What a day! (updated 22jul2010)

George Rebane

It’s hard to put all this together.  Dept of Ag staffer Ms Sherrod got unjustly condemned by the NAACP, and then fired by the White House after President Obama was briefed on the matter.  Now after looking at NAACP’s full video, everyone rushed to back pedal, apologize, and then Obama ordered her to be rehired.  Ag Secretary Vilsack spent some considerable time in front of reporters falling on his sword.

Meanwhile the leftwingers in chorus and perfect key blamed the whole thing on Fox News.  If Reagan was identified as the ‘teflon President’, then I don’t think Dupont has yet invented the frictionless cover that can match what Obama has pulled over his administration.

Another revelation today was that Obama’s stimulus monies go to fund only projects that pay the workers union scale whether they belong to a union or not.  This adds an automatic 20% to the taxpayers’ bill, and removes the competitive advantage of union-free companies.  Somehow no one on the left is dunning their media for not reporting this.  It was the White House's discredited Fox News who had to break this story.  Remember Fox News, the outfit that other real news organizations were told to shun, and, apparently the news organization that the White House most listens to if they want to find out what’s really happening out there.

Piling on were the dirt bag members of ‘Journolist’ – the now-shuttered leftwing outfit of ‘opinion based journalists’ who conspired successfully through emails to divert the nation’s attention from  Obama’s relationship with the Rev Wright by publishing arbitrary and scurrilous charges of racism against various Republicans.  Tonight we also heard NPR’s Mara Liasson distinguish that group’s membership to also have ‘objective journalists’.  But they leave it to us to puzzle out who is on first.  Like with Climategate, someone ought to write a book.

All of this makes commentators like me on the internet remind everyone again that we are not journalists.  Journalism has been a self-preening and unexamined fraternity for too long.  The only 'profession' in still lower esteem in the public eye are politicians and the lawyers, cadres of whom are now stumbling over each other rushing to represent Ms Sherrod.  Journalism’s few members who can still stand to look in the mirror should find a new word to describe what they do – calling yourself a journalist will no longer serve.

[22jul2010 update]  Fred Barnes, of JournoList’s cited targets of opportunity, wrote a piece in the 22jul10 WSJ.  His words bear on my recent posts on journalists and support assessments on what the profession has become.  In a telling paragraph Barnes also covers racism, another recent topic on RR.

What was particularly pathetic about the scheme to smear Mr. Obama's critics was labeling them as racists. The accusation has been made so frequently in recent years, without evidence to back it up, that it has little effect. It's now the last refuge of liberal scoundrels.

He concludes that “it was sad to see what journalism, or at least a segment of it, had come to.”

Comments

[Russ Steele]

I heard the panic started at the WH when it was rumored that Ms Sherrod was to appear on his program. It seems someone at the WH is watching FOX, the last real source of news.

It turns out that Ms Sherrod has a deeper history that was first reported. She just sued the Federal government and won $13 million for a group of black farmers. This story will have more legs.

[Michael P. Anderson]

Way too much drama guys. This beltway insider stuff has been boring for going on decades. All I go for is the comedy. When I heard that she was virtually pulled over to the side of the road by the WH, then commanded to text her resignation over her personal digital dashboard (PDD), I let out a huge guffaw!

And now she is all better... [YAWN]

I am going back to gazing upon my naval this evening. Better ROI for sure.

M.

[RL Crabb]

"No,no!" said the Queen. "Sentence first, verdict afterwards."

Lewis Carroll
-from Alice in Wonderland

[Dave C]

I have this feeling Mrs. Sherrod is going to be a very wealthy woman within a couple of years.

[D. King]

“Like with Climategate, someone ought to write a book.”

Funny you mention Climategate, with thousands
of eyes now reviewing policy, their very core
assumptions are being tested and failing miserably.
By bringing race into the mix, I believe they have
inadvertently exposed their underbelly. Now people can
see their ideology and solidly reject it.
We should next move to the environmental community.
Let’s put thousands of eyes on their science and see
if we can help them with the Delta Smelt and Salmon
problem.

[Michael P. Anderson]

"...and see if we can help them with the Delta Smelt and Salmon problem."

What's your plan, D. King? Love to hear it.

[D. King]

Michael P. Anderson

"What's your plan, D. King? Love to hear it."

Step one... Review all the science.
To include methodology, sampling equipment
and calibration records. Review of conclusions
and mitigation plans, but I’m just one guy.
Imagine how much help we can be with hundreds
looking into this.

[Michael P. Anderson]

I don't know any scientists who would have a problem with the kind of oversight you suggest.

But I'm curious about what you perceive to be the "Delta smelt and salmon problem." The only problem I'm aware of is that there aren't enough of 'em. Either because we're eating too many, or their habitat is going away.

[D. King]

“The only problem I'm aware of is that there aren't enough of 'em. Either because we're eating too many, or their habitat is going away.”

That’s why a review is necessary. Let’s
make sure of the numbers first. Should
be easy enough to follow their data
collection plan and duplicate the results.
But in any event, do let us keep the
communication going. Squeaky wheel
gets the oil. Additionally we can do our
due diligence and make sure everything
is on the up and up and we don’t get
hoodwinked.

http://tinyurl.com/27l5t4e

[RL Crabb]

While I would agree that the majority of news media tilts to the left, I'd have to say their record of accomplishing their supposed goal is spotty at best. Five Republican Presidents (if you count the unelected Ford) and three Dems since 1968. The creation of Fox changed everything. It was a stroke of genius for Murdoch, in that he had no competition and a hungry audience.

Fox is pretty much a twenty-four hour commercial for the Republicans. Lately, it has become the elephant's graveyard, where failed candidates and unemployed staffers go to end their careers. Or in some cases, to get some air time in the hope of a new campaign.

[George Rebane]

Bob, from the list of equivalent personages of the left finding employment and outlet on CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, ..., does that mean that we have equivalent 24/7 commercials for the more progressive folks that also served us in Washington?

In any case, given the ratings drawn from Americans who watch news and issue based commentary, that elephants' graveyard is turning out to be a Valhalla on earth. I guess we'll see how many of the dear departed from there will be resurrected into their political lives.

BTW, for readers wishing to follow the Sherrod saga, I have posted the best timeline of events re Fox News that I could find. It is there to receive your tender mercies.

[Todd Juvinall]

What a day is right.

[RL Crabb]

While it would seem natural for Karl Rove and Dana Perrino to go into journalism, I don't think the mainstreamers have hired the people from the top of the ticket, as in Huckabee and Palin. It's obvious they are using their new stations as a platform for 2012. I'm not condemning them, it's just an observation.

[Mikey McD]

Palin proved herself experienced to be President the new fashioned way... she wrote an autobiography! She will continue to have my support for as long as the progressives HATRED of her burns bright.

[Todd Juvinall]

Another good day befins. The left is on the ropes. No cap and tax.

[RL Crabb]

Oops! I misspoke. Although the mainstream cable networks never picked up Walter Mondale's variety show "Where's the Beef?", or "The Al Gore Comedy Hour", leftist of the left MSNBC did hire one ex-presidential candidate...Pat Buchanan.

[Todd Juvinall]

He was on CNN for years.