It's not enough that much of the mainstream media cheered on Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 or browbeat former President George W. Bush on Iraq and Afghanistan to force Republicans from control of Congress. No, it's time for a "progressive television network" and for left-wingers to support radio hosts that are sympathetic to liberal causes according to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
You may have thought there already was a "progressive" cable network in MSNBC and left-wingers sort of had an opportunity to support Air America, but that didn't quite pan out as anticipated - though it's still hanging on. Nonetheless, Sanders, a self-described socialist, appeared on MSNBC's Aug. 13 "Rachel Maddow Show" and blasted Fox News and conservative talk radio. He blamed both for creating obstacles to Democratic Party led efforts to fundamentally alter health care in the United States. But he also said it's time the left attempted to replicate the right and created their own left-wing networks.
"I'll tell you what else we need to do," Sanders said. "We need to understand that it is very, very hard for the president or anybody else to take on not just the Republican Party, that's the easy part - to take on all of right-wing talk radio, which covers 90 percent of talk show hosts, a whole Fox network which is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party and the Democrats got to think long term. Why is there not a progressive television network? Why aren't we supporting good and effective personalities on radio as well and building up a network there so that we can that kind of political consciousness-raising that the Republicans, in fact, are doing so well right now."
Sanders has openly supported measures like the Fairness Doctrine in the past to silence conservative media, but his tirade about media was spurred on by a question from host Rachel Maddow, who had conceded the left could not counter the message of those who oppose Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress' brand of health care legislation. She asked Sanders if these protests should be acknowledged and combated, or just ignored.
"If it is harder to rile people with hope than it is to rile them with fear, it may be hard to go sort of base versus base, activist versus activist, honestly shouting person versus shouting person at some of these events and in terms of competition for the overall narrative around health care," Maddow said. "Do you think that people who are saying, who are promoting these myths - that the president does want to kill old people, all these crazy things about health care reform - do you think they should just be ignored? Is it worth debunking them or mocking them?"
Sanders explained to Maddow that what he described as "lies" had to be fought. However, he also suggested that proponents take the issue of health care and turn it into a civil rights issue that "tens of millions of people" would rally behind.
"Oh no, I think what you are doing and all of us have to do - we have to call a lie a lie and they lie a whole lot of times," Sanders said. "And we have to hold the Republican Party and the officials who support these lies accountable. But that's not enough. What we need to do is do what Obama did during is very brilliant campaign, as that is rally tens of millions of people to stand up and say that health care is the civil rights issue of the moment, that is not acceptable that a million people a year, this year are going to go bankrupt because of medically related costs. We need to do grassroots organizing."
Sanders' idea that the President's health care proposal hasn't gotten any help from the media is absurd if you take into account the results of a study by the Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute. It found the media support the president's health care policy. The study examined 224 stories about health care on the three broadcast networks' morning and evening shows that aired between Jan. 20, the date of Obama's inauguration, and June 24, and found they are reluctant to include reporting about cost and tended to exaggerate the number of uninsured, which bolsters Obama's case.
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As the alphabets...
August 14, 2009 - 07:20 ET by Apodictic... continue to tank, Sanders wants to throw another log on the funeral pyre. Good thinking and timely, too.
Bernie Sanders = Vapid
August 14, 2009 - 16:04 ET by richardBernie Sanders = Vapid
He wants a "progressive" TV
August 14, 2009 - 07:22 ET by Tom PaineHe wants a "progressive" TV network? How about ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC
How about the Maddow
August 14, 2009 - 07:33 ET by ThisnThatHow about the Maddow program Sanders was just on? I ask you, are these the statements of a leftist news network:
"Is it worth debunking them or mocking them?"
"Do you think that people who are promoting these myths"
" - that the president does want to kill old people"
" all these crazy things about health care reform"
Tell me why this isn't directly from the MSM's leftist, biased playbook -- expressed by a communist on a progressive cable TV network? I guess Sanders isn't very smart when he can't recognize kindred spirits.
___________________________________
"Tax the rich" is a basically unstable way of governing - The NYT
Don't forget PBS!
August 14, 2009 - 09:47 ET by Mary Louise TurnerFor really "progressive" programming, try the nutwork funded by too many gullible taxpayers - PBS! That nutwork has got to be defunded tout de suite!
