Elephant in Fox Clothing

Letter to NPR about Fox Correspondents on Their Staff

[updated 6/17/2010]

I'm sure I join a loud chorus of listeners that are sick of your correspondents that also work for Fox News.  You need to completely purge your organization of these contaminated, damaged anti-journalists.   Fox News is not a news organization and you should not allow anyone to be employed by NPR and Fox simultaneously.  You don't have correspondents that are in the employ of the RNC's PR office, do you?  There is no difference except the RNC might lie less.


On today's ATC, Fox employee Mora Liasson in a typical Fox-style meaningless aside commented that the President was "reading from a teleprompter."  This is unnecessary information and serves only one function:  To belittle the President of this country.  Do you know what a Dixie dog whistle is?  Well saying Obama was reading from a teleprompter is a wingnut dog whistle and you should be ashamed you let it on the air.  Every single President since Carter has used teleprompters constantly.  GWB always had one though he obviously had trouble reading it.  The only people that make note of this President's use of a teleprompter are people that hate him and are out to end his career.  You seriously need to check your editors and producers about this kind of crap, or is NPR more worried about getting teabaggers to listen to ATC than in presenting the news in a truly fair and balanced manner?

[response from NPR 6/17/2010]

Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 2:46 PM

Subject: Re: Right Wing Fox News Language – Message ID:26967

Response to Message #26967:

Dear Alan,

Thank you for contacting the Ombudsman. We appreciate your feedback on NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson who also appears on Fox New.

It is not uncommon for NPR reporters to appear on other networks, such as CNN and PBS.  Ombudsman Alicia Shepard wrote a column on this issue. NPR continually evaluates what its reporters say, how they present their work, and whether that crosses an ethical line, and NPR staff is held to a strict code of ethics and practices. These standards are in place to protect and support the integrity, impartiality and conduct of journalists.

When recently asked, Senior VP of News Ellen Weiss confirmed that NPR is continually evaluating how appearances on other news outlets may or may not undermine the NPR journalist’s reputation as an impartial source of information. 

Again, thank you for bringing your observations and thoughts regarding language used in Mara Liasson's report on All Things Considered to our attention. We appreciate you taking time to write.

Best,
Alexandria Neason
Office of the Ombudsman
NPR

[My response]

Please let it be known that I think any correspondent with a link to Fox News is damaged merchandise and should not be allowed airtime on NPR.  With no problem I can find you 10 qualified individuals in New Orleans that can do her job without throwing in disguised insults against our President in the process.  Anyone that is associated with Fox News is contaminated by their fascist leadership and should not be allowed a voice on National Public Radio.

 

Also you did not address her noting the President was reading from a teleprompter.  This is unacceptable on every level, especially that of journalistic behavior.  It is a BS partisan slur and you damn well know it whether it is stated specifically in your code of ethics (which it isn't) or not.

You may not watch Fox News (what sane person can?) but this teleprompter nonsense has been one stick in the continuous drumbeat of opposition to our President, along with the birther nonsense and more recently the "he's not angry enough/he's too angry" blather that you have also stooped to covering.  When will NPR have the balls to say enough is enough?  Fox News is a propaganda wing of the GOP and to say it is other is to lie to oneself.

 

 

Talk to the Hand Some More

Lou Dobbs, Will He Rise Again?

I don't think very highly of Lou Dobbs. He's an angry, opinionated bigot with a cable television show. Since the 70's he has moved from a poverty advocate and young journalist to a xenophobic, creationist, birther

As of today he no longer has a job at CNN. I'm sure this is in large part due to his hateful attitude, big angry mouth, racist talk, and wingnut beliefs like supporting the "birther movement."

The problem is that this won't shut him up. He still has a radio show. It is vaguely reported that he may be moving to Fox Noise. I guess it will make it even easier for him to be ignored but in a way it will amplify his angry, hateful message to the True Believers out there. Are people like him still listened to just because they're listened to? Does being a celebrity make increasingly offensive and ignorant opinion still worth attention? More importantly, what value do people like him actually bring to our society that warrants the astonishing amount of money they are paid?

