Well, establishment media, especially the NYT, has gone all-in on protecting Trump in the wake of Wolff’s book. This is a pretty good signal of what will happen when Trump starts issuing pardons and firing prosecutors, i.e. absolutely nothing.
There’s one and only one thing we can do over the next year to save our country, and that’s take over the House or Senate. If you can volunteer for a campaign, do it! Most aren’t off the ground yet, though, so let’s help build a war chest for Democrat challengers in the House in the meantime. Here’s the Balloon Juice fund that gives money to every Democratic House challenger in every district currently held by Republicans. Let’s win all of them.
Update. Perhaps I’m not being fair to non-NYT outlets but here’s a CNN anchor offering an idiotic defense of Maggie.
Villago Delenda Est
The Vichy Times needs to be dealt with, harshly, for their normalization of this fascist fuck.
Haberhack and Thrush need to sport shaven heads for the rest of their lives.
cokane
i dont think thats a fair assessment at all. i think plenty of mainstream outlets have been quite generous towards the book despite its journalistic sloppiness.
it’s true that the NYT Whitehouse corps has been bad on it, but otherwise this isnt really the case
geg6
I guess I’m not seeing what you’re seeing, Doug. The only MSM outlet I see that is defending Dolt 45 is the NYT. The news programs I’ve seen seem to be questioning his sanity and abilities and the WaPo has been pretty good, too.
That said, fuck the New York Times and let’s get Dems elected everywhere!
Doug!
@cokane:
Give me an example.
schrodingers_cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Do you have a hypothesis as to why they want to be in bed with the Nazis?
In other news:
Stable genius made the first page!
Yarrow
I’m seeing reporters from various outlets pointing out where Wolff’s book is “wrong.” I put that in quotes because they claim to know that someone pitched them X story that’s in the book and they couldn’t confirm it, therefore it isn’t true. There are also details that are wrong, names mixed up, and so forth so that means the whole book is suspect.
The journalists I’ve seen doing that or retweeing someone else’s tweets about it are from all sorts of media outlets. They want to nitpick it to death. My impression is they know they were scooped in a big way. They want to tear Wolff down.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
For one of them, male pattern has beaten you to it. We could take his affecta-dora away.
@Doug!: Do you consider MSNBC part of the mainstream? (Question, not a troll). I assume Andrea Mitchel has been doing her usual schtick, and I don’t know where the Joe and Mika Morning Zoo Croo is on it, but the primetime lineup is all in promoting it, even Brian Williams was more focused on the content than the author’s idiosyncrasies, I think
Doug!
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
MSNBC is on borderline establishment, but only borderline.
Another Scott
I donated again last night.
Maybe get Alain to put this thermometer at the top of the right column during the next update? (I generally keep the ActBlue page for this open in another tab, to have a reminder as I cycle through the things I read every day.)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Libarbarian
I believe I will be of more use yelling at other, insufficiently progressive, people on Twitter.
cokane
@Doug!: NBC’s Katy Tur’s “feels right” comment, CNN’s Stelter has pointed out its flaws but overall is giving it good coverage.
the Wapo washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/fire-and-fury-proves-an-often-forgotten-rule-dont-assume-were-off…
and washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2018/01/05/i-read-fire-and-fury-so-you-didnt-have-to-president-t…
let’s not get into conservative victim complex about the “MSM” plz. you cannot report on this book without taking some shots at its sloppiness. but overall there’s been a lot of generosity
Barbara
I don’t see the need to paint with such a broad brush. The LA Times (quoted yesterday) more or less captured the truth that the Wolff book embodies: that he depicts what many journalists have seen but can’t bring themselves to report on, and that they are pissed that their own book contracts have become less valuable (this is for me Haberman’s basic issue, the one that creates a profound conflict of interest for all of her political reporting) and, more than that, they can’t do what Wolff did — and that is wallow in the shit show without spraying deodorant around it so it doesn’t come across to the rest of us as vile as it surely is.
Link: latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-wolff-book-20180108-story.html
Other papers have contained examples of what you have stated, along with examples more like the LAT. I realize you have A VIEW of the world but in this case there are contrary facts that deserve to be noted.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
1) Because they can?