As for ol' Bernie, the idiot from Vermont...
"I can hear the cuckoos singing in the cuckooberry tree..."
-Man of La Mancha
Sorry to have to tell you
August 14, 2009 - 13:28 ET by ReaverSorry to have to tell you this but Obama’s 2010 budget increases funding for the corporation for public broadcasting for the first time in a decade.
If stupidity got us into this mess,
then why can't it get us out?
--Will Rogers
HEY MARY LOUISE TURNER...
August 14, 2009 - 16:03 ET by danybhoyYou need to put anything NBC in the taxpayer funded group along with PBS or NPR. $138billion people, don't forget it.
"...How blind can you be, don't you see...
...that the gambler lost all he does not have..."
Nightwish
Oh, My!
August 14, 2009 - 17:03 ET by heldmywThis antique assclown needs to have his healthcare rationed and a visit to the Death Panel...
Clueless
August 14, 2009 - 07:26 ET by saw the lightI guess the irony of Sanders espousing these views completely uncontested on MSNBC was completely lost on the Senator.
"I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Barack Obama to "Joe the Plumber"
Not Clueless....
August 14, 2009 - 07:35 ET by adamsmithThese clowns are not clueless at all. Just like the people that post comments on a garbage site like Huffington Post, they won't be happy until there is one party socialist rule....What none of them get is that their entire philosophy goes against what the Founders created with the Constitution, you know, that silly document that limits the powers of government over the people.......
Wayne Allen Root for President 2012-Libertarian Party.........
It's hard to know whether
August 14, 2009 - 09:54 ET by mattmIt's hard to know whether these people are brain-dead morons, or diabolical deceivers - I'd say both.
What's stopping you Bernie...?
August 14, 2009 - 07:32 ET by superconThey don't need Republican support.
They have the numbers to push through anything they want. What he is really complaining about is the fact that talk radio and Fox are actually telling people what he and his socialist buddies are really up to.
" if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, 'it will be his Waterloo, it will break him...." -Sen. Jim DeMint
host Rachel Maddow, who had
August 14, 2009 - 07:38 ET by motherbelthost Rachel Maddow, who had conceded the left could not counter the
message of those who oppose Obama and the Democratic-controlled
Congress' brand of health care legislation.
Liberals (and apparently socialists) never think their message
is the problem. It's always how it's "painted" by the other side, and
the fact that the other side is more "effective" at getting its message
out.
If, with ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, MSNBC, CNN, the NYT, the Washington Post, The LAT, and all the other media oultlets that are on their side, they can't counter the message of a couple of one dissident TV network and a few talk radio hosts, that might say something about the message, not the opposition.
The problem is not that people don't understand what the left is trying to do, it's that too many people DO.
Bernie Sanders, thank you for my morning laugh
August 14, 2009 - 07:34 ET by mom_rox...as Bernie Sanders talks to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, an Air America talk show host...
~~save your tea, dump congress~~
How could Maddow keep a
August 14, 2009 - 07:41 ET by gopsteveHow could Maddow keep a straight face when Sanders said they need a "progressive" TV network...to say that on MSDNC of all places!
MSDNC gets terrific ratings!
August 14, 2009 - 07:56 ET by Red JeepMSDNC's highest rated shows are seen by less than 1% of the country.
Ya know Bernie if 99% of the country is not watching its the message that is the problem. Redoing stupid in a new different package ain't gonna work, no how, no way.
The big surprise is this
August 14, 2009 - 08:27 ET by celatorThe big surprise is this squirrelly, socialist picador even knew there was such a thing as "television". Can't find the word anywhere in Das Capital.
No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.
Lets call a lie a lie
August 14, 2009 - 07:40 ET by well99You lying SOB.You did it with a straight face.You have the msm as lapdogs but that isnt good enough for you.You want everyone under your thumb.It isnt going to happen so go home and change your attends.
I think you mean Depends
August 14, 2009 - 07:46 ET by motherbeltI think you mean Depends ?.....LOL
MB
August 14, 2009 - 08:45 ET by well99I am not quite at that stage.Give me another week.Bernie is either stupid or liar.I am inclineded to believe both.To say that of all places just amazes me.
