Eric Boehlert: The Ginsburg power grab--the press plays dumb about radical GOP

[babylonsister]

The Ginsburg power grab—the press plays dumb about radical GOP
Journalists in denial
Eric Boehlert


Watching Republican senators publicly and unapologetically contradict a stream of forceful declarations in 2016 about how under no circumstances should the Senate hold United States Supreme Court hearings during an election year, ought to finally convince the Beltway press that the GOP can no longer be trusted on any topic. A party that has detached itself from reality and now occupies a Trump-inspired alternative universe where facts don't matter, Republicans no longer deserve the media's professional respect.

Lied to relentlessly about all topics, reporters and producers should grasp that one of our two major political parties in this country will no longer engage in rational debate. Yet the press refuses to make that crucial acknowledgement.

Still clinging to the idea that the GOP is filled with honorable men, the press won’t tell the truth about today's radical Republican Party. The denial is driven by the fact the press won’t concede that the two parties are no longer mirror reflections of each other, occupying opposite sides of the political spectrum. Firmly committed to an outdated Both Sides approach to the news, the press realizes that if the GOP is identified as a radical outlier, news outlets then have to find an entirely different way to cover the news. They also understand that accurately labeling the GOP as an extremist vehicle will make them the targets of "liberal media bias" attacks.

Instead of being honest, the press has wasted four years pretending behind closed doors that leaders of the Republican Party are aghast at Trump's un-democratic and corrupt behavior. Assuring readers and viewers that Republicans "privately" remain deeply concerned, the press has done its best to normalize the party in the face of Trump's extremist tendencies.

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https://pressrun.media/p/the-ginsburg-power-grabhow-the-press

[yardwork]

1. The media is mostly responsible for electing Trump.

Their behavior toward Trump since 2015 has enabled and promoted his takeover. They are corrupt. They have abdicated their responsibility.

[maxsolomon]

17. "The Media" is not a single entity.

Blanket, binary condemnations of "the Media" drive me nucking futs.

A large segment of it is RW Propaganda. Not the major newspapers (excepting those with RW owners who control the editorials and endorsements), but Fox, all of talk radio, Sinclair, Bonneville, and the on-line sewage producers like Breitbart and OANN.

Are the Boston Herald or the Detroit Free Press or the San Jose Mercury News or the WaPo or the NYT or the LA Herald Examiner "corrupt"? What makes you (and Boehlert, and me) enraged is that they stick to "journalistic standards of objectivity" when we want every article to be an editorial. If anything "enabled" Trump, it's that. They act professionally and in Good Faith when the GOP will not.

It is the RW that is corrupt, that embraces Power at all costs, and that will not act in Good Faith. They know that if they do, they will lose.

[malaise]

2. Important

Get thee to the greatest page

[deminks]

3. Yup, hook, line, and sinker.

Even Mika Mouse on Morning Joke a few days ago lamenting because the "left" was critical of SC possible candidate Barrett because "she's a Catholic." No, Mika Mouse, I know you heard that from one of your "friends". We are critical because she and her family belong to a fringe group that openly and staunchly denigrates women. Know your worth, Mika Mouse.

[llashram]

6. they both are dangerously

manipulative of those who believe them, just like Fox News minions. I have not trusted them ever because of how the slickly they would put in misleading information in an otherwise innocuous statement of supposed fact. The Murdock media empire is not the only dangerous media empire out there.

[StClone]

10. The Handmaiden's Tale was re Barrett's Sect

Make a nice piece.

[RVN VET71]

12. No, Mika, no, no, no!

We object to her because she should not be nominated, nor should anyone be nominated, until after Biden's inauguration!

We marvel at her sad acceptance of a subordinate relationship in her marriage under the guidance of a man, her revelling in her status as a "handmaid", but that is not why we object to the nomination.

We object because the nomination, itself, is an abomination pursued by the party of soulless hypocrites whose word means nothing, who use the honor as a spittoon, and the constitution as toilet paper.

(Didn't God send his angel emissaries to Sodom to tell Lot that the city and its people would be destroyed if Lot could not find at least 5 honest, decent men in it? Isn't that essentially what Chuck Schumer asked the Republican Senate? Give us 5 honest and honorable Senators, that's all we ask, he seemed to say. And what was the very predictable result? The first part, of course: there aren't 5 decent, honorable Republican Senators. The second part? Whether Biden is allowed to win or not, the GOP is over.

[pwb]

4. Print media does all the investigating today.

Cable media is useless and always wants a tight race. Trotting out the usual 3 pukes Collins, Murkowski, and Romney always lets the other 50 pukes off the hook for who and why they will vote a certain way? The media is played like a Fidel over and over again because they get tons of money from all angles. You and me, advertiser corporations, and politicians all pay the media that we expect truth from?

[dchill]

5. Being "privately" concerned is malfeasance for a public official.

That is all.

[uponit7771]

7. AMEN !! They are part of the problem acting like the kGOP wants anything to do with democracy

[mountain grammy]

8. Eric Boehlert is a treasure

I can't think of any time he's been wrong..

[DallasNE]

9. Follow The Money

All of the major networks are owned by large, conservative owners. The networks are profit centers so they are measured by profitability and that means they need a horserace every election and that is what drives how they operate. Here it is called the both sides approach. Same thing. And money says it is not going to change because that would upset the owner greatly.

[yaesu]

11. there is no press in this country, just a gop propaganda network that throws a progressive bone

now and then to make it look like they aren't total corporate sellouts.

[Mr. Ected]

13. We need to let go of the antiquated notion that the media's function is to print the truth

That train left the station a long, long time ago.

The media as presently constructed is as dangerous to our democracy as the fascists currently attempting to subvert and neuter it.

We don't have a friend in the press. We have a large group of individuals in the press that may be so construed, but the institution itself is intent to destroy us.

It's hard to imagine an 18th century-type uprising in the 21st century, but ultimately, the burden to save our democracy falls foursquare upon each and every one of us. If we're too busy to act, or too distracted, we'll lose it, and that genie ain't going back in the bottle very soon.

[PatSeg]

14. The republican party

has no soul, no core. It is just a bunch of empty shells reciting the same old tired political talking points, sometimes out of habit, but more often for power and money. There are no real principles or ideology, it is all PR propaganda. I think some of them actually had ideals at one time and may have believed some of what they said, but the system wouldn't allow any deviation from the party line, only obedience and conformity.

The party has become a cult that rewards compliance and punishes independence. Threats and money are held over the heads of the politicians to control them and after awhile, it just becomes a way of life. A small handful have bailed out and returned to their old lives, but most just don't have the courage or character to leave.

[ananda]

15. IOW

There is nothing normal or good about any Republican these days,
and that started with Florida 2000, OK also Ronald Reagan.

[dlk]

16. The mainstream media's toxic bothsiderism continues to seriously damage our country

Our profit-based media continues to push a false narrative.

[Moostache]

18. 100% agreed.

The American press has been cowed by a bully party of liars and thieves into total submission and "whataboutism's" and "they say, they say" duplicitous coverage of issues. The biggest problem is that they are terrified of being called "liberal biased" even though they are constantly called that anyway - or worse.

I have no use for any of them any longer, and almost all coverage is formulaic pap. A soundbite, dissected by an aghast panel, then a note that so-and-so was contacted and offered no reply. And yet, every moronic tweet from the president is covered as if it were State of the Union level importance...

They ask follow up questions, get no response and then drop it...no tenacity, no backbone, no demands for answers to questions. They get called "Fake News" and serve as props at Trump rallies and they do their talking head nonsense analysis but never cover the real stories with any depth or seriousness. Its all pathetic.