Good Morning America shills for Bushco on SS "reform"

[PA Democrat]

My husband turned on ABC this morning to get the local weather, and Good Morning America was doing a segment on the CBS National Guard memo story in which they were very critical of CBS for not corroborating their source.

Immediately after that piece they did a story on Bush's plan to "reform" Social Security, and used the Cato Institute and numbers supplied by the Cato Institute in their story. They did not reveal that the Cato Institute is a right wing think tank whose goal is to destroy all government spending on social programs, nor did they address where the $2 TRILLION minimum would come from to fund Bush's privatization scheme.

Anyone else see this? I am writing them letter to say that I found their "reporting" so horribly biased that I can only assume that someone on their staff has a financial arrangement with the Bush administration similar to that of Armstrong Williams.

[physioex]

1. Do yourself a favor....

Stop watching "news" on television. You get more serious information on the Howard Stern show than CNN, MSNBC, and Faux combined. I have stopped for about three months have never been better informed. The best place to get the news is the LBN forum on this board.

[PA Democrat]

7. I don't get my news from TV

But it is foolish not to call the media on their bias. They need to know that people will not sit silently when this type of misinformation is aired.

[physioex]

11. I understand your approach....

I have chosen to simply turn the television off. :)

[PA Democrat]

14. Believe me, I turned the TV off after that piece ended

I do occasionally tune in to check the water, so to speak. But it is generally only a few minutes before I turn it off, so that my head doesn't explode!

[Patiod]

10. I don't either but

a huge percent of people who are tuned into news of any kind are getting it from network (corporate) or cable (rightwing) sources.

Even NPR was piling on CBS this morning.

I've stopped listening to them myself, and I used to be all-NPR-all-the-time. Now it's the pared-down-to-half-hour-so-Tucker-Carlson-can-have-his-say "NOW" on PBS (once a week), and the BBC for my news.

But I applaud those who can stomach the corporate media and are willing to call them on their nonsense.

[physioex]

12. I hear ya...

It does take a strong stomach.

[ktowntennesseedem]

2. Great idea! Let us know what their reply is.

Liberal media my ass!!!

[gademocrat7]

3. bushy mouthpiece

The spinning has begun. ABC has started the deceptive weave of "SS reform."

[newyawker99]

25. Hi gademocrat7!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[annabanana]

4. THAT"S the ticket!

Clearly this administration has NO PROBLEM spending our money to buy "newspeople".. They are built on marketing schemes and it's just regular modus operandi for them. I wonder just how much public money has been wasted on these disingenuous commercials? Everyone should be asking this question, every day..

[MSgt213]

5. This is the state of our media. Large paychecks and can't do their jobs

But isn't that the standard for everyone in the media and leadership positions now. Run the company into the ground get a sweet exit package, run the country into the ground over a unnecessary war get reelected, fail to inform the american people of important details surrounding major government polices get to use slogans like trusted and we report you decide.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. Nothing new as far as the shilling goes.

If it's not obvious the double standard the RW is shown then I don't know what it will take for people to open their eyes. Armstrong Williams and the Bush administration are caught in a bribery scandal and it's just bad judgment on Williams part, end of story. CBS gets defrauded on some documents for a story that is essentially true and heads roll.
Now the spokes-whores are lining up to earn some extra cash from the BFEE. How much is the Social Security administration paying for their services?

[PA Democrat]

8. Here is my letter to GMA

I am writing regarding the piece aired on GMA today on Social Security "reform". I found the piece to be extremely biased to the point that I must truly question whether someone on the GMA staff is being paid to push SS "reform" as Armstrong Williams was paid to promote No Child Left Behind.

You used figures provided by the Cato Institute to "prove" that a couple would be better off with privatization of SS. Your report failed to mention the extreme political bias of the Cato Institute, the conflicting numbers produced by other less partisan experts, as well as an analysis of just how the $2 TRILLION shortfall that privatization would create would be funded.

I found it ironic that immediately prior to the piece on SS, you covered the CBS memo scandal, and then immediately went on to report a story of your own using unsubstantiated and biased data.

[annabanana]

9. loverly!....everybody should report these incidents..

