The network news outlets - ABC, CBS and NBC - have missed a great opportunity to cover actual political news in the last week by failing to report on the loan scandal surrounding two Democratic senators, Business & Media Institute Managing Editor Amy Menefee told "Fox & Friends Weekend" June 21.
"This story has everything," Menefee said. "It has a former presidential candidate, Chris Dodd. It has two senators who are getting, like you said, sweetheart loans. It has Kent Conrad, another senator, who called the CEO of the lender to get his loan, which is not what we normally do, and then said, ‘Oh, I didn't get any preferential treatment and I didn't do anything wrong, but I'm going to give a charitable donation to remedy the fact that I didn't do anything wrong.'"
Menefee said it was "very sad" that the networks failed to report the scandal - not just because they refused to go after two Democrats, but because they missed an opportunity to expose the bailout plan Dodd has been defending.
"Chris Dodd keeps saying it's all for homeowners, it's not going to benefit the lenders. But it is going to benefit the lenders," Menefee said. "It's a $300-billion package to help them get some money back on these bad loans that they made."
The more-government approach prevents the market from working the problems out. "[I]f a lender makes a bad decision, makes a bad loan ... if he doesn't suffer the consequences of that, the market's not going to correct itself," Menefee said. "They're just going to look for more government handouts."
"And of course government-backed loans like they want to do with the Federal Housing Administration - guess what it means when they say ‘government-backed,'" she added, "[it] is your money and my money going behind that loan."
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Is anyone really surprised
June 23, 2008 - 14:34 ET by futbolisgreat1Is anyone really surprised by this?
If Chris Dodd had an (R) after his name, you know the networks would be stepping all over each other to create the most sensationalist, yellow journalism story.
this is what I expect from our biased, Liberal media.
Very sad????? No, it's
June 23, 2008 - 14:38 ET by motherbeltVery sad?????
No, it's reprehensible!! But who is going to call them out on it...the media?
How they can call themselves guardians of the truth or watchdogs of anything is just mind-boggling!
This is nothing short of dereliction of duty!
And just how much of a"charitable contribution" is Conrad making, and to whom? And could someone please ask him to explain why he feels the need to do that if he's done nothing wrong?
Ooops! Sorry! I seem to have come full circle!
Shoot 'em all; let God sort 'em out! - Marge Simpson
Making a charitable donation
June 23, 2008 - 14:53 ET by ForeverOnTheRightMaking a charitable donation does NOT right a wrong. A crime is a crime. If you could get out of a crime by making a charitable contribution, well senators would be a fountain of generosity, and our prisons would be empty.
Watchdogs or lapdogs?
June 23, 2008 - 14:41 ET by SouthernRootsThe media claim their special status is due to being the "watchdogs" of government.
But, when the watchdog sides with one political party and advances that party and their ideology, aren't they more like lapdogs than watchdogs?
During the initial invasion of Iraq, we were stunned when news agencies told us that journalists couldn't "take sides", because the news wouldn't be "true".
Why can they "take sides" in politics? If they so obviously "take sides", how are we to really know what the truth is in their reporting?
I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them. - J.B. Books (John Wayne)
This Only Focuses On The Lib Congressional Clowns
June 23, 2008 - 15:31 ET by JDWTo where has Johnson, an Obama VP candidate, disappeared?
JDW
Will Ted Kennedy help write the universal health care bill?
Newsbusters
June 23, 2008 - 16:43 ET by MivvisShould have at least a segment (daily/weekly) on Fox (who else would have them) to start calling out the network and print media on this kind of s**t. It's way past due. I believe they would have more support than they expect.
Just make certain the
June 23, 2008 - 18:41 ET by Rush FanJust make certain the segment is not on Shep Smith's programs. He said today that the evidence was clear that global warming was partially caused by man. He said that he wasn't saying that, but 'scientist' were saying it. Although he's a star on Fox, I suspect he is a dumb liberal at heart.
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Which political party is invested in our defeat in Iraq?
Well of course it is
June 23, 2008 - 16:51 ET by bigtimerWell of course it is despicable the leftist msm barely mentioned this..they mentioned it enough to say they reported on it, but of course they aren't going to make the huge deal out of this that should be..it is an OUTRAGE...they should be investigated ect...there should be a heck of a lot of 24/7 msm coverage on this and investigative reporting ect...
They are DEMOCRATS...it is NOT ever going to happen.
NO BIAS/HYPOCRISRY here!
We all know what would happen, and be happening now if this was reversed with the msm, let alone the immediate call for hearings in Congress.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson
Of course they're not going
June 24, 2008 - 00:03 ET by BigSky1970Of course they're not going to make a big deal out of it. There are no Republicans involved for the media to hammer away at or mock in the public arena for the left's amusement.
Larry the shoe tapper still in office
June 23, 2008 - 18:03 ET by BarrackThe media is beyond shilling for democrats. They have devolved to simply sucking up to power..
After all, Larry the shoe tapper escaped relatively unscathed, didn't he?
A guy that lost three fingers in a meat grinder could count the number of politicians with integrity on his bad hand.
www.benbarrack.com
What exactly, did the "shoe
June 23, 2008 - 18:14 ET by NL207What exactly, did the "shoe tapper" do?
By comparison, what did Gerry Studds do?
I've heard Dodd's line before
June 23, 2008 - 19:09 ET by pbthinkerSeems to me that Cunningham used Dodd's line that he didn't know what was going on and didn't get anything special, from his bribes, etc. The fact is that NO Republican could get away with this, none. There is little doubt about who the Media Wing of the Democratic Party is.
Democrats: Stuck on Stupid since 2000.
If all of those involved
June 23, 2008 - 23:59 ET by BigSky1970If all of those involved were Republican, we'd never hear the end of it, and the drive-by's would be playing this up as just more of the same old "culture of corruption".