Odd that this video ties nicely into the preceding post about Glenn Beck as well as our boy Lou Dobbs:

The Born Identity

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The Rape and Pillage Agenda

I just cannot understand why any real news organization would defend Fox Noise for two tenths of a second. They are no more a legitimate news organization than The Weekly World News or Mad Magazine and nobody's worried whether or not they get interviews from the White House.

Just Watch This, Fox Noise Fans

Ignorance v. Stupidity

Thanks Beck, Bachmann, Dobbs, et. al.

AP source: Census worker hanged with 'fed' on body

By DEVLIN BARRETT and JEFFREY McMURRAY (AP) – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.

Investigators have said little about the case. The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, said Wednesday the man was found hanging from a tree and the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest. The official did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word.

Who fanned the flames that resulted in this murder? I'm going to blame Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Fox Noise, Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Ann Coulter, and every other hate baiting shitbag fouling up our radios and televisions. This is not the first time they have had blood on their hands and it won't be the last. They don't care as long as they're good and rich. These people have done more to destroy what is good in America than any terrorist or communist. Congratulations, fuckers.

"Makin' Things Up"

One can only hope that Sarah Palin will now either vanish into momhood, go to prison, or get a talkshow on Fox Noise. Either way I will rarely have to listen to the vapid, blithering idiot whereas if she runs for national office I'll be forced to pay attention to her. Next to her George W. Bush sounds like an intellectual. I'm not sure how anyone can stand up before an audience and just make word-like noises like she does and not be ashamed. Then again, shame is a virtue rarely seen amongst Republicans.

Frankensenator

Congratulations to Al Franken for overcoming the endemic right wing corruption in our electoral system by managing to barely win his Senate seat. The decision was finalized by the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday. A tip of the hat to his opponent Norm Coleman for not continuing in the federal courts for the next five years. He was a bit of a dick for carrying it this far but he is a Republican, after all. Why couldn't he be more like a Democrat and cave in after a few weeks? Oh that's right, Republicans don't mind stealing elections.

For some reason Rush Limbaugh and the entire Rupert Murdoch Nazi propaganda empire are absolutely apoplectic over Al Franken becoming the 100th Senator. Maybe Rush is so upset because of a wonderful little book Franken wrote in the 90's:

By the way, Rush Limbaugh is still a big fat idiot and a liar and a bully and, to quote Keith Olbermann, he continues to be a great big bag of jack ass.

And it is quite possible that Fox Noise and the rest of the reality challenged universe of Rupert Murdoch owned media outlets (often confused with news reporting organizations) is shaking white with anger against Franken because of this other little book he wrote that basically condemns everyone being paid by Rupert Murdoch and everyone in the Republican party:

Both of these books are highly recommended by me, the smartest person in the room. You will laugh a lot (unless you're one of the above-mentioned Murdoch employees or the kind of drooling idiot that believes what Rush Limbaugh says) when you're not apoplectic with rage that there is no way to imprison people for careers built on lying.

Was Congressman Ensign Tipped Off By Fox "News?"

Fox, Coburn knew about affair before Ensign's admission

by Jed Lewison (Daily Kos)

Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 09:19:40 AM PDT

A week before John Ensign's admission that he'd carried on an affair with a former political aide, her husband wrote a letter to Fox anchor Megyn Kelly detailing the affair and appealing to Kelly and Fox for help...

Again proving they are nothing but a Republican propaganda machine, Fox "News" is the last network to report Senator Ensign's affair despite being the first and only network told about it by the adultress's husband, Doug Hampton, in advance of Ensign's news conference where he admitted to being a worthless SOB. Hampton only wrote to Fox News, and reportedly Ensign held his news conference because, "Mr. Hampton first approached the media. He approached a major television news channel before Tuesday. We learned of this fact before the press conference," Ensign's spokesman said. So Fox Noise tipped off Ensign and then did not report on the affair until everyone else had pitched in. Really reprehensible, but what more can we expect from these lying fuckers?

I think my favorite part of this is how Hampton tells Fox how much he admires them in his letter. And then they shit on him. Typical Republicans.

Fox "News," Your Wadded Panties are Showing

A Thousand Reasons Cokie Roberts Should Not Be On NPR... EVER.