Whenever and where ever they occur.

[lostnfound]

15. I love it! It's a great approach and we should all use it.

It's one way to keep the Armstrong story alive if only in the minds of those who read our letters.

[Catchawave]

21. Very nice PA ! -nt

[Spinzonner]

13. Watch for John 'Cato' Stossel

to jump on the bandwagon

[Justitia]

16. GMA completely shilled for Bush's destruction of Soc Sec!

I saw this too and was appalled!
I expected the roasting of CBS, but the Soc Sec story was egregious!

What was horrifying was how they brought in the CATO INSTITUTE vulture and convinced these blinkered people how SS was in CRISIS, so they needed to take a hit to the tune of $2 trillion to kill it off now. Cato Institute???? Was Grover Norquist too busy????

There was absolutely NO MENTION that educated and informed people are screaming from the rooftops that this "crisis" is a myth. GMA spoke of it as fact.

Because I know the facts, the spinning was so obviously over the top and outrageous. This is how the public will be "sold" on killing Soc Security. The people they featured were ultimately okey-dokey with having their benefits seriously reduced and paying the $2 trillion transfer cost. They also "understood" that SS may not even be around when they retire. WTF??????

Good Morning America must be on the federal take, ala Armstrong Williams.

This shit is insane!

[PA Democrat]

17. I did not catch all of the details of what they showed that couple

but am I correct in assuming that they convinced them they would get MORE if SS were privatized? And that the couple was middle-aged?

[Justitia]

19. No! This is what BLEW my mind - they are just fine w/less,

because they think it will "save" the system in the long run.

Yes, they were middle-aged. They said all the talk about SS was "white noise" to them because they are so busy (!?!?).

The CATO vulture told them they would get significantly LESS BENEFITS and have to pay trillions in transfer costs and they said:

"Well, OK then!!" :wow:

This is how they are selling this crap.
We have to gut SS to "save" it, if they want SS to exist at all.

Un-fucking-believable!

Why does no one (like ABC or other MSM) ever even suggest going to the freaking SS website and read the trustees report for themselves?

answer: because they would be exposed as LIARS.

www.ssa.gov

[PA Democrat]

20. People's laziness is going to cost the rest of us

And with such a biased media we are screwed.

[Selatius]

18. This is the reason why so many people got it wrong...

...especially with things such as believing that Iraq was behind 9/11, that Iraqi WMD were found, believing that we had wide support for the war from the rest of the world, or that Bush is liked by many in the world. The list goes on and on from environmental policy to tax policy.

If one wants to understand how well people are versed on the issues, how informed they are, then one should look at where they get their sources of information from. The Fairness Doctrine is one thing, but it is not a complete fix if one also does not try to prevent heavy consolidation of the news outlets. That's something previous leaders totally failed to do, and now there's a terrible price to pay for that failure.

We cannot expect people to vote in a prudent manner if they don't know what the hell is going on in the world or even in their own damn backyard.

[Catchawave]

22. The Disinforpedia is my friend....

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Think_tanks

There's a really long list with links to all the conservative think tanks here. Keep it bookmarked for easy reference for talking points in your letters to the gullible media ho's.

[PA Democrat]

24. Good source of info

Thanks Catchawave.

[Guns Aximbo]

23. here's a test for you...

... which morning show DOESN'T shill for bushler?

[annabanana]

26. My letter to GMA....

[e-mail]

subject line: good morning america

I was a little distressed by a segment I saw on this morning's show about President Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security. The "expert" who's figures and information you used to frame the story was from the "Cato Institute". I fear that most people don't know that this is, in fact, a right wing "think tank" and their information is certainly slanted to present only one rose-colored picture of the possible consequences of privatization.
In light of the revelation that Armstrong Williams was, essentially on the payroll of the Bush administration, I would think that disclosure would be the rule of the day, but no mention was made of Cato's affiliations. I think it is fair to ask, "Is someone on GMA receiving funding from the Bush administration?"

[PA Democrat]

27. Nice job, annabanana

In light of the payoff, to Armstrong Williams, this type of obvious bias in a "news" program makes me very suspicious.