2) “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.”
3) “Who you gonna believe, HaberThrush’s ‘reporting,’ or your lying eyes?”
4) “Maybe they’ll kill us last”?
I could go on, but I need to earn my keep.
geg6
@Doug!:
We watch CBS’ evening news most evenings. It’s not quite as good as it was when Scott Pelley was anchoring, but they seem to be reporting this story pretty well. Yes, they point out that Wolff may not be entirely accurate, but that the picture he paints is essentially correct. Major Garrett isn’t buying any of the WH bullshit.
Hungry Joe
Meantime, as all this is going on, I’m channeling Yarrow: “Tick tock, motherfuckers.”
I keep thinking about a passage in John McEnroe’s book. He tells of a time when was #1 in the world; it was during tennis’ winter hiatus, and he was lolling on a couch, watching a football game and munching on snacks. But, he said, he couldn’t completely enjoy himself “because I knew that somewhere, Ivan Lendl was riding a bicycle up a hill.”
Somewhere, Robert Mueller is riding a bicycle up a hill.
Barbara
@schrodingers_cat: I have the same view I had last week. They seem to be confused that their sense of decorum and need to take the high road and appear neutral and balanced requires them to ignore the low road that others are taking. Their reporting on Hitler is eerily similar to how they report on Trump, though I also find that when you read an article in full, it often contains much harder truths than they are willing to put in the headline or the first paragraph. I can find examples if you want.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@geg6: Major Garrett isn’t buying any of the WH bullshit.
Interesting, he’s been in and out of Murdochia for most of his career, hasn’t he? I seem to recall he was at US News for a while (are they still in business?), and fit right in with Michael Barone and the like.
Doug!
@cokane:
You may have a point.
cokane
Correction, NBC’s Katy Tur said “rings true” not “feels true”
trollhattan
@Hungry Joe:
I sure hope Bobby Three Sticks has 24/7 security against guys with umbrellas. We’re relying on him rather a lot.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
The entrails of the NYT Haberman/GQ Magary/CNN Camarota bitch slap fight can be dissected here.
Timurid
@SFAW:
5) They’re white supremacists.
Remember Spayd’s Razor.
trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’ve got Septa Unella right here, and she brought the shears.
gvg
I am all for electing Democrats but frankly what I hear on TV is talk about the Presidents fitness. They aren’t happy and they aren’t defending Trump. Consider that the book isn’t really saying much different than many reporters already said and published, it’s just all of it together in one place, linked together, that makes the book such a bombshell. Why should they critique the author when they already wrote part of the narrative? In fact I would say they were acting as if it was already assumed true that Trumps mentally in decline or nuts. the shows I heard were on to the next subject which was what is congress and the GOP going to do about it and then what would voters do if Congress presumably wouldn’t act.
I am thinking that Trumps “administration” is actually attacking the book because it also makes all of them look like dummies, specifically and by name. if it was just Trump I think it would be defending in name only. that actually is something more newsy, his whole administration appears stupid too with no age excuse. Most of them should be removed in any other administration including Bush Jr.’s. Its not just his administration, its most of the republican’s in Congress that interact with him. I mean we are news junkies and have been calling Gohmert and Nunes and others idiots for years now, but I don’t think most regular people had picked up on that. so since the book revealed so many idiots, they do have some interest in pushing back….but I have not seen mush evidence at all that the media is going along.
Scandal sells for media. Obama was no drama. Trump isn’t but now he is in, so now is when media is figuring out they can make more money attacking him. I expect them to ramp up. the books sales figures are going to help but so are people clicking on stories.
I did notice on the book reviews, at least 1/2 of the most recent reviewers said they decided to buy the book when Trump tried to stop publication, because support 1st amendment plus nobody tells me what not to read….
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: good lord, that’s amazing
I wonder if Magary does TeeVee. I doubt they’d have the guts or integrity to have him on, but somebody on MSNBC (Hello, Joy Reid) could troll them by inviting him on
LAO
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I’ve read Drew Magary since his deadspin days, his political coverage has been spot on.
trollhattan
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Hah! Somebody needs to ‘splain to her that’s not how it’s done. The bubble, it is a sturdy one.
