Listening to Rachel Maddow's criticism of Israel for the conflict in Gaza, I was reminded of a cartoon I saw years ago when World War II was still vividly within memory for many Americans.
The cartoon showed a German having built what he expected to be a toy, with the empty box and its assembled contents beside him and a friend standing nearby. The man turned to his friend in exasperation and said -- No matter what they send out, it always ends up a machine gun.
Maddow is like the postwar German industry of the cartoonist's premise -- not much versatility in the product line. Regardless of circumstances leading to renewed conflict in the Middle East, her deconstruction of reality places only Israel on the trigger end of a smoking gun, and guilty for whatever actions led to its use.
Here's what Maddow imparted to her Air America Radio listeners on Monday --
But while we're on the wild wide world of scary tour, of course, Israel has started another war. A third straight day of airstrikes on Gaza, the death toll now more than 300 people. Israel says they are doing this to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets into southern Israel. First of all, there's the question of proportionality as to how many people those rockets have killed versus how many people the Israeli bombing has now killed. There's also the issue of effectiveness. In the midst of this massive air assault killing hundreds of civilians in Gaza, a rocket fired from Gaza today killed a man and wounded seven in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Effectiveness. Three Israelis were also stabbed by a Palestinian in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank today. Is there a military solution to this problem?
In a manner akin to Barney Fife charging a mugging victim with assault for swinging back, Maddow blames Israel for having "started" another war, instead of citing the undeniable aggressor -- Hamas. But what lowers Maddow's comments to the contemptible is her condemnation of Israel for alleged lack of "proportionality" in response to Hamas' aggression -- while Maddow exaggerates the number of civilian deaths caused by the Israeli counterattack.
News reports out of Gaza, such as the following excerpt from a story earlier today in the International Herald News, don't come anywhere near Maddow's claim of "hundreds of civilians" killed by Israel --
So far, more than 350 Palestinians - about 60 of them civilians - have been killed, according to the United Nations. Four Israelis - three civilians and a soldier - have died.
You'd think being able to say "dozens" or "scores" of civilian deaths in Gaza would suffice for Air America propagandists, but apparently this level of carnage doesn't meet their standards.
As 2008 draws to a close, Maddow has received abundant praise from likeminded quarters for her rapid ascension in the punditrocracy. Among critics outside the chorus, however, is CNN anchor-reporter Anderson Cooper, who had this to say to the Los Angeles Times --
LA TIMES: This year we saw the rise of Rachel Maddow and Campbell Brown -- very opinionated. You haven't succumbed too much. Do you have plans to?
COOPER: I have no plans to, no. I think those people are really good at what they do. Rachel Maddow is an incredible talent -- she's funny, and smart, obviously well researched on subjects. I'm just not interested as a viewer in listening to anchors' opinions. It seems like there's an awful lot of yelling, and this year yelling's been replaced by sarcasm and snarkiness.
Cooper's criticism of Maddow was picked up by wowOwow, "The Women on the Web" blog. I was struck by one of the comments to the post --
Commentators and reporters are two different things and comparing the two is ridiculous and a non-issue. The fact that Cooper would require a commentator like Maddow to act like a news reporter makes me question his understanding of the news media. It’s not her job to act like Cooper. It’s not Cooper’s job to act like Maddow. This is a non-issue.
To which I say, couldn't agree more. Maddow is a commentator, not a straight news reporter (no pun intended), nor an anchor. She is free to pontificate about whatever she wants and, to her credit, could hardly be more transparent in her politics.
But this doesn't mean Maddow can create her own facts, which she did on Monday -- and not for the first time, as described in previous posts at NewsBusters.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Proportionality? Oh yeah,
December 30, 2008 - 17:39 ET by BDProportionality? Oh yeah, that always WINS WARS!
Maddow is an ignoramus. She must assume that Isreal would employ a sniper who only shoots as many Arabs as Isreal has taken casualties. "oooh, we just had a third grader in Starot hit in the arm, I guess I will shoot that little arab third grader in her left arm."
One of the episodes of "THe West Wing" that always made me queasy was the one in which Martin Sheen as the liberal president had to be calmed down and brought back to a proportional response by the military after his former doctor was killed by a fictional regime in the middle east.
That one always gave me a fit because it was purely designed to provide a rationale for Bill Clintons lack of significant response to terrorists. The Hollywood rationale being that we lose an embassy, the preportional response was to ripple off a batch of SLCM at abandoned camps in Afghanistan.
