last of the ACORN videos.

Basically, O’Keefe needed a new scoop. For some reason, he got the bright idea to involve himself in a really stupid scheme to access the phone lines of a federal building — an act that has resulted in the 25-year old being ordered to live with his parents while awaiting trial. Perhaps that is the most fitting punishment he could have received, since he evidently hasn’t finished growing up.

And poor Andrew, who has basically spent his entire life riding on the work of others, was going broke without a big source of traffic. After all, Victoria Jackson will only get you so many page loads. He needed a big score — a Drudge link. Which brings us to the excuse the defendant’s lawyer gave the AP, which Breitbart then dutifully reported as “news:”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator’s phones were just trying to record embarrassing undercover video of her staff ignoring phone calls from constituents angry that she supported health care reform, one of their attorneys said Thurday.

The four, including activist James O’Keefe, known for posing as a pimp and using a hidden camera to target the community-organizing group ACORN, were arrested Monday after targeting Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in a New Orleans federal building.

Attorney J. Garrison Jordan denied they were trying to disable or wiretap the phones in Landrieu’s office.

“You’re dealing with kids,” he said. “I don’t think they thought it through that far.”

Instead, Jordan said, they hoped to get embarrassing video footage of Landrieu’s staff handling constituent calls. Her office received complaints last month that callers opposed to her health care stance couldn’t get through.

Really? Callers couldn’t get through to a busy office in December, when everyone’s on Christmas vacation? Really? Scandal! Stop the presses! These lovable kids are heroes!

Just one question: why would they need to access the phone closet to do that, when you can just as easily hook up $20 worth of Radio Shack gear and record the phone calls from home?

Ponder that a minute, because it’s absolutely true. It’s also perfectly legal. Brietbart only made speculation worse with his epic breakdown on MSNBC yesterday:

Breitbart later posted an angry admission that he’d done no homework on Shuster prior to the interview. Unintentional hilarity is his forte:

So when MSNBC led the charge on Tuesday against James O’Keefe when he and three others were arrested in New Orleans at Senator Landrieu’s office, it came as no surprise that the cable network seized upon a narrative that presumed O’Keefe’s guilt, falsely extrapolated that he was being charged with felony wiretapping and instantaneously coined and repeated endlessly the new buzz phase, “Watergate Jr.”

It’s not Watergate junior, it’s Whodatgate. And oddly enough, Breitbart once hosted an entire series of dishonestly-edited and dubbed videos calculated to attack the reputation of a community service organization, then went on national television to suggest they contained evidence of criminal activity — and never once opined that Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity ought not to presume as they pleased.

Breitbart and O’Keefe were up to something, but it wasn’t journalism. They were out to make the news — to manufacture nontroversy. It bit them in the ass, and that is all.

Your Daily Dose of Nontroversy

Dec 23, 2009 Breitbart, Christmas, Obama Derangement Syndrome, nontroversy

When Nontroversy Dies

Dec 18, 2009 Michael Goldfarb, Obama smears, nontroversy, wingnutosphere

Who Paid For SwiftHack?

Dec 9, 2009 global warming, nontroversy