Yarrow
@Hungry Joe: Been awhile since I’ve said that. But yeah, the walls are closing in on Trumplandia and the complicit Republicans. They will pay.
@trollhattan: We are but he also has a team. There are additional indictments (sealed) waiting to be unsealed. And remember that a lot of our intel came from our allies. If Mueller is removed expect the leaks to increase. It’s not going to go well for traitors.
LAO
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know how much TV, Magary does; but he did win on Chopped a few years ago.
SFAW
@gvg:
Josh Marshall had an interesting comment/piece the other day. In essence, he said “it doesn’t matter” whether Shitgibbon is in cognitive decline, suffering from dementia, etc. He clarified: it DOES matter to those of us who suffer because of his dementia/whatever, but expecting that the realization of his dementia will result in anything is pointless.
Until his Willing Accomplice’s in Congress decide it’s a liability for them, that is. But considering that they voted the interests of the Point-One-Percenters over the 60 or 70 percent of the electorate who opposed the Tax Heist, it seems the liability bar is set pretty high.
SteveinSC
Of the twitter crowd, I think Charles Taylor has already made a good start. I don’t think a lot of people are getting the message about the danger we are in from watching a lot of TV news/talking heads. The billboards he is sponsoring are a great idea: Gaetz, Nunes, Jordan, etc get to the commuters every day, again and again, slowly seeping into their saurian brains. I want to do something in Nunes face, and since it is unlikely I’ll get close enough with a 2 x 4 the billboard is a substitute. I sent $100 bucks for that and I am likely to send a lot more.
Spanky
Sloane Ranger
Got to agree with the others. I watched Reliable Sources on Sunday and I thought the coverage was positive. Including a Professor of Journalistic Ethics acknowledging that occasional factual errors don’t undermine the book’s credibility. Pointing out that each provable mistake helps those who want to dismiss it as a tissue of lies is actually a fair comment.
I would love to contribute. I would like to see the US return to the open, optimistic nation I remember from my youth but I am a British citizen resident in UK. With you in spirit.
Vhh
@Barbara: Then there are the NYT reports by Duranty on Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s. which won a Pulitzer while conveniently failing to mention mass repression and famine….
chris
JMG
The Times sees itself as the Authority of journalism. Ergo, it has a built-in bias in favor of Authority. It’s most evident in politics, but it extends to the rest of its coverage as well.
matt
I really think they have a hometown bias in favor of Trump.
geg6
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, I’ve been shocked by the change in Garrett. He was stellar when Pelley was anchoring and has only dialed it back a little bit under the new guy. I know next to nothing about Jeff Glor, so who knows how it will go or if he even has any editorial power. I know their previous anchors all did, but this guy is so wet behind the ears, I can’t imagine they gave him that power.
LAO
This thread by @magi_jay, I think is a good analysis of this kerfuffle.
ETA:
It’s a pretty long thread
matt
@SFAW: There are thousands of reasons, all of them printed on green paper.
dww44
@geg6: I agree with this:
I, too, liked Scott Pelley and he was pretty darn good. But, obviously the suits had some beef with him, other than the usual “ratings not good enough”. No offense intended, but the replacement is the very definition of a nice looking news reader. Maybe that’s what all the evening news shows have become.
rachel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Joe and Mika seem to believe that Wolff’s book is largely true, although some details in it are wrong. For example, Joe said, “The criticism of Michael’s book, though, is that he doesn’t get everything exactly right. That’s what happens when you interview a thousand people and everybody comes from their own version… There are things that people said to you about us and our show? Not accurate! But I certainly know when I read it, read it, I know which person you were talking to in the White House.” Mika pointed out a conversation between “Ivanka” and Donald that somebody told Wolff about. Mika said that the conversation had happened like that, and the reason she knew it was basically true was because it was she who’d been quoted, not Ivanka.
They believe him and they are worried.
Kay
We may be helped by the continuing Right wing nuttery on the R side. I thought it had leveled off now that they have Trump but Latta (House) has FIVE primary challengers. One of them canvassed my house and he’s a fucking loon. I was a little uncomfortable to have him in my mud room, quite frankly, because he had that shiny-eyed anger vibe they get.