I remember having my hackles raised by Cokie Roberts last year when then President-elect Obama went to visit his dying grandmother in Hawaii and this aging news parrot regurgitated the right wing's talking point du jour that he was running off to some place "exotic." Repeating this ugly nonsense requires the same journalistic ethics as the "terrorist fist bump" statement/question or Fox Noise's "some people say" bullshit slanders ("some people" being the shitheels in the "news" room at Fox). So it warmed my heart to be linked to this story from Slate which absolutely rips on Roberts and NPR for giving her air time. [thanks Harper's]

Perfectly Obvious Cokie

Behold how little substance NPR's Cokie Roberts can pack into four minutes of airtime.

By Jack Shafer - Updated Friday, May 1, 2009, at 6:50 PM ET

...I can think of no comparably sized media space that's as void of original insight and information as Roberts'. Her segments, though billed as "analysis" by NPR, do little but speed-graze the headlines and add a few grace notes. If you're vaguely conversant with current events, you're already cruising at Roberts' velocity. Roberts doesn't just voice the conventional wisdom; she is the conventional wisdom. Give a listen to her March 9, 2009, chatter:

Some [Republicans] say the president is doing too much, what he's doing too much about things they don't necessarily want him to do right now—healthcare, education, energy. And they're worried that he's using this crisis for big changes that they don't want. And, of course, that is the case. The administration will try to do that. But they go between saying that he's a socialist, and the president did seem to feel the need to call a New York Times reporter after an interview this weekend to say he's not a socialist. And the Republicans are saying he should—some Republicans—that he should nationalize the banks. So it is, you know, it is all over the place.

And then some say he should be doing more. Others say he's mortgaging our children's future. So I think that they're just trying to get their voices out there, mainly trying to drown out Rush Limbaugh's voice as the voice of the Republican party.

If you can find an original thought in there, you're welcome to it.

...

Don't despise Roberts' journalism just for what she says but for how she says it. The most irritating of her collection of tics is declaring a specific news topic "interesting," "very interesting," or "really interesting." Yet her declarations almost never signal the approach of anything notable: It's her way of squid-inking the waters so she can say something completely superficial and escape before the listener can think it though. Examples:

"It's interesting, Harry Reid is also somewhat crossways with the president on the issue of earmarks."
—March 2, 2009

"Well, you know, what is interesting is when you talk to Republicans in Congress, they say, look, we know we're not voting with [Obama]."
—Feb. 23, 2009

"Senator Gregg is an interesting choice for commerce secretary."
—Feb. 2, 2009

"Each side [is] trying to make bi-partisanship a partisan issue. You know, I'm being more bi-partisan than you are. And that's an interesting dynamic to see play out."
—Jan. 25, 2009

"But one thing I found really interesting is [Bush] said he didn't feel isolated in this job, which you've heard from other presidents."
—Jan. 12, 2009

"But Bob Gates is a very interesting character."
—Dec. 1, 2008

"Well, there's this interesting scenario that both campaigns have spun out, that they could each end up with 269 electoral votes, a tie, and each would need one more to get to the 270."
—Oct. 6, 2008

"So it's going to be interesting to see how [the Palin nomination] plays out."
—Sept. 1, 2008

Fox News

From a The Daily Show frame.

Tea Bagging... by Republicans

From the "too good to be true department" and our good friends at Fox "News" comes a movement for "teabagging." Proving once again that they're not even vaguely a journalistic endeavor, Fox Noise is hyping "tea parties" to protest something horrible (I think it's letting the tax rate on the wealthiest people in America go back to 35% which, as we all know, effects most of Fox Noise's viewership) by "tea bagging" politicians. I'm not kidding, the Republicans have come out pro-teabagging. Rachel Maddow can barely get through this segment:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Second Amendment?

Killer Angry, Believed Guns Would Be Banned

Thanks, Rush Limbaugh. Thanks, Bill O'Reilly. Thanks, vast right-wing noise machine.

Richard Poplawski, Gunman 'Lying In Wait,' Kills 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers

PITTSBURGH — A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and "lying in wait" opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said.

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.

more...

