WHERE PIFFLE CAN POSE AS DEEP THOUGHT! We bungled our piece on David Brooks. We make our point more clear:
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011
Shortest weekend of the year: We’re here this morning, right on time, despite the way an hour was stolen, producing a 47-hour weekend.
How strange: To think that bureaucrats in a distant city can toy like this with our lives!
How THE HOWLER is saving civilization: Remember the way the Irish saved civilization? (According to Wikipedia, Thomas Cahill’s book of that approximate name “argues a case for the Irish people's critical role in preserving western civilization from utter destruction by the Huns and the Germanic tribes.”)
Here at THE HOWLER, that’s the role we’re currently playing with regard to MSNBC.
Good God, how that new, improved liberal channel does love to shovel the bullroar! This tendency has become quite clear in its coverage of the Wisconsin budget fight. We liberals keep getting fed misinformation, as The One True Liberal Channel becomes more and more like Fox.
Consider what happened last Friday night when Lawrence O’Donnell kicked off his evening’s Wisconsin coverage. The analysts groaned and covered their eyes when they heard Mr. O say this:
O’DONNELL (3/11/11): Tonight in the spotlight: Wisconsin’s most polarizing bill becomes law. Following weeks of protest and unprecedented legislative maneuvering that no one had ever seen and no one predicted, today Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed the bill that eliminates almost all collective bargaining rights from most of the state’s public employees.
The bill exempts police and firefighter unions who supported the governor in his election campaign. It’s due to take effect on March 26.
Oof! There he went again, reciting that claim about the police and firefighter unions! (To see Politifact shoot down that claim, go ahead—just click here.) This time, though, a rebuttal was heard, just a few minutes later! The rebuttal was voiced by a Wisconsin Republican, state senator Glenn Grothman. This was Grothman’s first point after being introduced:
GROTHMAN: You led off this segment by saying…that the firemen and the police endorsed Governor Walker. You have to know that’s not true, because we have corrected it so many times in the past.
The firemen’s union, probably next to the teachers union, is probably the most rabid Democratic union in the state. The Milwaukee police did endorse Governor Walker. But the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the biggest police union in the state, supported his opponent.
So when you say things like we exempted firemen and police because they supported Governor Walker, that’s just plain not true.
As far as we know, Grothman’s statement is basically accurate, though liberals keep hearing the opposite.
Did O’Donnell know his own statement was bogus? Unlike Grothman, we wouldn’t assume that Mr. O would know such basic facts. But note O’Donnell’s pathetic rejoinder to Grothman:
O’DONNELL (continuing directly): Senator Grothman, could I go back? Certainly there was at least one police union that supported the governor.
GROTHMAN: I said, the Milwaukee Police Union.
O’DONNELL: Are you saying that there were no—there was no firefighter support for the governor’s election?
GROTHMAN: One firefighter local, the city of Milwaukee again, perhaps because they knew Scott Walker because he was county exec. The vast majority—as far as I know, every other fireman in the state, their union supported Governor Walker’s opponent, including the fire union where I represent.
So to say that is just plain misleading.
Truly, O’Donnell’s response was gruesome. Rather than acknowledge misstatement or express doubt, he decided to play the sophist. But so it has gone on The One True Channel, right from Day One of this story. On that occasion, Ed Schultz interviewed Grothman—and he too fashioned a sad response when corrected on a blown fact.
On February 15, the fight in Wisconsin was just starting—and Schultz had a basic fact wrong. How would state workers’ incomes be affected by Walker’s requests for give-backs? “People who earn $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year might have a 20 percent of their income just disappear overnight,” Schultz said, incorrectly.
After being introduced, Grothman challenged that statement too. Note the way Schultz reacted:
GROTHMAN (2/15/11): I think you misled your audience a little bit in the buildup to my interview. I think maybe an average person, including myself, who makes about $50,000 a year, is going to see a cut in take-home pay of around 8 percent or 9 percent.
SCHULTZ: Wait a minute! I didn’t mislead the audience. I said increase their obligation—meaning that they are going to have to pay more in. That’s exactly what I said. Increase their obligation to pay more in.
