Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Come on, man.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Democrats are back in array!

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

You are here: Home / This is How It’s Done

This is How It’s Done

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If you doubt that McClatchy is the only DC press service with a working bullshit detector, check out “New film on Palin is a fawning one-sided valentine to her“:

It repeatedly cites great poll numbers from her days as governor, but doesn’t mention how they’ve collapsed since then. It brags about her role in pushing for a natural gas pipeline and raising taxes on oil companies – but doesn’t mention that the pipeline hasn’t been built or that her Republican successor now blames the oil taxes for slowing exploration. And it revels in her successful challenge to former Gov. Frank Murkowski, but never mentions the family feud with the Murkowskis or the fact that Alaska voters last year sided with the Murkowskis against Palin’s pick for a Senate candidate.

The whole thing is brutal, and it’s telling to compare it to Ben Smith’s story on the film at Politico:

The atmospherics at times obscure the movie’s core argument, which is that Palin was a serious executive during her partial term in Alaska, taking on the oil industry and the Republican establishment alike in a genuine reform campaign.

That’s Ben’s only attempt to be critical of the movie, and his only criticism is stylistic. Other than that, he simply reprints what the film’s director told him without examining a single factual claim, proving yet again that Politico is nothing more than the TMZ of the Potomac.

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  4. 4.

    amk

    ben smith has always been one two bit, third rate hack of fourth estate, who thinks snark is the answer for all serious questions.

  6. 6.

    Brian R.

    The comments at that McClatchy piece are just what you’d expect:

    Yeah, who said it’s illegal or taking money from taxpayers or just a project of government influenced media companies? Folks are no longer free in Obama’s Amerika to put their money where they intend it to do the most good?
    …
    Now that Barry Soetoro has been nearly fully vetted, America’s center will reject him the next time his name appears on their ballots! Even some liberals have had enough of the teleprompter reader.

  9. 9.

    sdhays

    OT: My dad just sent me this: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/05/daily-show-ratings-soar-fox-slumps-in-may-numbers/

    The most interesting thing in that story, to me, is that Beck and Lush Bimbaugh have each lost a third of their listeners in the last year. That’s great news, to be sure, although I’d like to have data on why. Is it an indication that people are truly rejecting “peak wingnut” or is something else going on? “Over the last year” indicates that the fall-off in ratings was already happening before the Tea Party election in November, so…are they just going somewhere else?

  11. 11.

    Woodrowfan

    yeah, the comments on the bad review are what one would expect. it’s like the Scientologists all swarming to claim that “Battlefield Earth” was a GREAT movie!!!

  14. 14.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    @amk: A sixth sense tells me that liberal criticism of Ben Smith just convinces him he’s doing his job well.

    ETA: Should have known I’d be too slow. I think that only strengthens my argument.

  17. 17.

    Brian R.

    @Steve M.:

    Wow, that Post review is terrific.

    If you’re hopeful (or worried) that this movie is the secret trigger for a Palin relaunch, don’t be. Even if you fixed the blaring soundtrack and took out all the symbols of the cataclysmic evil opposing Palin (barking dogs, disaster footage, a closeup of Rosie O’Donnell), you’d still be left with a hopeless sputtering jumble.
    …
    The busted logic and narrative chop of “The Undefeated” don’t suggest the phrase, “spirited new defense of Palin.” They say, “cyclone landed here.”

  18. 18.

    geg6

    With a few exceptions (like McClatchy), our news media is a toxic sludge. And Politico and the WaPo are the most toxic of all the sludges simply by the virtue that The Village takes them so seriously. It makes me wonder about the news media in Rome around the time of its fall.

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    @Brian R.: I think my wingnut decoder ring is a little out of date. Can someone please remind me why Rosie O’Donnell is supposed to be an avatar of evil?

  25. 25.

    dr. bloor

    @Steve M.:

    Not bizarre at all. Rupert’s gotten as much mileage as he can out of Lady Starburst, so it’s time to kick her to the side of the road and find someone that can win in 2012.

  27. 27.

    MaxB

    I’m getting inspired to give more overt support to McClatchy. Downloaded their iPhone app, for starters.

    NYPost…I think I’ll let that one incubate a while yet.

  28. 28.

    Yevgraf (fka Michael)

    @sdhays:

    That’s great news, to be sure, although I’d like to have data on why

    It is no mystery – listening to those assholes on a constant basis is as much a recipe for domestic household disaster as is a porn addiction. Put simply, when you respond to your wife’s request that you come with her to go see a movie with “but Beck is about to start, and he’s going to tell me – again – that the n*****s are taking everything”, things are going to detonate. Smarter men come to recognize this (I know I did, and it was a close run thing about 10 years ago).

    Now, that third peeloff is not going to result in a great majority of new Obama voters, but it will result in some, as those who stop guzzling the koolaid begin looking at the wider world around them once more.

  31. 31.

    ErikdaRed

    It brags about her role in pushing for a natural gas pipeline and raising taxes on oil companies

    Wow, a Repug raised taxes on oil companies in her state and brags about it??

  32. 32.

    Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water

    “barking dogs, disaster footage, a closeup of Rosie”

    They filmed it at Cole’s house?

  35. 35.

    Bulworth

    Palin was a serious executive during her partial term in Alaska

    Actually this little snippet is so choice I highly recommend it as a new tag.

  36. 36.

    Xenocrates

    I must take issue with your characterization of Politico as “…the TMZ of the Potomac.” TMZ is a gossip site, which uncovers the peccadilloes and foibles of “celebrities”; Politico is allegedly a provider of analysis and coverage of political issues. You are however entirely correct inasmuch as TMZ is honest about what they do, while Politico is not.

  39. 39.

    Nick

    For those of you still thinking the Grifter won’t run…
    she finally hired a voice coach sometime around May 2011.

    The Village has certified as serious and Presidential and she has multiple Breitbartians on her payroll. She can coast to the nomination with lots of behind-the-scenes ratfucking and a few scripted debates.

  40. 40.

    Nutella

    @Nick:

    I’ll be the first of many to say: Judging by her Paul Revere performance, that must be one lousy voice coach.

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