The story here is not the mainstream media; the story is in what went on in the blogging world, the absolutely shameful treatment first of Hillary Clinton and then of Sarah Palin. The junior high boy’s locker room atmosphere that dominated much of the blogosphere was disgusting and unprecedented, and extremely revealing about true attitudes. If the mainstream media is to be faulted, it would be in picking up and running with unsubstantiated stories and themes generated by extremely partisan sources.
It should not be surprising that various commentators ended up on opposite ends of their own comments–not the first time that has happened, and certainly will not be the last, and it’s safe to say it’s not exclusive to one party. But what was surprising was to see the media put the patina of respectability on a series of attacks that had nothing to do with a candidate’s qualifications for holding public office, and everything to do with culturual stereotypes regarding a woman’s place in society.
Unfortunately, the more the debate on this topic continues, the more it perpetuates the problem by focusing on the gender of the candidate rather than on that candidate’s qualifications. The best thing the media and commentators can do now is shut up and let the candidates speak for themselves and put their qualifications forward. It took a long time for Hillary Clinton to get there, but hopefully Sarah Palin will also be able to “find her voice” amid the media feeding frenzy.
adamtopher
@Peripheral Visionary: I think you missed the point of this video. John Stewart was referring to the way the GOP wants it both ways when it comes to Palin.
The blogosphere treatment of Palin and Hillary was not the topic of this video. Yes there were probably many cases of indecent handling of the gender topic across the internet. But are you surprised!?! I mean this is the same internet that created 2girls1cup!
Hilarious video though!
Matt Dubuque
It takes more than a uterus to be qualified for President.
She is a member of the Assembly of God, which church is featured in Jesus Camp, a movie about a Christian jihadi madrassa summer camp in North Dakota training preteens to be “Warriors for Jesus”.
Palin is straight from this group of Christian jihadis, bent on nuclear holy war NOW, to defeat Magog (Russia in their illiterate view of Revelations) and restore the kingdom of Jesus on earth.
The typical view within the Assembly of God (when they are not engaged in speaking in tongues (glossalalia)) is that Armageddon should be HASTENED.
Given that her finger will be so close to the nuclear button, it is a legitimate question to ask if she will act in her narrow self-interest in deciding whether to launch a nuclear war because she will be one of the chosen ones at the Rapture.
She is just the first in a large wave of extremely self-assured and profoundly ignorant youth who are geared to enter the political process of this banana republic.
Watch the trailer posted at this link. Learn more.
Matt Dubuque
eckalectic
The Democrats should make this into a campaign ad.
Matt: Yep. I betcha $100 Sarah thinks the earth is 6000 years old.
“Blame the Media” is the oldest game in the book. As you can see, there is much that you should blame the media for, but not quite in the way the McCain campaign would have us believe…
mock turtle
does reporting this constitute gender bias???
it appears that sarah palin was a member of the alaska independence party, which advocated secession from the united states of america.
sarah palin addressed the alaska independence party earlier this year, in her capacity as governor, wishing them well !!!
Sarah Palin was not a member of the Independence Party, her husband was. More lies and insinuations, courtesy of the internet.
And the rancor over her belonging to a controversial church is rich stuff; just like complaints over the thinness of her resume. It’s like the ending scene in “Fight Club”, where Edward Norton hits himself every time he hits Brad Pitt.
Anonymous
In all fairness, it was the AIP itself that bragged about Sarah Palin being a former member. Later they went through their old member rolls and had an “oops” moment.
Richmond Rambler
Thank god for the Daily Show. Most satisfying to watch someone hoisted by his own petard.
To quote Hannah and Her Sisters:
If Jesus came back, and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.
Dean
Cool. Hypocricy Galore!
Shall we replace the Republicant Elephant with a Hippo (just for this election only)?
BTW, news just broke out that Fannie Mae and F-Mac are taken over by government.
Anonymous
How is it that the Daily Show is seemingly held to a higher standard than the “Main Street Media” (papers and magazine and other such fancy and supposedley well informed sources of acceptable information).
The Daily Show is comedy and it says a lot that a standard is applied here that is not applied to the newspaper, whose job ought to be critical analysis, but seemingly, and over the last eight years has only been able to be another spokesperson for a government without any critical reflection.
A sad state of affairs.
Ralph
Matt Dubuque
But Ralph, what else would you expect from a Banana Republic?
Matt Dubuque
Dave Raithel
In a Banana Republic, I expect that the repressed are kept in their place through force and brutality; the most well off keep what they have because they own the monopoly on coercion and the effective threat to harm those who challenge them. The episode illustrates the extent to which the abused in America are the agents of their own repression. No one who valued intellectual integrity and had not internalized their own repression would tolerate such blatant contradictions and double standards. People who willingly go to Fox News and endure Rove and Morris and O’Rielly – three stooges who ought not be accepted in polite society but instead treated like pariahs – are their own victims.
But yeah, it is pretty hilarious, almost surreal – the “real news” channel is the parody, and the parody news is the reality.