Depends, Attends, same output...
August 14, 2009 - 09:55 ET by Corny_McPoo...different receptacle.
http://www.attends.us/custom_products.aspx?id=7
Signed, Corny McPoo
"To be is to do." - Plato
"To do is to be." - Aristotle
"Do be do be do." - Sinatra
He needs to rephrase the line
August 14, 2009 - 07:45 ET by WorriedHe blamed both for creating obstacles to Democratic Party led efforts to fundamentally alter health care in the United States.
It should read The Socialist Party led efforts...
And Sanders speaks the truth when he says "fundamentally alter healthcare" but should have added "alter for the worse."
Back to the subject at hand, the libs hear progressive talk everywhere already, from Obama and the rest of his ilk everyday spewing forth what they want to do to us.
Libs would rather listen to Rush, Beck and Hannity so they can dispute the FACTS. Libs don't like FACTS because it gets in the way of creating Obama's non-utopia.
And maybe people don't
August 14, 2009 - 07:49 ET by motherbeltAnd maybe people don't really want their health care "altered"....
What, 80% of people are happy with what they've got?
So of course, rather than tweak it and make some provision for those who don't have insurance...their solution is to revamp the whole thing!
Yes, because it's not about health care, and never was...it's always been about control.
We need a discussion first
August 14, 2009 - 08:00 ET by KC MulvilleSANDERS: "... and say that health care is the civil rights issue of the moment ..."
You see? They consider healthcare to be a right. Philosophically, that's the whole ballgame. If it is a right, then we must allow the government to control it (that's what governments are for). If it isn't a right, then government's only role is to enforce normal regulations. The government can't take over the system, or even "meddle" in the system through a public option.
There's a huge political difference here. The whole theory of conservatism, i.e., limited government, depends on the conviction that government doesn't have the authority to control every aspect of our lives. Just because a problem is a "big" problem doesn't mean that the government has authority over it.
Healthcare is a national problem. But that alone doesn't mean it's a government problem.
Once they start talking
August 14, 2009 - 08:20 ET by motherbeltOnce they start talking about a "right," that gives the government the authority to take away from one to give something to another. They also talk about a "right" to a "living wage" (who decides what that is?) and a "right" to "affordable housing" (affordable to who?)
As Thomas Sowell says, a "right" requires nothing from anyone else, except noninterference in that right. No one has a "right" to anything that must forcibly provided by someone else.
Healthcare is a national problem. But that alone doesn't mean it's a government problem.
Good point. But not in liberals' minds; everything national falls under government's hand. Just like every health issue, if widespread, like obesity, or smoking, becomes a "public health issue" and therefore ripe for government intervention.
"But not in liberals' minds"
August 14, 2009 - 09:23 ET by KC MulvilleYeah. I think that's what ultimately makes conservatives and liberals different. It isn't about being on one side of an issue or another. It's really about what authority the government has.
The problem with a country that's founded on intellectual principles is that it requires discipline to stay within those principles. Discipline is hard to expect from 304 million people, and we've seen that our media and politicians are terribly undisciplined. We, as conservatives, believe that government has a specific, defined, and restricted place in our national life. It's easy, especially when things get tough, to lose that discipline and beg the government to acquire all the power they need to save us quickly. But the Founding Fathers were very clear about this; surrendering power to a government is a devil's bargain. They were wise.
Yes, healthcare is a problem. Yes, it's national in scope. Politicians came forward and said they could fix it. It's tempting to just stand aside and let them fix it. It takes real discipline for the people to say, we'll find some way to fix this without surrendering power to the government.
Government is like the Dark Side of the Force. It's tempting, but it's the easy way out, and the cost is one's soul.
I respect Sanders more than other liberals.
August 14, 2009 - 08:08 ET by jeffreywturnerAt least he ADMITS to being a socialist. That is way better than most of the other liberals who are socialists as well, but scoff at you when you call them socialists.
pssst,
August 14, 2009 - 09:00 ET by AgnosticYou can't say that. Socialist is the new code word don't you know and Bernie isn't even black.
A person may be won over with logic and reason but the masses must be bought with spectacle and platitudes. - 2008 Elections
Here is another ...