GROTHMAN: Right. Right.
SCHULTZ: So there is no mis—
GROTHMAN: You used the figure 20 percent, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Excuse me?
GROTHMAN: You used the figure 20 percent. And that is misleading.
SCHULTZ: That is not misleading because that is the figure that we got.
Oof. And sad.
For the record, there was an apples-to-oranges problem here, at least on the surface; Schultz spoke about “income,” Grothman about “take-home pay.” But after his weak response to Grothman, Schultz instantly dropped his own statistic; for the rest of the program, through several segments, he referred to “an 8 percent or 9 percent pay cut.” Politifact reviewed Schultz’s initial claim, giving him a rating of “false” (though we find an apparent typo in their report). Politifact noted that Schultz’s staff failed to present any data supporting his initial claim.
MSNBC has devoted many evenings to the fight in Wisconsin. In the course of that coverage, its anchors have routinely misstated basic facts while failing to clarify basic issues. Liberals watching The One True Channel have heard a drumbeat of ungled claims. This is the way it works for conservatives when they tune to Fox.
Liberals watching MSNBC have repeatedly heard these claims:
There was a budget surplus when Walker took office. (False.)
Wisconsin’s budget shortfall was created by Walker’s tax cuts. (False.)
Walker exempted the police and firefighter unions because they endorsed him (False.)
As Grothman noted, that last claim has been corrected many times. But last Friday, O’Donnell was still reciting it. And here was Rachel Maddow, just one night before, pretending to scold Walker:
MADDOW (3/10/11): If the existence of unions themselves was so expensive, then why did you exempt the unions that supported you in the last election? Those unions have some of the most expensive benefits of any in your state. But you let them off.
As we all know, Maddow loves correcting her own mistakes. Based on her work in the past few weeks, she also likes to repeat them.
At one point, the Irish saved civilization. That’s the role we now find ourselves playing. At times like this, do corporate progressives need false facts to make a case against GOP policies? Our view: People like that will never succeed in building a winning politics.
Civilization may hang in the balance. Are we all ditto-heads now?
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011
Shortest weekend of the year: We’re here this morning, right on time, despite the way an hour was stolen, producing a 47-hour weekend.
How strange: To think that bureaucrats in a distant city can toy like this with our lives!
How THE HOWLER is saving civilization: Remember the way the Irish saved civilization? (According to Wikipedia, Thomas Cahill’s book of that approximate name “argues a case for the Irish people's critical role in preserving western civilization from utter destruction by the Huns and the Germanic tribes.”)
Here at THE HOWLER, that’s the role we’re currently playing with regard to MSNBC.
Good God, how that new, improved liberal channel does love to shovel the bullroar! This tendency has become quite clear in its coverage of the Wisconsin budget fight. We liberals keep getting fed misinformation, as The One True Liberal Channel becomes more and more like Fox.
Consider what happened last Friday night when Lawrence O’Donnell kicked off his evening’s Wisconsin coverage. The analysts groaned and covered their eyes when they heard Mr. O say this:
O’DONNELL (3/11/11): Tonight in the spotlight: Wisconsin’s most polarizing bill becomes law. Following weeks of protest and unprecedented legislative maneuvering that no one had ever seen and no one predicted, today Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed the bill that eliminates almost all collective bargaining rights from most of the state’s public employees.
The bill exempts police and firefighter unions who supported the governor in his election campaign. It’s due to take effect on March 26.
Oof! There he went again, reciting that claim about the police and firefighter unions! (To see Politifact shoot down that claim, go ahead—just click here.) This time, though, a rebuttal was heard, just a few minutes later! The rebuttal was voiced by a Wisconsin Republican, state senator Glenn Grothman. This was Grothman’s first point after being introduced:
GROTHMAN: You led off this segment by saying…that the firemen and the police endorsed Governor Walker. You have to know that’s not true, because we have corrected it so many times in the past.
The firemen’s union, probably next to the teachers union, is probably the most rabid Democratic union in the state. The Milwaukee police did endorse Governor Walker. But the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the biggest police union in the state, supported his opponent.