Such proportionality gave us the current GWOT because our enemies always assumed that the proportionality of our response indicated weakness. THey just KNEW we would never commit real skin to the game and thus we were the less for it.
GWB going beyond proportionality in committing ground troops stunned our enemy. Maddow of course cannot understand that as she has been raised by a liberal world to only think otherwise.
Israel should bomb Gaza
December 30, 2008 - 17:45 ET by Dan The Man 2Israel should bomb Gaza into teh stoned age.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
They are already the stone age
December 30, 2008 - 19:51 ET by TjexciteThey are already in the stone age by choice. They need to be bombed out of existence. Or "Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark."
Long live George W. Bush liberator of millions
Maddow could be the News Director for LOGO or Bravo
December 30, 2008 - 18:41 ET by bpjamWhy not just ship this skank over to one of the gay channels where she can be 'the man' instead of having to toil in the shadows of Olbermanns hair gel? It must be difficult to try to top the vitriol every night in the time slot leading into her show. Nice to see she is still trying to play 'I hate Jews more than you do' with Keith each night.
I remember that episode of "The West Wing"
December 30, 2008 - 19:08 ET by Jack Coleman... and I had the same reaction to it, BD. My wife and I started watching the show on DVD early last winter, chronologically from the beginning, since we didn't watch the show when it was actually on until the second season (the campaign ended up sidetracking our DVD retrospective).
Watching it again years later, what struck me the most was how much that fictional regime in the Middle East, a thinly veiled Iraq, was a serious problem to the thinly veiled Clinton in the show's Oval Office -- before 9/11.
So is Maddow suggesting
December 31, 2008 - 03:37 ET by Andrew H.So is Maddow suggesting Israel fires rockets indiscriminately into towns and build tunnels to transfer weapons? Maybe the state can recruit its own suicide bombers, Rachel and send them to bomb Palestian buses and schools.
Liberalism is a convenient lie.
yes
December 31, 2008 - 05:19 ET by m1xramMaddow is suggesting just such an action. Think about it. If Israel did the committed the exact same evil acts that Hamas does Maddow wouldn't have to make up facts. She could just report the atrocities of Israel.
I like what John Bolton had to say. His gist was.. You don't have to be proportional when defending yourself, you just have to eliminate the threat.
I have noticed the "New
December 30, 2008 - 17:40 ET by Chris NormanI have noticed the "New Left" represented by Kos, Air America, and Madow denigrate Israel automatically in favor of the Arabs and Palestinians who are the new liberal downtrodden people of choice. Yet, here, the Jewish vote is still overwhelmingly Democrat. I wonder when the "New Left" anti - Israel sentiment starts showing up in Congress if that will change some voters minds?
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Isn't it ironic that Arab
December 30, 2008 - 20:14 ET by kgIsn't it ironic that Arab nations or more specifically Islam would hang her in a heartbeat?
"Forget change, I want improvement!"
Why is that???
December 30, 2008 - 22:31 ET by Scout FinchOther than knee-jerk reactionarism against America in general and, somehow, conservatives in particular, why do liberals always side with Palestinians? Palestinians don't believe in sexual equality, for women or for gays. Their women are subjugated to serving men and can be killed at will. They choose to live in an almost ancient manner of circumstances. They are fervently religious. They don't care a whit about "diversity" or "tolerance".
I will never understand why this is.
Does anyone ACTUALLY listen
December 30, 2008 - 17:41 ET by Radar_OneDoes anyone ACTUALLY listen to Air America...?
Barack Obama= Half Honkey...ALL Donkey
I was talking to a coworker
December 30, 2008 - 17:43 ET by Dan The Man 2I was talking to a coworker who voted for Obama and we touched on this. He said Hamas are terrorists and Israel is right to attack, furthermore they should wipe Hamas and Gaza out. I asked him why most democrats are against Israel and he said that is not him. I then asked him why he voted democrat and Obama, has he even read their platform or listened to his party leaders?
He kept insisting they were not him and not his beliefs. Democrats no matter what stripe have this idea that they are not responsible for the leaders they elect.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
This story was very well
December 30, 2008 - 17:54 ET by FairlightThis story was very well written, with a focus on the ending technique, and would make a good example in a journalism course.
I totally agree, and
December 30, 2008 - 18:05 ET by SickofLibsI totally agree, and remember that Jack also must actually sit thru (numerous times I'm sure) and listen intently to the assault-on-the-senses that is the Rachel Maddow Show.