August 14, 2009 - 08:22 ET by SentryDanHere is another liberal/socialist that needs to leave office. "We the People" need to get rid of any of these clowns that go against our desires. Most of the time these people aren't doing us any favors.
Remember folks, Freedom isn't Free. It was bought with the blood and sacrifice of the men and women who are serving and who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
For those who fought for it, Freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.
Also remember folks, that the way to SUPPORT THE TROOPS is to support their mission. Anyone who says that they support the troops but don't support their mission is lying about supporting the troops. And if you want to know, yes I do have a dog in the fight, he is a United States Marine.
Most of the time these
August 14, 2009 - 08:27 ET by motherbeltMost of the time these people aren't doing us any favors.
Oh, but they are.
Because, as Ann-drea Mitchell says, we people just don't know what's good for us.
A quick Google search of
August 14, 2009 - 08:50 ET by BKeyserA quick Google search of Progressive Media Outlets led me to a lib website called "commondreams.org" (silly libs, 'Take the flowers out of your hair and go back to the kids table'). Like most sites, they have their link list; theirs happens to broken into categories. And here's what's wrong with the lib view on life and serious issues that face us all- and why they can persuade young, immature people to vote for them in droves: Listed under "newspapers" is
TheOnion.
Being Fascist means being dishonest is OK
August 14, 2009 - 08:57 ET by needleBernie Sanders, I[s/b F] –VT is a disgrace to America – not Vermont, mind you, just America. He can dishonestly pretend that he does not know that PRACTICALLY ALL OF THE MEDIA, except FOX, IS LEFTISH BIASED; but if he actually does not know it, he is too clueless to be qualified to be a Senator (and that is mighty clueless).
So let’s just assume he is completely dishonest, which is what makes him qualified to be a Senator. But being completely dishonest is not enough for Bernie. Oh no, he has to be a Fascist too, and urge the suppression of expression of traditional Americans who do not accept Bernie’s Fascistic predilections.
Hey, Bernie you Fascist pig, I bet you want us to believe that you are all for diversity too.
- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler for your portfolio management.
Here's a thought Bernie
August 14, 2009 - 09:10 ET by pbthinkerIf Bernie wants to get the message out, why doesn't he agree to an interview with Major Garrett, have Major ask some questions and he answers just the way he wants to. Major Garrett will ask questions we want answered, follow up when Bernie is lying through his teeth, and let Bernie say what he wants and see how it goes. He'll be seen by more people.
Of course they won't do that because they know people will recognize the lies that the rest of the MSM will cover-up.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
Facist sanders
August 14, 2009 - 09:34 ET by RoloTDouble-speak at it's finest...advocating censorship in an effort to achieve more diversity. Wow, the 2010 elections cannot get here fast enough.
It amazes me how utterly clueless members of congress are. I have a suggestion for the next congressional (junket, tax-payer paid vacation) fact-finding trip. Instead of visiting Italy, France or some other foreign country, how about every member of congress visit the middle of THIS country. They spend way too much time in DC and the Northeast and truly have no idea what is going on.
Sanders and his like-minded drones must be stopped. I'm in my late 40's and have always voted but never been involved with campaigns. That will change next year. Time to start cleaning up the mess left by the 'hope and change' pea brains.
What da... ?
August 14, 2009 - 09:45 ET by Ole_Sargethe democrats are delusional once again. Lord G-d, help us.
How is a true Socialist still in the Senate?
August 14, 2009 - 09:50 ET by kevinm13Bernie is nuts as usual. How is it that a true Socialist (like 0bama but without the cover of being a lowly Senator from a small state like Vermont) can still get elected? Or re-elected?
Because Vermont
August 14, 2009 - 09:53 ET by general companyIs full of like minded blockheads
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
→ And . . .
August 14, 2009 - 09:56 ET by Cool ArrowBecause we elected the other Socialist to be our President.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE!
I need your help...
August 14, 2009 - 10:01 ET by RoloTA while ago, someone had at the end of their comment, a quote attributed to Ernest Hemingway (it may have been a line out of "A farewell to arms"). To paraphrase (poorly) "never have a people been treated as enemies by their leaders."
