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False equivalency in the media


SteveFromYellowstone

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I see it every day. No matter what, every time there is a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans, most media gives equal credence to both sides even if one position is utterly ridiculous. The media tries so hard to appear impartial and fair that they ignore common sense sometimes. It's always "both sides fault" or "they're all the same". That is a dangerous position to take because it absolves politicians (usually Republicans) from blame for their ridiculous actions. I remember how awful the false equivalence was during the "debt ceiling crisis". President Obama was willing to put all programs on the tables for cuts in exchange for small revenue increases. Republicans (once ignorant Cantor got involved) absolutely refused to entertain ANY revenue increases. So when the deal breaks down it's "both sides fault" even though the Republicans were acting like petulant children who sit there and pout when they don't get their way. The longer the media continues to play this equal blame game the more it's going to hurt us.

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You want the media to be lobbyist for what they feel is right instead of reporting the news?.....they do in editorials

Last I checked there were two sides ,pretty much evenly represented,that should be reported on.

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I agree with this. I honestly believe that if a Dem tried the crap Romney/Ryan are with their tax "plan," promising ridiculous 20% across the board while outright REFUSING to go into any details about how they are going to pay for it, the media would destroy said Democrat on a daily basis until they were made to explain themselves, withdraw their plan, for back out of the election. It's THAT much into the utter nonsense territory.

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I agree with this. I honestly believe that if a Dem tried the crap Romney/Ryan are with their tax "plan," promising ridiculous 20% across the board while outright REFUSING to go into any details about how they are going to pay for it, the media would destroy said Democrat on a daily basis until they were made to explain themselves, withdraw their plan, for back out of the election. It's THAT much into the utter nonsense territory.

It's almost as if the Republicans are expected to give vague generalities and no details or straight up lie. They never get called on it. It's dangerous for lies and half-truths to be accepted as valid opposition.

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I don't even pay attention to most of mainstream media anymore. They don't spend enough time covering things that should be covered and only put out the typical left vs. right bs. You get watered-down doses of reality that have been filtered through the brass's agendas. Sadly, really keeping up with the news has to come piecemeal these days.

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It's almost as if the Republicans are expected to give vague generalities and no details or straight up lie. They never get called on it. It's dangerous for lies and half-truths to be accepted as valid opposition.

What plan do the Democrats have besides blaming the rich while giving them money?

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You want the media to be lobbyist for what they feel is right instead of reporting the news?.....they do in editorials

Last I checked there were two sides ,pretty much evenly represented,that should be reported on.

Ryan: We are going to cut tax rates by 20% for everyone and pay for it by getting rid of some deductions for rich people

Biden: That's actually mathematically impossible without getting rid of deductions that primarily affect the middle and working class

Ryan: Yes it is, it's been done before

Moderator: Can you offer any specifics

Ryan: Yes it is, it's been done before

Media: Well Romney and Ryan say they are going to do this without adding to the deficit or getting rid of deductions that affect the middle class so the Obama campaign isn't telling the whole truth (factcheck.org said something like this)

There aren't always two equal sides to every issue, especially this one. The Republicans can't offer any specifics or math or even this past proof they speak of, but the a lot of the media acts like this is somehow a draw

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I agree with this. I honestly believe that if a Dem tried the crap Romney/Ryan are with their tax "plan," promising ridiculous 20% across the board while outright REFUSING to go into any details about how they are going to pay for it, the media would destroy said Democrat on a daily basis until they were made to explain themselves, withdraw their plan, for back out of the election. It's THAT much into the utter nonsense territory.

ObamaCare: we have to pass it to tell you whats in it....

Presidential Deficit reduction plan...

Senate Budget for 4 years...by law is ignored and done instead by an Omnibus spending in december followed by 35days of vacation to let it slide out of sight.

(im pretty sure we could get a non-partisan chart that shows both sides equally guilty).

If i lost my Mortgage deduction i'd lose my damn mind.. I've lost enough in this crackhouse already economy.

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ObamaCare: we have to pass it to tell you whats in it....

Presidential Deficit reduction plan...

Senate Budget for 4 years...by law is ignored and done instead by an Omnibus spending in december followed by 35days of vacation to let it slide out of sight.

(im pretty sure we could get a non-partisan chart that shows both sides equally guilty).

If i lost my Mortgage deduction i'd lose my damn mind.. I've lost enough in this crackhouse already economy.

Obamacare- got killed for it, turned a good law that helps a lot of people into one that is STILL unpopular with the majority of Americans. Should be what Obama is hanging his hat on, but it's something he can't run on.

Presidential Deficit- we STILL hear about it

Don't know enough about the Senate Budget situation to comment on it.

Point is, those situations were ones that Democrats got dragged through the mud in the media for their lack of transparency. I don't see the same standard with regards to many aspects of the Romney/Ryan "plan."

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ObamaCare: we have to pass it to tell you whats in it....

Presidential Deficit reduction plan...

Senate Budget for 4 years...by law is ignored and done instead by an Omnibus spending in december followed by 35days of vacation to let it slide out of sight.

(im pretty sure we could get a non-partisan chart that shows both sides equally guilty).

If i lost my Mortgage deduction i'd lose my damn mind.. I've lost enough in this crackhouse already economy.

Obamacare was debated for 1.5 years.... someone really didnt know what the bill said before it was passed? IF so, that's their own fault.

But that's a good example of media bull**** being forced down our throats. How did anyone ever buy "Obama rammed this bill through Congress," when it was argued for 1.5 years! And in 1.5 years the GOP never offered ANY of their own reform ideas. C'mon. BS.