Why NPR Should Fire Cokie Roberts

I was outraged at the time and now I find I'm not even vaguely alone:

In the end, it wasn't close. By an overwhelming margin, criticism by Cokie Roberts, NPR contributing senior news analyst and ABC political commentator, of then-Sen. Barack Obama for choosing Hawaii, the state of his birth, to take his August family vacation was the most popular entry in Media Matters for America's poll for Most Inane Punditry of the 2008 presidential campaign. Readers chose Roberts' comments -- which included her characterizing Hawaii, where Obama vacations regularly, as "foreign, exotic" -- in greater numbers than her two closest competitors combined. Roberts stated: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place," adding, "He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time."

...

Vote totals in percentages*:

Cokie Roberts on Obama's Hawaii vacation: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state," but it looks "foreign, exotic"	38.65
Scarborough on Obama's "dainty" bowling performance: "Americans want their president, if it's a man, to be a real man"	16.76
Barnes: Obama not "strong on national security" because he opposed war "when the entire world believed" Saddam had WMD	16.71
Brooks thinks Obama wouldn't seem to "fit[] in naturally" at an Applebee's salad bar -- maybe because Applebee's doesn't have them	5.95
Defending Givhan's cleavage coverage, Harwood asserted "calculati[ng]" Clinton knew "what she was communicating by her dress"	5.79
Fox News' Hill criticizes Clinton for leaving too large a tip, accuses her of "spending like a Learjet liberal"	5.59
On Hardball, Matthews and Shuster critiqued Obama's "weird" beverage selection at Indiana diner	4.80
Matthews on Obama shooting pool: "[I]t's not what most people play. People with money play pool these days"	2.48
Matthews: "Who would win a street fight ... Rudy Giuliani or President Ahmadinejad"	2.30
Politico's Simon now on to a different part of Romney's anatomy: "shoulders you could land a 737 on"	0.97

Personally I can't understand why anyone who has so obviously bought into an ideological argument (i.e. "Obama is the other.") would be allowed to report news or give opinions about news by any self respecting news organization, especially one as respected as NPR. Her opinion is worthless and it disgusts me that NPR is still paying this woman to spout bullshit while laying off actual journalists. Let her go work at Fox Noise where facts have nothing to do with what they broadcast and where "opinion" is all that matters and calling someone's home state "exotic" or a common hand geture "a terrorist fist bump" is just the way things are done but get her off of NPR while there is still something left to respect there.

(Someday soon I will rant about NPR's religious segments on their news. American churches have broader media coverage than NPR so they really don't deserve the attention NPR gives them, I don't care who the fuck is giving them money to do it.)

Radio

I just heard on NPR's All Things Considered a letter from a listener. One line was, "It's not every day we hear our favorite band on the radio." I think that just about says all that needs to be said about American radio.


But I'm not the type to stop at "all that needs to be said," am I?

If American radio were any good, most people would be able to say they hear their favorite band(s) regularly on the radio. I am sure (going out on a limb here as I have no poll results to draw on) that amongst people who consider themselves music fans you will find very few who listen to music on the radio at all.

If you exclude the truly rich radio environments like New York, Atlanta, L.A., etc., and look at all the rest of the country you will find the music that is locally available is homogeneous and extremely limited. This means most Americans who are really into music will never hear their favorite band on the radio. All Americans everywhere can hear the vapid crap the music industry is marketing at us but few Americans can hear anything else... on their radio.

I'm a fan of radio. I think radio can be amazing. But I know that variety in radio is a thing of the past for those of us outside the major metropolitan areas. We have to move to our iPods and satellite radio but this removes that amazing touch of having this other person playing music for us.

I can remember listening to the FM radio late at night in the middle of nowhere in far eastern Kentucky and hearing some guy playing me some records he liked, and then tuning around on AM and hearing the voices of djs in Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans. The strange blasts of Mexican radio. Now we have the same Clear Channel stations everywhere we go. If you're in the middle of Kansas you're going to hear the same thing you'll hear in the middle of Kentucky or anywhere else more than 50 miles from a big city. There was a time when those music stations would've been locally owned and operated by people who were playing music for the people around them. Now the music is a carefully manipulated blend of nauseating crap that the dinosaur music industry in this country understands how to "market."

There was a time when a song would be released, and hundreds if not thousands of djs would decide whether or not they were going to play it and then tens if not hundreds of thousands of listeners would call in and asked to hear it again and that's how a hit became a hit. Now the record companies ship a million copies of a song, negotiate with Clear Channel and its competitor(s) for "rotation" and "number of plays" and voila, you've got a number one single. The thing the record industry doesn't get: A hit is now meaningless.