I used to be able to take 5 minutes of it or so, just for entertainment purposes, but I have to switch it off instantly now... too toxic.
Thanks, Fairlight and SickofLibs
December 30, 2008 - 19:00 ET by Jack ColemanWorking as a reporter in the Northeast was good preparation for monitoring Maddow. The politics I heard spouted in newsrooms were hardly different from hers.
Congrats on that new
December 30, 2008 - 19:52 ET by SickofLibsCongrats on that new exoskeleton, and keep up the good fight, Jack.
Amazing, that someone who
December 30, 2008 - 17:56 ET by UtherpendAmazing, that someone who is suppose to be "smart", is too dense to see the hand before her face.
Hey Rachel how about you go to Gaza dressed in your pant suit and tell them your sexual persuation. Can you say head on a pole in the market by noon?
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you."
Well, she apprenticed under the biggest liar of all time
December 30, 2008 - 17:59 ET by SickofLibsI don't know where Maddow lives, but it sounds like she wouldn't mind if some maniacs began lobbing mortars into her neighborhood on a daily basis, as long as she didn't get hit or was inconvenienced.
proportionality ...
December 30, 2008 - 18:02 ET by Miss Cheviousperhaps Ms MadCow should interview some Carthagians and find out how that whole "proportionality theory" worked out for them after they poked Rome once too often with a stick ...
Talk about colossal ignorance...
December 30, 2008 - 18:28 ET by gxa99She is a perfect example why Airdead America was a born loser. Now that (MS)NBC has taken her, she has propagated the failure. Talk about a one-sided, blinders-on approach to a REAL world issue, Madcow is a poster child for the moon bat kook left. She has never SET FOOT in a Middle Eastern country, no fair minded Lesbian would, BECAUSE THEY WOULD STONE HER TO DEATH! She defends the very people that would kill her on site! It boggles the mind that there are even people that think she is even some what intelligent. I can't believe the ignorance of these so called journalists, not to mention the fact they get paid to spew such complete hogwash...
Proportionality?? Surely,
December 30, 2008 - 18:36 ET by celatorProportionality?? Surely, Maddow must know that, this year alone, Hamas has shot 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel. Israel's response until now has been amazingly restrained, actually.
Poor Rachel, she really doesn't have a clue, does she?
I Agree
December 31, 2008 - 01:31 ET by Lakewood BobIf Mad-Cow thinks so much of proportionality, maybe she/he can explain why Air-Head America only hires freedom-hating idiots!
Repeal the 19th Amendment!!!!
If I didn't know better, I'd think that Rachel Maddow is vying..
December 30, 2008 - 18:49 ET by R D Helm...for a gig with Al Jazeera.
Problem is, the Islamists usually treat her kind rather badly.
They kill them.
-Dave
“Them that’s going get on the wagon.
Them that ain’t get out of the way.”
I cannot wait for this
December 30, 2008 - 19:33 ET by bigtimerI cannot wait for this useless piece of trash known as Maddow to fade away...she will too.
What a liar she is, as always intentional, with the same old leftist playbook.
Israel started this huh according to the lying Rachael...well I hope they finish it once and for all...including taking out some little tiny places in Iran...before O gets in...
If Condi/Bush and others would leave them alone it may get done before the sock-puppet gets in.
I get real sick of this pressurized temporary cease fire BS mainly from the msm/PCness...as far as I'm concerned that was part of the problem regarding Torah Bora (sp) and Osama, although I still wonder if he isn't buried there somewhere.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Proportionality my
December 30, 2008 - 19:49 ET by Clear thinkerProportionality my ass!
Over 3,000 rockets have struck Israel just in the last 12 months. If Maddow wants proportionality I have an idea. Let's stretch out this proportionality BS just a bit and add the word 'fairness'. Then announce to the world that since Hamas has struck Israel 3,000 times in the past year, that the Isaeli's promise, and commit in writing, to only attack Hamas 3,000 times over the next 12 months.
Now that's proportionality and fair!
Waving Goodbye To America
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
Jack, Maddow is free to
December 30, 2008 - 21:10 ET by Trix RabbitJack, Maddow is free to pontificate about anything. But he is still one incredibly stupid guy. Some examples:
Israel has started another war.
Wrongo, estupido. Hamas broke the ceasefire when they launched rockets into Israeli territory.