Anonymous
Only goes to show that the worse the general state of things, the better the satire…
The story here is not the mainstream media; the story is in what went on in the blogging world, the absolutely shameful treatment first of Hillary Clinton and then of Sarah Palin. The junior high boy’s locker room atmosphere that dominated much of the blogosphere was disgusting and unprecedented, and extremely revealing about true attitudes. If the mainstream media is to be faulted, it would be in picking up and running with unsubstantiated stories and themes generated by extremely partisan sources.
It should not be surprising that various commentators ended up on opposite ends of their own comments–not the first time that has happened, and certainly will not be the last, and it’s safe to say it’s not exclusive to one party. But what was surprising was to see the media put the patina of respectability on a series of attacks that had nothing to do with a candidate’s qualifications for holding public office, and everything to do with culturual stereotypes regarding a woman’s place in society.
Unfortunately, the more the debate on this topic continues, the more it perpetuates the problem by focusing on the gender of the candidate rather than on that candidate’s qualifications. The best thing the media and commentators can do now is shut up and let the candidates speak for themselves and put their qualifications forward. It took a long time for Hillary Clinton to get there, but hopefully Sarah Palin will also be able to “find her voice” amid the media feeding frenzy.
@Peripheral Visionary: I think you missed the point of this video. John Stewart was referring to the way the GOP wants it both ways when it comes to Palin.
The blogosphere treatment of Palin and Hillary was not the topic of this video. Yes there were probably many cases of indecent handling of the gender topic across the internet. But are you surprised!?! I mean this is the same internet that created 2girls1cup!
Hilarious video though!
It takes more than a uterus to be qualified for President.
She is a member of the Assembly of God, which church is featured in Jesus Camp, a movie about a Christian jihadi madrassa summer camp in North Dakota training preteens to be “Warriors for Jesus”.
Here is the trailer:
http://tinyurl.com/5j56rw
Palin is straight from this group of Christian jihadis, bent on nuclear holy war NOW, to defeat Magog (Russia in their illiterate view of Revelations) and restore the kingdom of Jesus on earth.
The typical view within the Assembly of God (when they are not engaged in speaking in tongues (glossalalia)) is that Armageddon should be HASTENED.
Given that her finger will be so close to the nuclear button, it is a legitimate question to ask if she will act in her narrow self-interest in deciding whether to launch a nuclear war because she will be one of the chosen ones at the Rapture.
She is just the first in a large wave of extremely self-assured and profoundly ignorant youth who are geared to enter the political process of this banana republic.
Watch the trailer posted at this link. Learn more.
Matt Dubuque
The Democrats should make this into a campaign ad.
Matt: Yep. I betcha $100 Sarah thinks the earth is 6000 years old.
Peripheral: Take your meds.
Roger Simon’s article “Why the Media should apologize” is fantastic and can be viewed here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13143.html
“Blame the Media” is the oldest game in the book. As you can see, there is much that you should blame the media for, but not quite in the way the McCain campaign would have us believe…
does reporting this constitute gender bias???
it appears that sarah palin was a member of the alaska independence party, which advocated secession from the united states of america.
sarah palin addressed the alaska independence party earlier this year, in her capacity as governor, wishing them well !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z…h? v=ZwvPNXYrIyI
Sarah Palin was not a member of the Independence Party, her husband was. More lies and insinuations, courtesy of the internet.
And the rancor over her belonging to a controversial church is rich stuff; just like complaints over the thinness of her resume. It’s like the ending scene in “Fight Club”, where Edward Norton hits himself every time he hits Brad Pitt.
In all fairness, it was the AIP itself that bragged about Sarah Palin being a former member. Later they went through their old member rolls and had an “oops” moment.
Thank god for the Daily Show. Most satisfying to watch someone hoisted by his own petard.
To quote Hannah and Her Sisters:
If Jesus came back, and saw what’s going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.
Cool. Hypocricy Galore!
Shall we replace the Republicant Elephant with a Hippo (just for this election only)?
BTW, news just broke out that Fannie Mae and F-Mac are taken over by government.
How is it that the Daily Show is seemingly held to a higher standard than the “Main Street Media” (papers and magazine and other such fancy and supposedley well informed sources of acceptable information).
The Daily Show is comedy and it says a lot that a standard is applied here that is not applied to the newspaper, whose job ought to be critical analysis, but seemingly, and over the last eight years has only been able to be another spokesperson for a government without any critical reflection.
A sad state of affairs.
Ralph
But Ralph, what else would you expect from a Banana Republic?
Matt Dubuque
In a Banana Republic, I expect that the repressed are kept in their place through force and brutality; the most well off keep what they have because they own the monopoly on coercion and the effective threat to harm those who challenge them. The episode illustrates the extent to which the abused in America are the agents of their own repression. No one who valued intellectual integrity and had not internalized their own repression would tolerate such blatant contradictions and double standards. People who willingly go to Fox News and endure Rove and Morris and O’Rielly – three stooges who ought not be accepted in polite society but instead treated like pariahs – are their own victims.
But yeah, it is pretty hilarious, almost surreal – the “real news” channel is the parody, and the parody news is the reality.
Only goes to show that the worse the general state of things, the better the satire…