I am developing a long screed about the fact that marketing as a business is the parasite that is killing its host. Look for it.

Right Wing Attack Machine

I'm beginning to think we need some control over what gets aired as "news" in this country. Actually I've felt that way for a very long time, but what are we to do with the way the right wing courts have interpreted the First Amendment? People like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, et. al. are allowed to present hate, lies, and innuendo as fact while basically making shit up to support their comments with no oversight or ethics whatsoever. Have you ever heard a correction from these people even though their lies and bullshit are well documented? An actual news organization is required by the basic rules to admit and correct mistakes.

"But it's just entertainment," the slimy bastards responsible shout. "It's opinion," blather the talking heads and soulless producers of these stinking piles of shit. If this is the case perhaps there should be regular disclaimers required for these kind of shows that pretend to be reporting news and facts while lying and deceiving and perverting our Democracy.

This leads me to post this piece from the group Media Matters. It carefully sums up the subtle (and less than subtle) ways that the right wing propaganda machine shapes the views of their sheepish and stupid followers. This particular piece is only about how they attack Obama. To write about all their deception and organized propaganda would take a book that would need to be updated every few hours, thus their excellent site:

The Weekly Update from Media Matters for America

E. D. Hill has company

When Fox News anchor E. D. Hill suggested that Barack and Michelle Obama may have engaged in a "terrorist fist jab" at a recent campaign event, condemnation (and mockery) of Hill's comments was swift, and forced her to offer an on-air quasi-apology.

While Hill's apology was unusual (though not unprecedented -- just a few weeks ago, a Fox analyst apologized for joking about assassinating Obama), her original comments were sadly typical of the media's treatment of Obama. Since he began running for president, news reports have relentlessly suggested that Obama is different; that he isn't like you; that he isn't on your side.

Sometimes, like Hill's "terrorist fist jab" comment, those suggestions have been obvious, and clearly offensive. Other times, they have been comparatively subtle and seemingly pointless -- Chris Matthews' deep concern with Barack Obama's decision to order orange juice in a diner and what it says about his ability to connect with "regular people," for example. But they have two things in common: They portray Obama as weird -- un-American, even -- and they do so based on little more than the fevered imaginations of some journalists and the vicious lies of right-wing partisans.

Rush Limbaugh says Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden are "on the same page." Other conservative commentators have suggested an affinity between Obama and Hamas -- despite Obama's denunciations of the organization, and its description of Obama's policy positions as "hostile to us." Conservative columnist Mark Steyn has described Michelle Obama as "Kim Jong-Il dressed up with a bit of Oprah Winfrey dressing."

Michael Savage claims to "doubt" that Obama "would take our side" after a terrorist attack, adding that Obama would "march thousands of us into the hands of the enemy in order to gain what they would think would be a long-term peace. I think that they would gladly take the guns of the American military and turn them first on the American patriot, rather than turning the guns of the American patriot on the enemy within." Savage also asks, "Why are there no queries being provoked about Saddam Hussein -- I mean, Barack Hussein Obama?" Tucker Carlson has compared Obama's campaign to the Khmer Rouge, the brutal Cambodian regime that led to the deaths of nearly a quarter of that nation's people.

Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman responded to a question referencing the possibility of "Osama blowing up the Sears Tower" by writing, "How about Obama blowing up the Sears Tower! I never liked that building anyway." Weisman did add, "Just kidding, folks." Another washingtonpost.com reader later followed up: "Um, did you really just joke about Obama blowing up the Sears Tower, or were you thinking Osama, but wrote Obama? Either way, not funny."

Weisman wasn't the first reporter to use the "just kidding" defense after inappropriately and baselessly linking Obama to a controversial figure. CNN commentator Jeff Greenfield (now with CBS) compared Obama's tendency to wear shirts with open collars to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's preferred style of dress. When criticized by, among others, Columbia Journalism Review, Greenfield claimed he had been kidding, that he meant the commentary as a "patently absurd parody of muddled political thinking" and lashed out at his critics.

