Broadcast

The NPR show, Freakonomics, thinks that the best way to improve our political system is to do away with our two political parties [link]. Yeah, right. Such a solution only makes sense if you totally ignore what each party stands for - which of course is what Freakonomics does.

I also admire the total lack of alternative opinions from maybe elected officials, etc. The party that passed Obama Care is not the same as the party that gave tax cuts to billionaires:

“The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, was passed in 2010 with zero Republican votes in Congress. President Trump’s 2018 tax-reform bill? Zero Democratic votes.“

To ignore the obvious differing agendas suggests an obvious agenda on the part of Freakonomics.

Absolutely incredible finale to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Starts at 21m: https://youtu.be/UN8bJb8biZU

Why can't Mara Liasson just go back to Fox? In today's episode of 'All Things Considered' her perspective was entirely GOPer certified. All she could come up with while discussing the political chances of Elizabeth Warren was doom for the lefties:

"...there is a real undercurrent of worry that she is too far left to beat Donald Trump in a general election."

She then proceeded to misrepresent Warren's policy goals claiming they were "2-to-1 unpopular with general election voters". Yeah, right. And then to show her complete bias, she refused to take Warren's joke at the LGBTQ forum for what it was, namely a joke -- despite the burst of laughter from the audience.

Sorry to hear of the passing of Cokie Roberts. Honestly the biggest impression she made on me was the bothsiderism of her reporting and the upset reaction of progressive blogs throughout the aughts and teens. (See Cokie's Law or DailyKos.com.)

NPR may call its segment on the Clinton Foundation 'fact checking' but it sounded to me like the good old days of unsubstantiated rumor leading to nothing:

"Fact Check: Is The Clinton Foundation 'The Most Transparent'?"

First, it's not clear correspondent Peter Overby really is looking at how other Foundations are run.

Equally important, the so-called 'transcript' omits the final sentence of the broadcast version which goes:

Peter Overby: "So at least as things stand now, the Clinton Foundation "transparency controversy" [sic] resembles some of the other episodes of Clinton politics: It's a picture that's not terribly clear, shaped by exaggerations on both sides." (Check out the mp3 file).

So the line about "other episodes of Clinton politics" isn't included in the "transcript". Interesting... I wonder why.

The Bloomberg editorial ('Romney’s Tax Plan: Secret or Just Nonsensical?') reminds us that we've been down the road of Bad Math before:

Actually the segment on NPR's All Things Considered was titled, 'Citizen's United Ruling Benefits Union Campaigners'.

It was about as close to propaganda as NPR can get. The very notion that Unions, in decline for the past 30 years and who represent maybe 8% of workers in the private sector and a bit more in government -- that Unions can come even close to matching what Corporate America is putting together is disingenuous to say the least.

PBS NewsHour commentator, Mark Shields, had an extremely insightful reaction to Mitt Romney's display of "kindness and generosity" during his acceptance speech in Tampa:

The one question that was raised -- and it is a legitimate one -- is that he was -- is enormously kind to people he can see in acts of personal kindness and generosity of time. But policies affect all kinds of people you don't see, millions of people that he will never come in contact with.

Bob Schieffer made this throw-away comment before moving on to more important matters:

"We need health care reform, but I'm a long way from believing the president's plan was the best way to go about it."

Anyone got any idea what Bob Schieffer's preferred solution is beyond making it to 65, taking advantage of Medicare and having CBS make up the difference?

This segment points to everything that is wrong with 'reporting' (yes, in scare quotes) from the PBS News hour.

Paul Solman focuses on nuance and whether what Krugman is saying is 'partisan' or not, to which Krugman wisely replies:

"Except it's true, right? And people like me have been right so far."