This should be even more fun than the Imaginary War on Christmas.
So S.E. Cupp has a new book, where she claims that the Media is out to Attack and Destroy Christianity - and while they're at it, the Tea Party because it's so Christy.
The first portion of her argument and "proof" that the Media is biased against the Tea Partiers is the claim that CNN & MSNBC supposedly failed to cover the Tea Party Rallies when they started.
It just so happens that Fox News made the exact same claim in a full page Washington Post ad- in response to which Rick Sanchez Totally Pwnd Them, by showing that Fox News borrowed a picture from the CNN Video Feed of the rally.
Rick Sanchez: We covered the event, what we didn't do was promote it. We had four corespondents and two satellite trucks, multiple interviews, law-makers on the record. I have two words for you Fox News, "You Lie!"
S.E. also claims there were "Millions" of Tea Partiers - there weren't. Via RawStory.
The network says that, at some point during the protest, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe -- the head of the organization that organized the demonstration -- stood before the crowd and announced that ABC News had said the crowd at the protest was between one million and 1.5 million people.
ABC said no such thing. As Josh Marshall reported at TalkingPointsMemo, the fire department estimated the crowd at 60,000 to 70,000 people -- a "respectable" size, but nowhere near the order of magnitude that ABC says Kibbe claimed.
Cenk correctly points out that there were other protests that weren't covered by CNN and mainstream Media and he's right. You'd have to go to Thinkprogress to get a report on the Anti-War Protest that occurred just after some of the most recent Tea Party Marches.
While the tea party demonstrations — which were estimated to have been attended by 1,500 – 2,000 people according to Capitol Hill police officers — received an enormous amount of press coverage, a larger demonstration took place. A crowd estimated to be 2,500-strong by Capitol Hill police officers marched through the streets of Washington to mark the seventh anniversary of the war in Iraq and to call on Obama to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and focus all of his efforts on domestic priorities like health care and education.
The news media did not find the second, larger march to be as newsworthy as the tea party demonstration. Using the media data-mining tool Critical Mention, a search by ThinkProgress of the keyword “protest” of the three major cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC, and Fox — found that the tea party protests were covered 31 times between March 19th and March 21st, and the antiwar demonstration was only covered twice.
Or you could look at some of the Anti-SB1070 Immigration Protest Rallies , or the Earth Day/Climate Bill Rally which just occurred a few weeks ago - but for that you'd have to go to Democracy Now - not the Mainstream Media.
Amidst the wrangling on Capitol Hill, thousands of people gathered on the National Mall Sunday to back passage of a robust climate bill. The Earth Day Network organized the rally to cap a week-long series of events marking Earth Day’s fortieth year.
Protester: “I think Congress needs to stop paying attention to what corporations want, what oil companies want, what coal industry wants, and start actually doing what the American people need them to do, which is create legislation that spends our tax dollars on sustainable jobs that create energy for people here in America without creating the pollution and the hazardous waste and all of the other things that come with listening to oil companies, who say, ‘Hey, we’re making money. Don’t take away our oil.’”
S.E. then switches tact and begins to address the "Attack On Christianity" by the Media by using the Prop 8 example that the New York Times did plenty of stories about Anti-Prop 8 Rallies, but no stories about the "Religious Violence" that was committed against them.
Yet again this is high-lighted by a full-page NYT ad - this time taken out by the Mormon Church Denouncing Violence.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expressed appreciation today for a full-page advertisement in The New York Times that decries the “violence and intimidation” directed toward the Church because of its support of Proposition 8.
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expresses its gratitude to the signatories of the full-page advertisement that appeared today in the New York Times. This was a thoughtful and generous gesture at a time when the right of free expression of people of faith has come under attack. We join with those of all religious faiths and political persuasions who have called for reasoned and civil discourse on matters that affect our nation.”
The New York Time certainly did do a story about the involvement of the Mormon Church in the proposition.
Jeff Flint, another strategist with Protect Marriage, estimated that Mormons made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts.
The canvass work could be exacting and highly detailed. Many Mormon wards in California, not unlike Roman Catholic parishes, were assigned two ZIP codes to cover. Volunteers in one ward, according to training documents written by a Protect Marriage volunteer, obtained by people opposed to Proposition 8 and shown to The New York Times, had tasks ranging from “walkers,” assigned to knock on doors; to “sellers,” who would work with undecided voters later on; and to “closers,” who would get people to the polls on Election Day.
Suggested talking points were equally precise. If initial contact indicated a prospective voter believed God created marriage, the church volunteers were instructed to emphasize that Proposition 8 would restore the definition of marriage God intended.
But if a voter indicated human beings created marriage, Script B would roll instead, emphasizing that Proposition 8 was about marriage, not about attacking gay people, and about restoring into law an earlier ban struck down by the State Supreme Court in May.