He came really far too- he traveled about 90 miles to canvass me and there’s no way in hell I’m voting for Latta, let alone Latta’s loony challengers.
There could be more Moore’s. That’s possible. Fingers crossed.
different-church-lady
There is one thing you can absolutely count on for media folks: if they feel one of their own is being attacked, they will jettison everything to protect them — objectivity, truth, their mission, their jealousies, their competitive nature. An attack on one of their peers is always taken personally.
Jeffro
Hey look, Trumpov is re-submitting all of the bad apples from last year. Shocking!
Kay
@different-church-lady:
It is true, though. What we (now) know that we didn’t before is they could find Trump meeting with Putin and planning the coordination and nothing would happen politically. The criminal justice machine would still chug along but the political or congressional response? Nothing. They won’t do shit as long as they have a lock on power. They’re worse than they were in November. It’s not getting better- it’s getting worse. He bought them and they’re staying bought.
different-church-lady
@SteveinSC:
I hardly ever watch TV at home, and never cable news. I went back to a gym for the first time in about four years last weekend, and as I was seeing what was sprawled out across the eight giant flat screen TVs in front of the machines, I though, “Oh right, I remember now, here’s why the country is so fucked up: people watch this shit all day long.”
Spanky
And in this
week’s day’s hour’smoment’s episode of “Whocoodanode?” it’s ……Kay
@different-church-lady:
The clarity is kind of nice. What will happen? Nothing. Not a damn thing as long as they’re in power. Now that we know the rules we can play the game. I just wanted to know. I wasn’t married to any particular set of circumstances. I need to know what to give up on. It’s cleaner. Less fuzzy.
different-church-lady
@Spanky: I can hardly wait to find out who he molested.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Libarbarian:
It’s good to know your strengths.
Yarrow
@Spanky: Oh, man. Can’t wait to see Suzanne’s take on this. Isn’t he a gazillion years old?
Missouri Buckeye
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Apparently the RWNJ trolls have descended on the comments section, because all I saw was the typical nut-job drooling they do, plus claiming that anyone posting against them must be unemployed and on welfare (do they even own a mirror?)
Not worth the time.
Kay
@Spanky:
There it is! That’s what I was hoping for. They’re not far Right and hateful enough. They can have still nuttier candidates. The Moore Effect could be good for us.
The Dem county chair here joked that they’ll be running actual hooded klansmen by the end of the Trump’s term and he may be right. Gotta keep the grift going! Turn it up!
different-church-lady
@Kay:
What the hell would make you think that? Trump is a leading indicator, not peak. He broke whatever seal was containing the Orc armies. That was one of the most horrific aspects of this election, even before election day.
Gin & Tonic
On the other side of the pond, the Twitterverse is suggesting that Cole’s hero Assange is about to get evicted. Ecuador has grown tired of hosting him.
NobodySpecial
@different-church-lady: Unless, of course, it’s a personal attack on a disabled reporter from the Post by Trump. Then fucking crickets.
SFAW
@different-church-lady:
I’m wrestling with the idea whether having you re-enact the first Mac commercial would be a good thing.
Barbara
@different-church-lady: Many female journalists become friends for the same reasons that professional women often hang together, to support each other in a man’s world, and they attend each other’s personal events, such as weddings and baby showers. I had a friend who had been childhood friends with a celebrity dermatologist and hosted her baby shower, which was attended by every A List female journalist in Washington. That CNN anchor was basically protecting Haberman as a friend not a journalist. Really, really bad form.
rachel
@Missouri Buckeye: I started using Disqus blocking because of them.
different-church-lady
@SFAW: I don’t think the revolution is going to begin at Planet Fitness.
Jeffro
@Spanky: ACLU of Arizona has already re-tweeted his announcement with a sideways rolling laughing emoji. That’s it, just the emoji. It’s great to be happy warriors!!
different-church-lady
@Jeffro:
Yeah, it’s almost as funny as when Trump announced.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
Oh, they so richly deserve low quality nut job Trump candidates. Latta is an extremely boring lawyer. His father had the job before him. He probably thought he could get all the good of Trump (the plutocrat policy) without any of the downside, but, no. He now has to run against a bunch of Trumpster loonies.
