Debunking Rachel Maddow

[seemslikeadream]

Debunking Rachel Maddow
by Justin Raimondo, September 14, 2011

On the theory that the best defense is a good offense, the Obama cult is going on the attack – launching a special web site, and a twitter feed, attackwatch.com, which is devoted to refuting the “smears” being repeated by the counter-revolutionary wreckers who oppose the Will of the Dear Leader. “President Obama’s opponents have falsely suggested that the President has not been a strong ally to Israel,” the Obamaites whine. How dare anyone suggest that the US isn’t at Tel Aviv’s beck and call! Even the suggestion of something less than absolute fealty is considered a “smear.” If that doesn’t underscore what’s wrong with American foreign policy in the Middle East, then I don’t know what does.

On the boob tube, Rachel Maddow is leading the counter-attack, going after Republicans for “lying” about the Dear Leader’s wise policies. When Ron Paul said that the US embassy in Iraq is bigger than the Vatican and will cost $1 billion – and that we should be keeping that money at home – Rachel had a cow on camera. No, she barked, the Vatican is 110 acres and the embassy is 108, and also the cost of the embassy is “several hundred million” under $1 billion.” She then crumpled a piece of paper, threw it at the camera, and bellowed “False!”

Rachel, you need to hire some new researchers: yes, Vatican City is 110 acres, but that’s not the same entity as The Vatican. Vatican City is a sovereign state, which includes the Holy See – the actual residence of the Pope and the organizational headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church – as well as the land around it. Indeed, as this source points out:

“Vatican City, the state, is distinct from the Holy See, which is the episcopal leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. The two entities even have distinct passports.”

Look at this detailed map of Vatican City: clearly the Holy See is centered in the buildings encircling St. Peter’s Square, from the Papal Audience Hall in the southern sector, to the Barracks of the Swiss Guards, to the north – totaling perhaps a third of Vatican City’s land area.

Why am I not surprised that Maddow and her staff know even less about the Vatican than they do about other subjects?

As to the cost issue, the answer is to be found in a piece published on … the MSNBC web site! And I quote:

“Estimated cost of over $1 billion

Original cost estimates ranged over $1 billion, but Congress appropriated only $592 million in the emergency Iraq budget adopted last year. Most has gone to a Kuwait builder, First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting, with the rest awarded to six contractors working on the project’s “classified” portion — the actual embassy offices.”

So they want more, and will probably appropriate more in the future – but the original estimates totaled a cool $1 billion, and there’s plenty of time to equal and – yes – surpass that figure.

C’mon, Rachel – you can do better than this – I just know you can!

The question I find fascinating, however, is why – out of all the subjects brought up at the GOP debate – did Mad Cow Maddow pick up on this one in particular? Are the Obamaites getting their clueless followers ready to swallow a new line change about Iraq? You’ll remember that Maddow breathlessly reported on “the last American troops to come out of Iraq” – a laughable propaganda stunt that made her look foolish, what with all those thousands of Americans still there, and the US government making every effort to persuade the Iraqis to let them stay. Oh, but those aren’t troop troops, they’re “back-up” troops, trainers, advisors – and where have we heard this line before?

Maddow gets more disgustingly servile by the day.

[2012 Countdown]

I loved Maddow. She was the greatest. She still does great things. She is however, noticably, imo, increasingly 'towing the party line'. She still steps out on occasion (thinking recent petrolium licensure critique of Administration as example), but when needed, she seems to be willing to catapult the propaganda when asked.

It hurts me to have to say, but yes, she is a 'team player', which is a bad thing in this case.

[elfismiles]

"If what's going on with this escalation that no one is talking about is that the war in Afghanistan is sort of officially expanding into Pakistan, then this isn't just ho-hum, another chapter in the global war that's everywhere, this is Laos and Cambodia, 1970 ... if they're test driving, floating this idea of the war expanding into Pakistan, it is not a secret, and it is not going to be a secret. I guarantee it. I don't plan on being quiet about it. In fact, I plan on screaming bloody murder about it"
- Rachel Maddow

US quietly testing ‘scary new war in Pakistan’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/madd ... -pakistan/

Re: Happy Birthday Afghan War
viewtopic.php?p=359625#p359625

[Belligerent Savant]

It hurts me to have to say, but yes, she is a 'team player', which is a bad thing in this case.

She became a team player the instant she joined The Team. One is not provided the opportunity to join The Team unless they are/will be a Team Player.

Whatever pantomimes or commentary that may have suggested otherwise were simply for the purpose of luring those with the slightest notion a voice in mainstream media may not be compromised.

They are ALL compromised. ALL of them. Even if they don't show it immediately, and even if they themselves may not be fully aware of it initially.

There are no opposing factions in the mainstream media.

[Simulist]

Alaya once called Rachel Maddow a "chirpy little twit."

The description remains apt.

[Wombaticus Rex]

The Format always wins.

When you've gotta produce content every day, it's fucking exhausting.