I can't find the exact quote anywhere. Can anyone here help? The quote is very timely for the citizens of the U.S.
THANKS
Might can find it
August 14, 2009 - 10:48 ET by general companyHere
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Re Sanders
August 14, 2009 - 10:04 ET by slickwillie2001Y'know, it's interesting to look at Sanders and how his views have differed from the rest of the democratic party over the years. At one time he was acknowledged as way out there, maybe supported quietly by many other democratics, but quietly. Now he is not all that different from the Bamster or the Harry and Nan comedy team.
Related: At What Point Does a Liberal Become a Stalinist?: http://www.americanthinker.com
these people really believe this
August 14, 2009 - 10:57 ET by candanceLefties seriously think that NBC and NY Times are hard news outfits. Olbermann and Maddow are the "token" lefties. Anything short of demanding Bush to be imprisoned on air, and the anchor is a corporate shill.
I've heard these people say this. They really are that crazy.
I guess MSNBC and CNBC are
August 14, 2009 - 11:13 ET by NL207I guess MSNBC and CNBC are not progressive enough for this ignorant old fool. Nobody wants to watch that trash as evidenced by their ratings, so he wants to tax everyone to impose this propaganda on an unreceptive and unappreciative audience.
Sooooooooooooo
August 14, 2009 - 11:17 ET by cwnelson79Let me get this straight. Fox is an arm of the republican party. Then what is MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, PBS, BBC, CBS, The New york times, Times magazine, Newsweek, ETC ETC, how many arms is that for the democratic party? Must be an octopuss. Where's spider man?
Cry me a river
August 14, 2009 - 11:24 ET by QueenMum"a whole Fox network which is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party"
Prove it. Provide the dots and show us how you connected them.
What? You have no proof? Too bad. Cause we can provide you a complete "money tree" for the MsM that looks a lot like it might have been planted by the Democrat party.
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people's money."
—Margaret Thatcher
Timely Hemingway line...
August 14, 2009 - 12:05 ET by RoloTI found it:
"Was there ever a people whose leaders were as truly their enemies as this one?"
-(Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls")
One line from a book written about the Spanish Civil war in 1937 explains the predicament of the American people in 2009.
Why do we need another
August 14, 2009 - 13:15 ET by wiwfWhy do we need another leftist media channel?
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Stink on ice
August 14, 2009 - 14:18 ET by nkviking75SANDERS: Why aren't we supporting good and effective [liberal] personalities on radio as well and building up a network there so that we can that kind of political consciousness-raising that the Republicans, in fact, are doing so well right now?
Uh, 'cause your liberal radio personalities stink on ice?
Bernie, you have the Congress, the White House, a good many judges, and half of the Supreme Court. If you can't win, you don't deserve to win. But then, you don't deserve to win anyway.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
i Dunno...
August 14, 2009 - 15:41 ET by BondPlainBondI have this feeling that Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will not be voted back into office come his next election cycle. Too bad. So sad. Buh-bye Bernie.
I would not count on
August 15, 2009 - 04:29 ET by needleI would not count on Vermonters throwing this kook out. What he said on MSNBC is not the least bit out-of-line for him, and I believe Vermonters are just fine with it. I suspect he said this to reassure his base.
(I say this as a New Englander, not as a Vermonter.)
- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler for your portfolio management.
The constitution says no Bernie
August 15, 2009 - 03:12 ET by IamTinmanSorry Bernie that darn tenth amendment says that health care is relegated to the states or the people not the feds. Get back to doing what you and the rest of congress have sworn to do, preserve, protect and defend the United States and btw the constitution you seem so determined to destroy!
August 15, 2009 - 14:41 ET by jessieHYes, we have to hold every polititian accountable. But that doesn't mean we have to let ACORN register dead people & vote six-seven times. Go ahead & start a progressive radio show. Radio or tv, but they won't last six months.
"need a Progressive
August 15, 2009 - 16:03 ET by RR GOP"need a Progressive network"????
My God, how many more do they want?
Also, how do they propose to get anyone to watch it? I'm a pig dog, so I admit that if they get some topless or naked women on there (women...not "Pats" like Maddow) I'd watch...would have the volume turned off...but I'd watch.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.