But humor (if you can call it that) doesn't excuse making comments like this -- indeed, it makes it more likely that the public will remember and internalize the comparisons, and that the caricatures will take hold.

Media figures also often portray Obama as un-American or unpatriotic. Dick Morris says that "the question that plagues Obama is ... Is he pro-American?" and that the presidential election hinges on whether "we believe" Obama is "sort of a sleeper agent who really doesn't believe in our system." Investor's Business Daily asks, "Would Obama put African tribal or family interests ahead of U.S. interests?" On Fox & Friends, host Steve Doocy says Obama has "patriotism problems." MSNBC's Chris Matthews thinks "it's a hard thing for someone like Barack Obama" to express a "gut sense of Americanism" and describes Obama as "almost Third World in his sort of presentation." Jonah Goldberg falsely claims Obama "dodg[es] the word and concept of patriotism." And countless news reports -- not just in the right-wing media -- have obsessed over the fact that Obama often does not wear a flag pin (Fox News' Sean Hannity particularly loves this line of attack -- despite the fact that Hannity himself often appears on television without such a pin) or have passed along ridiculous claims about Obama and the Pledge of Allegiance, as CBS News and The Washington Post (among others) have done.

Countless news reports have directly suggested Obama is secretly a Muslim, while others uncritically report the allegation without bothering to make clear that it is false. As is often the case, Michael Savage takes things a bit further, falsely claiming that "we have an unknown stealth candidate who went to a madrassas in Indonesia and, in fact, was a Muslim," and stating, "We have a right to know if he's a so-called friendly Muslim or one who aspires to more radical teaching."

Gratuitously invoking Obama's middle name -- Hussein -- is a favorite tactic used by conservative media figures such as Ann Coulter to associate Obama with Saddam Hussein. (Coulter claims that she does it not out of malice but "because I think it's funny.") For some, Obama's actual name isn't enough: Right-wing radio host Bill Cunningham referred to Obama as "Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama." (Just a few weeks later, Cunningham was chosen to warm up the crowd at one of Sen. John McCain's campaign rallies.)

MSNBC's Matthews has explained the problem with these gratuitous references to Obama's name:

[E]ven that little seemingly neutral information gets into some older people's heads, and they go, "We got a problem here."

[...]

[O]lder people -- and I can tell stories in the millions about politicians playing to older voters. They play on the past. They play on fear. They play on confusion. They play on suggestion. You know how it's done with older voters.

But Matthews himself was the first person -- media figure or political operative -- to invoke Obama's middle name in a political context in any news report available in Nexis. Way back in November of 2006, Matthews noted: "You know, it's interesting that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. That will be interesting down the road, won't it?" And now Matthews says that the mention of Obama's middle name plays on "fear" and "confusion" and "suggestion" with "older voters." So why did he introduce the name into the national conversation?

Matthews frequently claims that Obama is not a "regular" person -- and that his supporters aren't "regular people," either, as I explained last week:

Matthews' election-night portrayal of Obama as out of touch with "most Americans" was striking in its intensity, but it was not a new theme. MSNBC personnel, particularly Matthews, have been trying out this anti-Obama theme for months. Matthews has attacked Obama for shooting pool ("[I]t's not what most people play. People with money play pool these days.") and obsessed over what he claims is Obama's inability to connect with "regular people" in "a dinette." And Matthews and David Shuster mocked Obama for the grievous sin of ordering orange juice in a diner.

Matthews has said of Obama, "[T]his gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody, but the fact that he's that terrible at bowling does make you wonder." On another occasion, Matthews suggested that Obama's lack of bowling prowess "tells you something about the Democratic Party." Matthews has contrasted "regular people" with "people who come from the African-American community." He has suggested Obama should pick a Jewish running mate because he "need[s] some ethnic balance." Matthews has said Obama "seems a little foreign" and that he and Jeremiah Wright are "different faces of the same guy."

Matthews' portrayal of Obama as unlike "regular people" is catching on. The New York Times' David Brooks recently said Obama wouldn't seem to "fit in naturally" at an Applebee's salad bar. (Turns out that, by Brooks' logic, it is Brooks himself who is out of touch with "regular people"; Applebee's doesn't have a salad bar.) And on MSNBC on Tuesday, columnist Margaret Carlson said of Obama: "Don't you want to say to him, 'Eat the taco. A funnel cake won't kill you.' " Carlson then asserted that Obama needs to get "a little bit more down with the people."

