But Democrats seem to be setting their sights a little lower this time around.
One woman at the Bennet fundraiser held a sign with the number '51' on it -- as if to say, the party that had a 60-vote lock on the Senate several weeks ago, will now feel fortunate to hold onto a bare majority.
--Scott Horsley, NPR Douchebag
First, Bennet is a Democratic incumbent in the US Senate. What NPR Douchebag seems to think is a protestor (I guess?) is a person holding up a sign that points out that Democrats control the Senate with 51-votes. "A bare majority." As in, a majority, like the US Constitution says is what you need to get shit passed in the US Senate. As in, the major criticism of Democrats and their failure to pass anything coming from the Left and the Democratic base.
But, no. NPR guys instead sees a sign that--somewhat obscurely--substantiates the "Obama losing Colorado" narrative in his story. Here's another fun trick these guys use:
As a presidential candidate, Obama won Colorado by 9 points. But his approval rating in the state now is lower than his national average.
"Lower than his national average"? Why not tell us his approval rating? Because it is still a net positive nationally, and presumably is still a net positive in Colorado. Meanwhile, contrasting this non-statistic with a 9-point lead sounds like Obama is in deep trouble. Lazy reporting or a reporter with an agenda--take your pick.
What's funny, though, is the reaction of the blogger who brought this to my attention:
All I know is I ended up on the bathroom floor with half the shower curtain wrapped around me, a bar of soap embedded in the ceiling, and a cat looking down at me with an expression that read, "You just had to listen to NPR. When will you learn?"
I recently spent ten hours a week in my car commuting to work (daily for a year), so I drank my fill of NPR. It is shit. Shallow reporting. Trite conclusions that aren't substantiated by the facts. And very, very self-satisfied. I would literally find myself screaming at the radio on at least a monthly basis, and this was with increasingly rare listening.
The best example is a story they were doing on an upcoming Census in Lebanon, and how because the Constitution of that country guarantees specific executive offices and legislative majorities based on sectarian demographics (the largest group--Maronite Christians--always get to be president, for example), this could result in the collapse of the only Democracy where Christians and Muslims share power in the Middle East. Things they did not mention:
- The French wrote this Constitution.
- They wrote the constitution after drawing a border for Lebanon (which, historically, should have been a part of Palestine or, more properly, Syria) after the original Census in the 1930s, guaranteeing a proportion of 11 Christians for every 10 Muslims.
- Political power was locked in, with no new Census either required by the Constitution or conducted since then.
- Since Lebanese independence in the 1940s, birth rates and immigration (not including Palestinian refugees, who have never been allowed to join Lebanon) have resulted in vastly more Muslims than Christians in modern Lebanon.
- When this fact, combined with increasing demands for a new Census or a new power-sharing agreement, reached a crescendo in the 1970s, an ultra-nationalist Maronite coalition fired the opening shots in a Civil War which lasted from 1975 to 1990.
- The current peace exists only because the central government, which continues to be lead by a Maronite president but with a power-sharing legislature, has been effectively stripped of all power and functions. Lebanon is now run by regional citizen groups.
- Like Hezzbollah, who the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization. After the recent Israeli bombing campaign in Lebanon, Hezzbollah was far more effective as a first responder and in the subsequent reconstruction than the Lebanese government.
- It isn't a Democracy if the Maronites always get to pick the president, no matter what the outcome of the election, or if the representation of the legislature is locked according to sectarian demographics that haven't been accurate for fifty years.
There basically isn't a single thing about the story I heard that has the slightest bit of baring on what is going on in Lebanon (the government doesn't govern--no one cares), what has happened in Lebanon (power sharing???), or in any way informs the listener.
I was just happy to find out I'm not the only one who screams at the radio when NPR does shit that is stupid. And fucking smug. God damnit, I would love to wipe that horrible little smirk of their face.
On the other hand, KPFA is awesome, which frees me from the shackles of NPR for drive time news, world music, cultural and granola shit on the radio. They stream online and lots of their shows are available via podcast. Their day-in-news summaries are pretty straight-news (no agenda), but bullshit free, which is nice. Their investigative reporting and book talks and stuff depress me, so I take it in small doses; all of it is good. Their Saturday morning Gospel show, from 6-9am, is superb.
NPR is like the George Lucas of journalism, "I made Star Wars, love me." You haven't made a single contribution to human society since 1977, you worthless hack, and your rare successful projects in the interim are flukes that have been entirely owed to other people, none of whom have received their due credit. (Case in point: Lawrence Kasdan, you assclown, for his scripts on Empire, Return of the Jedi, or Raiders of the Lost Ark, not a single one of which you wrote, directed, or produced.) Take a seat in the back, turn creative control over to better men, and pray we let you off the hook for the prequels and special editions, you cankerous rat-semen pustule.
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