So when you say things like we exempted firemen and police because they supported Governor Walker, that’s just plain not true.
As far as we know, Grothman’s statement is basically accurate, though liberals keep hearing the opposite.
Did O’Donnell know his own statement was bogus? Unlike Grothman, we wouldn’t assume that Mr. O would know such basic facts. But note O’Donnell’s pathetic rejoinder to Grothman:
O’DONNELL (continuing directly): Senator Grothman, could I go back? Certainly there was at least one police union that supported the governor.
GROTHMAN: I said, the Milwaukee Police Union.
O’DONNELL: Are you saying that there were no—there was no firefighter support for the governor’s election?
GROTHMAN: One firefighter local, the city of Milwaukee again, perhaps because they knew Scott Walker because he was county exec. The vast majority—as far as I know, every other fireman in the state, their union supported Governor Walker’s opponent, including the fire union where I represent.
So to say that is just plain misleading.
Truly, O’Donnell’s response was gruesome. Rather than acknowledge misstatement or express doubt, he decided to play the sophist. But so it has gone on The One True Channel, right from Day One of this story. On that occasion, Ed Schultz interviewed Grothman—and he too fashioned a sad response when corrected on a blown fact.
On February 15, the fight in Wisconsin was just starting—and Schultz had a basic fact wrong. How would state workers’ incomes be affected by Walker’s requests for give-backs? “People who earn $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year might have a 20 percent of their income just disappear overnight,” Schultz said, incorrectly.
After being introduced, Grothman challenged that statement too. Note the way Schultz reacted:
GROTHMAN (2/15/11): I think you misled your audience a little bit in the buildup to my interview. I think maybe an average person, including myself, who makes about $50,000 a year, is going to see a cut in take-home pay of around 8 percent or 9 percent.
SCHULTZ: Wait a minute! I didn’t mislead the audience. I said increase their obligation—meaning that they are going to have to pay more in. That’s exactly what I said. Increase their obligation to pay more in.
GROTHMAN: Right. Right.
SCHULTZ: So there is no mis—
GROTHMAN: You used the figure 20 percent, Ed.
SCHULTZ: Excuse me?
GROTHMAN: You used the figure 20 percent. And that is misleading.
SCHULTZ: That is not misleading because that is the figure that we got.
Oof. And sad.
For the record, there was an apples-to-oranges problem here, at least on the surface; Schultz spoke about “income,” Grothman about “take-home pay.” But after his weak response to Grothman, Schultz instantly dropped his own statistic; for the rest of the program, through several segments, he referred to “an 8 percent or 9 percent pay cut.” Politifact reviewed Schultz’s initial claim, giving him a rating of “false” (though we find an apparent typo in their report). Politifact noted that Schultz’s staff failed to present any data supporting his initial claim.
MSNBC has devoted many evenings to the fight in Wisconsin. In the course of that coverage, its anchors have routinely misstated basic facts while failing to clarify basic issues. Liberals watching The One True Channel have heard a drumbeat of ungled claims. This is the way it works for conservatives when they tune to Fox.
Liberals watching MSNBC have repeatedly heard these claims:
There was a budget surplus when Walker took office. (False.)
Wisconsin’s budget shortfall was created by Walker’s tax cuts. (False.)
Walker exempted the police and firefighter unions because they endorsed him (False.)
As Grothman noted, that last claim has been corrected many times. But last Friday, O’Donnell was still reciting it. And here was Rachel Maddow, just one night before, pretending to scold Walker:
MADDOW (3/10/11): If the existence of unions themselves was so expensive, then why did you exempt the unions that supported you in the last election? Those unions have some of the most expensive benefits of any in your state. But you let them off.
As we all know, Maddow loves correcting her own mistakes. Based on her work in the past few weeks, she also likes to repeat them.
At one point, the Irish saved civilization. That’s the role we now find ourselves playing. At times like this, do corporate progressives need false facts to make a case against GOP policies? Our view: People like that will never succeed in building a winning politics.
Civilization may hang in the balance. Are we all ditto-heads now?