Other examples of the media portraying Obama as strange or dangerous abound. Coulter suggests Obama is "a Manchurian candidate." Fox News Radio's Tom Sullivan compares Obama's speeches to Hitler's. Slate.com teases an article with the line "Why Obama is Like a Serial Killer." Tucker Carlson says Obama "sounds like a pothead to me" and "seems like kind of a wuss," while MSNBC colleague Joe Scarborough suggests Obama is not a "real man."

And the media don't stop at portraying Obama as abnormal; his supporters have received similar treatment. Brooks, Time's Joe Klein, ABC's Jake Tapper, and other media figures have called Obama supporters "creepy" and "cult-like" and compared them to followers of Charles Manson.

Obviously there is a difference between calling Barack Obama a terrorist or suggesting he might not "take our side" in the event of a terrorist attack and saying his lack of bowling prowess prevents him from understanding and connecting with "regular people." But both storylines portray Obama as out of the mainstream; they each prime audiences to be more receptive to the other (and the more extreme comments coming from the likes of Michael Savage and Fox News have the pernicious effect of making Chris Matthews' absurd claims about Obama and "regular people" seem reasonable by comparison) -- and neither has any basis in reality. After all, polls show Obama beating McCain, so he must not be doing too badly among "regular people."

Yesterday, Barack Obama's campaign unveiled a website dedicated to rebutting false rumors. On MSNBC Live, Andrea Mitchell and Time's Jay Carney discussed the need for the new site:

MITCHELL: [Obama] was being asked by reporters about things that are completely unprovable, and the way this stuff circulates, it's so viral that a reporter asks him a question, it gets picked up, and then that ratifies the rumor, which we're not even going to be talking about because, you know, there's no proof about a lot of this stuff. So --

CARNEY: You know, the one, Andrea -- there's one in particular that they talk about where Michelle is alleged in a rumor to have referred to white Americans as whitey in a speech at, of course, the Trinity church, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's church. There's no evidence at all that this is true. This rumor started circulating among conservative bloggers and then was picked up and just repeated as a rumor by Rush Limbaugh, of course, the widely listened-to conservative talk radio host. Now over -- driving over to the studio just half an hour ago I heard Rush Limbaugh's show, and he's talking about this non-stop, talking about how it's not -- you know, he's not to blame, he was just reporting a rumor. But of course, he spent half --

MITCHELL: But reporting a rumor, Jay --

CARNEY: But he spent half an hour at least when I was listening to him re-circulating the very rumor without shooting it down, so that's the effect of these things.

MITCHELL: Well, let's put it to rest right now. This didn't happen. It hasn't happened, it's not gonna happen. But the Obama campaign has felt concerned enough clearly about all of this --

CARNEY: Exactly.

MITCHELL: -- and our own NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows this resistance to him by, you know, white men, with McCain having a 20-point lead in -- among white men and still problems with suburban women, which is kind of more understandable coming out of a primary election between him and Hillary Clinton. This is something he's going to have to fix.

CARNEY: Right. It's out there and they just have to -- the goal of circulating these rumors from Obama opponents is basically to create an atmosphere of doubt about the candidate -- about his patriotism, about his background, his religion.

Journalists like Andrea Mitchell and Jay Carney understand that the repetition of baseless rumors "ratifies the rumors," as Mitchell put it. And they understand the intent behind the rumors -- creating "an atmosphere of doubt about the candidate," as Carney said.

But journalists need to do more than understand the intent and effect of false rumors pushed by the right. They need to understand how their own reporting and commentary have similar effects, regardless of their intent. They need to understand that they have a responsibility that goes beyond being careful not to spread (intentionally or otherwise) these bogus right-wing themes; they also have a responsibility to aggressively report the truth. There is a broad smear campaign being waged against Barack Obama, and it is long past time for the media to expose and debunk those smears, not play into them.

I highly recommend checking out Media Matters' site. You can easily search out clips of the pundits and articles about the media that are full of facts and full quotes instead of the lies and highly edited mangling Fox News and pals dish out.