Attention: Editor, MSNBC News Wesbite
Sir:
RE your article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16211364/“What if Republicans keep the Senate?”
As someone who grew up with the once-high standards of television journalism set by people like Walter Cronkite, I have long bemoaned the mindless claptrap that passes for news in the mainstream media these days – especially in the past six years of the endlessly mindless prattle whose beginnings coincided with the inauguration of George W. Bush.
I suppose that it makes some kind of nonsensical sense: a news media that has dumbed itself down in an attempt to dumb its audience down, hoping against hope that if everyone acts the fool, no one will notice how dumb the president actually is.
But this most recent piece of psuedo-journalism is beneath even the lowest standards you have adhered to over the past few years.
In commenting on the unfortunate illness and emergency surgery undergone by Senator Tim Johnson (D) of South Dakota, you launched into a diatribe about the what-if scenarios should Johnson die or resign – even though he apparently shows no signs of doing either.
As you oh-so-delightedly pondered the possibilities of a sudden shift in political power from a Democratic majority to an unevenly-divided Senate (uneven in that Cheney would act as tie-breaker), you stated: “For Democrats, many cherished goals could go by the wayside.”
In fact, it would not be the cherished goals of the Democrats that could go by the wayside, but the cherished goals of the American citizenry, who made their displeasure with the unfettered rule of the GOP known across the nation just a scant few weeks ago.
But, as always, you talking heads must eschew the facts, ignore the numbers, wish away the obvious discontent of the populace, and pose any desire for an end to the incompetence and corruption of the Republican party and this Administration as being simply the goals of those crazy Democrats – conveniently forgetting that they now represent the majority views of our nation’s citizens.
“Such a scenario could effectively quash Democratic hopes of taking on the Bush administration on a variety of fronts,” you state, breathless with anticipation. In view of your penchant for ignoring the true state of affairs, this is obviously a rhetorical question, but: Have you even bothered to look at Bush’s approval ratings of late? It would seem obvious that hopes of taking on the Bush administration and holding them to account is not the pipe dream of the Democratic party, but something now being demanded by the majority of Americans.
Your attention to detail in laying out your what-if scenario is astounding, as you rhyme off the impact on investigations into the lies that led our country into an unwinnable war in Iraq, the incompetence that has lost the war in Afghanistan, the taxpayer dollars that have dissappeared in the ‘fog of war’, the obscenity of no-bid contracts that have enriched the Adminisration-friendly war-profiteers while our soldiers go into combat without body-armor, the secrecy, the deception, and corruption that has endangered our national security, diminished our freedoms, and brought our once-proud nation into global disrepute.
If only that attention to detail had been evident over the past six years, perhaps such investigations would not be necessary – because this president, his administration and his political cronies would have been shown for what they are before they did such irreparable harm to our country.
It’s not like the real news stories weren’t out there, day after day, staring you so-called newsmen in the face. Not a 24-hour news cycle has gone by since January 2001 that did not provide the kind of facts that the true investigative reporters – those of a sadly bygone era – would not have snatched up and run with as though our very democracy depended on it, because they had the commitment and foresight to know that it did.
So as long as you are all wallowing in “what-if” self-indulgence, allow me to join you: What if the mainstream media had openly questioned the soundness of the alleged intelligence that supported the invasion of Iraq? What if the real conduct of the war had been played out, in all of its gruesome detail, on TV screens every night, instead of the endless cheerleading of an illegal occupation destined for disaster?
What if GOP endorsement of things like the Bankruptcy Bill, the outsourcing of American jobs, the escalating national debt had been the focus of nightly newscasts, instead of ludicrous soundbytes about a booming economy that simply didn’t exist for anyone but the wealthiest individuals and corporations?
What if the news media had asked the tough questions, and refused to take ‘no comment’ or obvious, out-and-out lies for an answer? What if you had actually done your jobs?
As my beloved (and truly patriotic) husband once said: “The journalist who is on my side is the journalist who is on nobody’s side.” And you have shown whose side you are on throughout the entire debacle that is the Bush administration and the years of corrupt and inept Republican rule – and that, sirs, is a damnable shame.
What was once the shining jewel in the crown of television’s great promise, the TV newscast, is now nothing more than another tiresome info-mercial, selling cheap, gaudy wares to an ever-diminishing audience who have had enough of flim-flam men passing themselves off as honest reporters.
Now that I have said my piece, please feel free to go back to your daydreaming about the Republicans maintaining their Senate majority. It’s not going to happen, which means it’s not really news – but then, when was the last time you were interested in the real news anyway?
Godspeed to Senator Johnson on his road to recovery. And Godspeed to my country on its road to recovery from years of non-news from non-journalists.
Yours with absolutely no respect whatsoever,
Nancy Greggs
P.S. I note that while one Alex Johnson had the by-line on this piece, credit was also given to Tim Russert, Chip Reid, David Shuster, and NBC affiliate KDLT-TV for “contributing to this report”. Just another mainstream miracle – it only took four people and an entire NBC affiliate to piece together this masturbatory exploration of a non-event. Kudos to all!
(Edited to add: Yeah, you're DAMNED REAL I sent it to MSNBC!)
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