Besides the fact that this seem like really strange behavior for a supposedly apolitical tax except organization - there's also the part where they LIED claiming the California Supreme Court Decision striking down the ban would mean that "Gay Marriage would be taught in Schools - which brought the foul specter of pedophilia into the mix. Hey man, they don't teach Straight Marriage in our schools - why would they teach that? I mean really.
If they're "teaching" Straight Marriage at your school - I think it's time to call the Special Victims Unit.
S.E. then goes into some truly idiotic argument about how "Christian Allegory" The Chronicles of Narnia did so much better at the Box Office than the "Athiest Allegory(?!)" The Golden Compass because so many Christians supported it, not because Compass was a blatant Narnia Knockoff that just plain stunk. Narnia came out in 2005, and Compass came out in 2007, two years later - they're weren't released at the same time as S.E. asserts. And I guess the Media is so "biased" against Christian Movies they then decided not to make a sequel to Narnia even though it was so lucrative - oh wait, they did make a Sequel called "Prince Caspian." (which did only half the box office of the first film, so much for double milking that cash cow)
And I suppose the Harry Potter movies only do so well because of the strong support from the Wiccans?
After a quick review of the web, the only "Religious Violence" I really found (via Michelle Malkin) was a blogspot call to "burn their churches down and tax the charred timbers" - Ok, I've got a blogspot page I think is pretty nice, but I'm really not expecting the New York Times to do a Story about it, even if I happen to post something as ridiculously stupid as that.
One Dumpster Dive to some obscure chat room/post board does not an act of "Violence" make. It's a THREAT, not an act - remember that the next time someone on the right says something completely fucked up like it's "Liberal Hunting Season".
Here's a deal, we'll admit to and deal with people with violent over-the-top rhetoric on our side, if you'll do it on your side - OK?
Yeah, I know - fat chance of that happening.
Since I'm in California and I was here at the time I do recall that there was some vandalism of Pro Prop 8 signs - turning them into "Prop H8!" I would say the fact that those signs were in the yards of churches, is incidental - although I do find if ironic and disturbing that followers of a man (Christ) who preached the ultimate in tolerance and forgiveness - even proving it by giving up his own life - somehow think that building bigotry and discrimination into the California Constitution isn't an act of violence in and of itself.
It's like upside-down world. They get the right to implement bigotry in the guise of "Defending Marriage" - but don't you Dare call them bigots or your "Oppressing" them?
They get to have a rally and get it covered by EVERYONE, over exaggerate the numbers of people involved and then WHINE when they think they should have gotten Even More Coveage - while various BIGGER rallies don't get covered at all.
This little window into the Wingnut World tells you everything you need to understand their view : They Think the Whole Fracking World Revolves Around THEM!
It's not that they want things "Fair And Balanced" - they want to DOMINATE every issue. They want to CONTROL every debate and relogate every other view to second class status.
"We're the REAL America, Fuck the rest of you unreal people."
"Fuck the Gheys, how dare they want what we have - that's takes it AWAY from us, Right?"
"Fuck the Libs, how dare they think they deserve to have their Tiny little Climate Change, Anti-War, anti-DADT, anti-SB1070 Protests get the same coverage Real Americans Deserve and are entitled too!"
"So what if they get 10 to 20 times as many people showing up - doesn't matter - they LIBS!"
"We all know the Media (that doesn't cover them) is in the tank for Liberals!"
Ok, so here's the ultimate kill shot to all of this blather, if the Mainstream Media is SOOO Biased for Libs - why do so many Liberals go out and create their own media outlets from The Young Turks, to Talking Points Memo, Salon.com, Raw Story, TruthOut, Democracy Now, Think Progress, The Nation, Media Matters, Democratic Underground and even Daily Kos?
Because the Mainstream Media isn't biased towards Libs - it's biased towards Lazy and Stupid.
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage of the Downing Street Memos?
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage of Torture and Murder at Gitmo?
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage of Drone Strikes in Pakistan?
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage of the Fact that Barack Obama's Birth Certificate is Perfectly Valid.
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage that Most of the TARP funds have been paid back?
Where was the Mainstream Media Coverage that the Federal Budget Deficit has dropped by $600 Billion during Obama's First Year?
"Liberal Bias" my Left Ass Cheek.
We on the Left know good and damn well that the media doesn't really cover our issues and perspective accurately - and probably never will - we just don't think it's ALL ABOUT US, because it's not.
We know which way the media world spins, we just aren't So Damn Vain about it.
Also If the Media really was waging a "War on Christianity" seems to me it's been pretty pathetically ineffective - maybe it's time for a retreat or cease fire, because the truth is - they Just Plain SUCK at it.
Vyan
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