One more thing... I will say that Soledad O'Brian has taken it upon herself to actually be a journalist and call out BS when she hears it.

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TSF: So your Saying Pelosi (in charge of the bill) was incorrect when she stated the we have to pass it before you can see whats in it.. The Right leaning Media made that up.

This Sunday marks exactly three years since the Democratic majority in the Senate last passed a budget, on April 29, 2009. During that time, the federal government has spent $10.4 trillion and added another $4.5 trillion to our total debt.

Adopting a budget is not optional. It is required by law. Under the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, the Senate must move a budget out of the Budget Committee by April 1 of every year and adopt a budget resolution on the floor by April 15.

The House has completed its budget work each of the past two years since the GOP attained a majority in that chamber. By contrast, the Democratic Senate is continuing its open defiance of budget law for the third year in a row.

The Senate majority can bring a budget to the floor anytime it wishes and pass it with just 51 votes. It cannot be filibustered. Yet in 2010, with a 60-vote majority, Senate Democrats chose to keep their own committee-passed budget from receiving a vote in the full Senate. In 2011, Majority Leader Harry Reid said it would be “foolish” for his party to do a budget, so it never even wrote one. In 2012, just last week, Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad was forced by his own majority to cancel what would have been the first committee votes on a budget resolution in more than two years.

As expert after expert tells us, our nation is on a dangerously unsustainable path. Our per-person debt is worse than that of Greece. The budget offered by President Obama, which received zero votes from either party, would bring the fifth straight trillion-dollar deficit next year and would increase spending 62 percent over the next 10 years. If we continue down this path, disaster is not merely probable but inevitable.

Details right?

Update this year:

Posted at 05:53 PM ET, 06/20/2012

Pelosi defends her infamous health care remark

By Jonathan Capehart

“But we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what’s in it....”

For Republicans and conservatives, nothing exemplifies government overreach and arrogance more than those 16 words, uttered by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties in March 2010. Ask her about that comment and the ensuing criticism today and Pelosi fights back.

During a lunch in the Capitol with opinion writers today, House Minority Leader Pelosi was asked about those infamous words. “It’s because we didn’t have a Senate bill,” Pelosi said forcefully before Eleanor Clift of Newsweek even finished asking her a question about the statement’s context. “We were urging the Senate to pass a bill.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/pelosi-defends-her-infamous-health-care-remark/2012/06/20/gJQAqch6qV_blog.html

Fourteen days after Pelosi’s speech, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law

I don't think it was my fault for not knowing what was in it. Unless I didn't focus during those 14 days.

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What plan do the Democrats have besides blaming the rich while giving them money?

Neither has a credible plan to solve the debt crisis though at least the Dems are raising some money. If the media would do it's job they would call both out on not addressing the debt.

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TSF: So your Saying Pelosi (in charge of the bill) was incorrect when she stated the we have to pass it before you can see whats in it.. The Right leaning Media made that up.

Details right?

You're absurd. That quote doesn't say anything about Obamacare needing to be passed before we can see what's in it. Was that meant for another poster?

Are you really saying that you didn't know there was an individual mandate, or medicare savings, or what in Obamacare? What didn't you know was in there?

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You're absurd. That quote doesn't say anything about Obamacare needing to be passed before we can see what's in it. Was that meant for another poster?

Are you really saying that you didn't know there was an individual mandate, or medicare savings, or what in Obamacare? What didn't you know was in there?

sorry, I'm slow, I was still editing... I try to get actual quotes from sources 80% on here will accept.

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TSF: So your Saying Pelosi (in charge of the bill) was incorrect when she stated the we have to pass it before you can see whats in it.. The Right leaning Media made that up.

She's an idiot. A lot of us Dems don't defend some of the moronic things Dems in office say or do. The media should call them out on it too if they don't. I do agree with the OP though. It certainly seems like the media is intimidated by the Rights tactics which I don't blame the right for doing since it's working.

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The media is afraid to expose GOP BS because it wants to avoid appearing too leftist. This is a result of a successful GOP effort to move the goal posts.

In the current political environment reality has a strong liberal bias.

Both the center-right party (Democrats) and the far-right party (Republicans) are denying it.

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You want the media to be lobbyist for what they feel is right instead of reporting the news?.....they do in editorials

Last I checked there were two sides ,pretty much evenly represented,that should be reported on.

I think noting what happened is reporting the news. Saying both sides are to blame and pretending it was equal is altering the news with opinion.

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The Media is intimidated by the Right? The Whitehouse doesn't have a press briefing for 2 weeks during the Benghazi issue after making false statements and nobody calls them on it?

Thats intimidation.

There is a boat which contains the media, both parties, and a tiny percentage of Americans who provide vast majority of financing for political campaigns.

There are rules by which these entities play. Breaking the rules would rock the boat.

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Neither has a credible plan to solve the debt crisis though at least the Dems are raising some money. If the media would do it's job they would call both out on not addressing the debt.

Are they raising money if the expenses continue to rise and capital continues to flee?

We need to address domestic earning, not people gaining fortunes overseas that policy keeps there.....the only way out of debt is addressing domestic expansion of wealth.

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She's an idiot. A lot of us Dems don't defend some of the moronic things Dems in office say or do. The media should call them out on it too if they don't. I do agree with the OP though. It certainly seems like the media is intimidated by the Rights tactics which I don't blame the right for doing since it's working.

"Balance" doesn't mean what it once did. When Fox News is offered as equivalent of things like NPR, the middle ground has skewed so far right that right wingers dominate almost all aspects of the conversation. The radicalization of the right is not adequately represented/illuminated by our mainstream media. The right wing is largely afforded respect it does not deserve,

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