Israel says they are doing this to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets into southern Israel.
Well, well, well. That certainly passes the D.U.H. test. What was your clue for that one?
First of all, there's the question of proportionality as to how many
people those rockets have killed versus how many people the Israeli
bombing has now killed.
What the hell does that matter? Do you want all conflicts on a quid pro quo basis?
There's also the issue of effectiveness.
Damn straight (pun intended) it's effective. The IDF kicked Hamas' sorry ass and then Hamas goes spreading their pathetic propaganda that THEY are the victims.
How appeasement toward Hamas will help the cause of Israel's existence is beyond me.
I will grant Rachel one thing: he is totally free from the slavery of intelligence.
Liberal: a power worshipper without power. George Orwell
Rachel, in the real world....
December 30, 2008 - 23:34 ET by jefflebowskiRachel baby, in the real world when you mess with the bull, you get the horn! May the Pallies who voted in the terrorist group Hamas get a lot more horn before this is over! They wanted it, they got it!
Jeff Lebowski
www.angrywhitedude.c...
Hey Jeff... Watch it
December 31, 2008 - 00:00 ET by bigtimerHey Jeff...
Watch it now...watch it now.....
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
The Lib/Dem Anti-Israel
December 30, 2008 - 23:46 ET by ahusserstance has passed into the liberal knee jerk regions of liberal orthodoxy. Where the auto-response to these conflicts is:
Palestinians=Good/Victims/Oppressed and Israel=Bad/Victimizer/Oppressor.
All liberal blather will follow from this premise.
Change: When the winds of change blow hard enough, the most trivial of things can become deadly projectiles. From a Poster
Growing up, I always heard
December 31, 2008 - 02:10 ET by mostlymoderateGrowing up, I always heard people rant about how "the Jews run Hollywood, the media, the news, congress, blah blah blah... If that was true, why are so many news agencies anti-Israel? If Mexican's were shooting missiles in from Mexico, would America not annihilate everything south of the border?
They call it an invasion
January 1, 2009 - 10:29 ET by choselife3xForget missiles. Just send 12 million citizens across the border to infiltrate the enemy and suck their life blood.
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
Liberal 'Proportionality'
December 31, 2008 - 05:41 ET by AgnosticProportionality - How about some examples?
Over use of DDT weaken egg shells - proportional response is to ban DDT and lead to the deaths of tens of millions of Africans
Questions arise about temperature trends - proportional response is to attempt to destroy economies with unrealistic expectations and destroy industries with impossible environmental goals.
Disagree with a contested election - proportional response is to create a 7+ year media campaign to limit any political progress in the country.
A man ask a question that leads to an embarrassing answer by your personal choice as president - proportional response is to dig into his past, his family and business to attempt to embarrass and discredit.
Worried the economy isn't bad enough to get your political side elected - proportional response is to write a letter that starts a run on a large mortgage holding company in California. Oops, spilled over and went on to collapse the rest of the mortgage industry hanging on a precipice due to bad loaning practices. (Only part of the story and my opinion)
Don't like the 'earthy' quality of a politician - proportional response is to swarm her home state, harass and lie about her family and career, pull out famous feminist to say a woman CANNOT have a family and a career and generally saturate the media with negative coverage.
Don't like the war being waged in foreign lands or that lack communistic representation in American politics - proportional response is to build a few bombs, kill a police officer and then run off and become a professor.
The ballot initiative you wanted didn't get passed due in large part to other liberal victim groups - proportional response is to attack an elderly lady with a cross and to riot.
Don't like a cartoon - try to kill the author and riot all over the world causing several deaths. Not so much liberal but the liberal media did cover for this as well as make excuses and try to explain why we are not being understanding.
Many more but I'm tired.
A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections
Proportional laughter in response to your comment
December 31, 2008 - 11:11 ET by Jack ColemanWhich is to say, laugh out loud -- great stuff!
Thanks,
January 1, 2009 - 10:19 ET by AgnosticIt seems more difficult to not find hypocracy in a national political story than actually have it hit you between the eyes.
A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections
Perhaps MSNBC should send
December 31, 2008 - 10:18 ET by RR GOPPerhaps MSNBC should send Mad Cow to one of these Israeli towns as a permanent reporter so she can report first hand on the Hamas rocket attacks. It would be interesting to see if even someone of her ilk could continue to ignore these attacks as she's hitting the deck in a puddle of her own piss.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.