I did copy work for a "progressive" media company and I was constantly being told to dumb down my work and my "performance review" consisted of a google analytics .pdf showing how poorly my content did since it wasn't linkbait. The phrase "linkbait" was constantly used in my editors' communication with me. Their own inability to be honest with themselves about what they were doing is the only reason I managed to get 90 days of work out of 'em. Everyone wanted to pretend they were the good guys instead of just another flavor of shit.

But enough about my fabulous career. Maddow has to do that gig every single day, so when the media machine is handing you fabricated issues and controversies to comment on...and when getting into pissing matches with "The Opposition" leads to more viewers and clicks than actual original investigations...well, you play the Echo Chamber game. At least it's liberal commentary, right? At least it's Maddow and not Matt Drudge, right? At least the progressives have a voice, right?

...or something.

[Simulist]

Everyone wanted to pretend they were the good guys instead of just another flavor of shit.

If this civilization ever finds itself in need of an epitaph, that might just be it.

[Nordic]

Saw that happen at rawstory. I used to give them A lot of feedback, and we actually had some dialogue at times, and it at one time was pretty constructive. Then they started doing what is desribed here, playing the "their team vs. Our team" shite, and when I called them on it, they admitted those "stories" got hugely more traffic than the other stuff. So it sorta took over.

I made so much noise about it commenting there that they banned me from commenting.

Now I never go there. Just another faux liberal faux news faux alternative non-site.

Pathetic.

If all you care about are hits, why not just post nude celebrity photos or whatever.

[JackRiddler]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... id=8427312

Thu May-27-10 12:11 AM

Apparently Rachel Maddow now works the Pentagon channel.

(This is not an essay. Sometimes I get to ramble.)

Happened to watch the totally lefty-liberal Rachel Maddow Show the last two nights.

Very good coverage of the BP situation. And much else besides.

But mainly, what have I learned?

The military is really cool. Everyone involved in it is totally competent and so well organized. Fleet Week is cool. New Yorkers all love Fleet Week, we look forward to it. Let's go do cool things!

Okay! Here we are with Rachel, on an aircraft carrier. The Iwo Jima. They have such interesting jobs on this ship, as Rachel tells us. Here they are describing their excellent jobs. Some of them fuel planes, some are mechanics. Others do ordnance. A translation is provided for that: "Ordnance would be bombs and missiles, things that blow up." Laughs all around. Ha ha.

Both nights have also had DADT coverage, which was fine as far as the undeniable issue of human rights and fairness goes. But otherwise, again: No critical distance to the military at all. It is so good to serve, serve, serve "your country" by signing up!

Last night she had a guy on in favor of ending DADT. He had fine logical arguments. Then he concluded the interview by saying, forcefully, that a fellow soldier should never care about your sexual orientation, but only care about how good a soldier you are:

"I want to know how good you are at kicking down doors!"

I'm serious, that was how the interview ended, with this guy suddenly yelling, "I want to know how good you are at kicking down doors!"

It's so cool to serve your country. Kick down some doors. It's liberal. Just doing our best.

Or as Gen. McChrystal said about incidents at US checkpoints in Afghanistan:

"WE HAVE SHOT AN AMAZING NUMBER OF PEOPLE, BUT TO MY KNOWLEDGE NONE HAS EVER PROVEN TO BE A THREAT."

Oooh, and now Rachel's posting photos of her exciting visit to the USS Iwo Jima. Go to her site to see. The liberal press.

And then they pretend to have stories about the banksters, and the financial crisis, and money bleeding everywhere. Funny how in all the talk of the budget, taxes, spending, whether to cut or stimulate, scarce resources, hard times, in all that talk... the liberal media, Maddow, Olbermann, Stewart, Colbert, they never seem to mention the 700 billion dollars a year (plus another 200 billion in war appropriations) and the endless resources and energies pulverized to maintain what is increasingly a vanity empire that the rest of the world is leaving behind.

Record sums still spent for "defense," and all these shows include guests from the military, basically doing recruitment. And all of them run recruitment ads from the military services.

(And never mind Rachel's fluff piece yesterday, on how the CIA once used magic tricks. It was noted that the program had a peripheral relation to MKULTRA -- meaning, the mind control and torture program under Dulles -- but never mind that. Let's look at some of the wacky ways the CIA wanted to use magicians. Those funny guys.)

Anyway, God forbid we should cut the Pentagon budget. Or even mention its existence on these liberal programs. God forbid we should see military recruitment as anything other than "service" doing totally cool things on big exciting ships.

"WE HAVE SHOT AN AMAZING NUMBER OF PEOPLE, BUT TO MY KNOWLEDGE NONE HAS EVER PROVEN TO BE A THREAT."

[Simulist]

That's a hell of a good essay, Jack.

And as great as your essay was, your defense of it (to so-called "liberals"!) was equally good.

[overcoming hope]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t75EhlBy9Sg

Rachel Maddow Has Lost Her Mind & People Are Noticing

[82_28]

*embedded it for ya, overcominghope*

[82_28]

This thread is weird to have been coaxed out of hibernation as i was just about to addend to the trump thread this link and also apologize for it having come from Rawstory. . .

WATCH: Scholar Reza Aslan examines whether Trump’s entire presidency is a ‘religious cult’

Reza Aslan, a religion scholar and former CNN host who has written extensively about Islamic fundamentalism, is featured in a new Big Think video in which he asks the question of whether the followers of President Donald Trump constitute a “religious cult.”

Aslan begins by noting that Trump received unprecedented support from American evangelicals during the 2016 presidential election — even more than former President George W. Bush, who identified specifically as an evangelical.

“This makes no sense,” Aslan said. “Especially when you consider that Trump is not just the most irreligious president in modern history — that his entire worldview makes a mockery of core Christian values, such as humility and empathy and care for the poor.”

To examine why this could be, Aslan pointed in part to the rise of the so-called “Prosperity Gospel” that was once seen as completely heretical by most Christians, but that now has garnered a significant following.

“The essential gist of [Prosperity Gospel] is, ‘God wants you to drive a Bentley,'” Aslan explained. “That what Jesus really wants for you is material prosperity… Many white evangelicals looked at Donald Trump and what they saw was a wealthy man, and that wealth, as far as they were concerned, was just a sign of God’s blessings.”

However, Aslan said this alone does not explain why evangelicals, who once were the most likely people to say that a politician’s personal morality matters, now say that they aren’t at all interested in the president’s morality.

“Atheists in America think a politician’s morality is more important than white evangelicals,” Aslan said.

“The only explanation I have for it,” he continued. “Is that Donald Trump has turned a large swathe of white evangelical Christianity into a cult — a religious cult.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/watch- ... ious-cult/

Sorry, I happen to read Rawstory to get the readi-made pulse of liberals out there and I also watch Maddow from time to time. I am enjoying any pile on for any reason when it comes to the dangerous idiot in the "Oval" for the self same reason I have spent almost my entire life battling fundamentalists, evangelicals, racists etc. I'll also post this in the "seriously dangerous" thread shortly. Anyway, strange the term "Obama cult" was used in 2011 in this thread. I suppose so! It's the reason I didn't vote for him. Obviously, dump is far worse for many reasons.

[Heaven Swan]

Very interesting video. Thanks for posting.

Prosperity gospel has also made inroads into the Black churches. This pastor, Creflo Dollar preaches in the Bronx now-

This thread is weird to have been coaxed out of hibernation as i was just about to addend to the trump thread this link and also apologize for it having come from Rawstory. . .

WATCH: Scholar Reza Aslan examines whether Trump’s entire presidency is a ‘religious cult’

Reza Aslan, a religion scholar and former CNN host who has written extensively about Islamic fundamentalism, is featured in a new Big Think video in which he asks the question of whether the followers of President Donald Trump constitute a “religious cult.”

Aslan begins by noting that Trump received unprecedented support from American evangelicals during the 2016 presidential election — even more than former President George W. Bush, who identified specifically as an evangelical.

“This makes no sense,” Aslan said. “Especially when you consider that Trump is not just the most irreligious president in modern history — that his entire worldview makes a mockery of core Christian values, such as humility and empathy and care for the poor.”

To examine why this could be, Aslan pointed in part to the rise of the so-called “Prosperity Gospel” that was once seen as completely heretical by most Christians, but that now has garnered a significant following.

“The essential gist of [Prosperity Gospel] is, ‘God wants you to drive a Bentley,'” Aslan explained. “That what Jesus really wants for you is material prosperity… Many white evangelicals looked at Donald Trump and what they saw was a wealthy man, and that wealth, as far as they were concerned, was just a sign of God’s blessings.”

However, Aslan said this alone does not explain why evangelicals, who once were the most likely people to say that a politician’s personal morality matters, now say that they aren’t at all interested in the president’s morality.

“Atheists in America think a politician’s morality is more important than white evangelicals,” Aslan said.

“The only explanation I have for it,” he continued. “Is that Donald Trump has turned a large swathe of white evangelical Christianity into a cult — a religious cult.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/watch- ... ious-cult/

Sorry, I happen to read Rawstory to get the readi-made pulse of liberals out there and I also watch Maddow from time to time. I am enjoying any pile on for any reason when it comes to the dangerous idiot in the "Oval" for the self same reason I have spent almost my entire life battling fundamentalists, evangelicals, racists etc. I'll also post this in the "seriously dangerous" thread shortly. Anyway, strange the term "Obama cult" was used in 2011 in this thread. I suppose so! It's the reason I didn't vote for him. Obviously, dump is far worse for many reasons.

[JackRiddler]

The Trump presidency is the current leading element within a longstanding cult or group of allied and overlapping cults identifiable as the GOP base exploiting perpetual white fragility, the "Tea Party," the Alt-Right, American Christianism (the biggest organized element), the ideology of business ueber alles, the scapegoating of foreigners, and white supremacy. Another even larger but looser cult that provides the background apathy for the rest could be called National Consumerism, wherein the Trump presidency has been the highest rated program since 2015.