This is their Party. Sherrif Joe and Child Molester Moore and who the fuck knows what else dregs of society. They’ll regularly have actual criminals running for Congress now, because why not? There are no standards. They blew those up.
schrodingers_cat
@NobodySpecial: Handicapped people, immigrants, people who vote D are all invisible to Vichy Times and other Nazi enablers in the media.
Death Panel Truck
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D’you know that you can use it?
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: I’m pretty sure anyone in a household with less than 2 million dollars income is invisible to them.
Turgidson
@Yarrow:
Yeah, the negative coverage I’ve seen, mostly, has been “we heard about this and we couldn’t confirm it, so we didn’t report it.” And that’s fine – Wolff’s reputation going in was as a 3rd-rate gossip tabloid “journalist,” so I’m not surprised he would run with things that journalists from prestige outlets would be hesitant to put in print without confirmation. But then the insecure access humpers who are upset that Wolff drank their milkshake then say, “SO OBVIOUSLY IT’S ALL WRONG WRONG WRONG!” and try to argue that his whole book is suspect because he ran with these unconfirmed rumors.
…which obviously doesn’t immediately follow from “we couldn’t confirm it.” But their fee-fees are hurt that they got their asses kicked by some clown no one respects. As they should be. But they’re determined to learn either (a) nothing; or (2) the wrong things from the experience. As usual.
Amaranthine RBG
The NYT has gone “all in protecting Trump” you say?
Detailing how a publisher stood up to Trump with a shout out to the 1st Amendment: nytimes.com/2018/01/08/books/review/trump-michael-wolff.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fp…
Just some people debating the mental health of Trump here. I guess this writer didn’t get the “all in for Trump” memo: nytimes.com/2018/01/08/us/politics/right-and-left-react-to-questions-about-trumps-mental-state.html?…
Gosh, this seems like less than effusive praise: nytimes.com/2018/01/08/upshot/strong-economies-lift-presidents-trump-seems-an-exception.html?rref=co…
A straightforward factual account of Trump’s statements that notes that he offered nothing to back it up: nytimes.com/2018/01/06/us/politics/trump-russia-mueller.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fp…
That’s just from today.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: Not true, look at the pains they go to interview the people that voted for Orange T.
different-church-lady
@Turgidson: Hmmm… a guy who got ahead by saying “fuck you” to the rules got eaten up by… a guy who said “fuck you” to the rules. I like it.
Daniel Almont
Maggie Haberman (daughter of NYT longtime columnist and correspondent Clyde Haberman) is the Don Jr. of journalism. Lazy, entitled, thin-skinned.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: Well, okay, perhaps not invisible, but it’s like those are bugs under a microscope in a distant land, not their readership.
Yarrow
@different-church-lady: That’s why it took someone like Wolff to really get to Trump and properly cover his administration. The regular journalists are treating his administration like business as usual. It’s not and it shouldn’t be covered as if it is.
Drew Magary got that in his dissection of how and why Wolff succeeded and why “respectable” journalists are so mad about it.
The Moar You Know
]@Gin & Tonic: Heard the same thing a bit more than a year ago. Nothing came of it, obviously. He is apparently horrendous to live with and has pissed his hosts off good, but without him Ecuador has nothing to shove in the face of the US. This is important to them for reasons I do not understand.
I do wish they’d throw his ass out in the street. My bet is his survival time outside that embassy is a matter of minutes. Gonna be a race to see if the Americans or Russians can shoot him in the head first.
trollhattan
@matt:
Which is doubly weird because New Yorkers have known him as a schmuck supreme since the ’70s and it’s their duty, not subject to internal debate, to continue telling the nation and world about his forty-year record and how it relates to the presidency. NY Mag and The New Yorker do, what’s holding them back?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@SFAW: What’s the need to drag Nazi’s into this? Trump is a suck ass boss, all those NYT reporters have been conditioned over the years to sit down, shut up and do what the suck ass boss says, no matter how idiotic, if they want to keep their job. Even if an individual reporters wants to engage in truth telling you can be sure their editor will move heaven and earth to stop them because most of middle management is filled with ass kissers these days.
different-church-lady
@trollhattan: The New York Times’ hometown is not New York City. The NYT’s hometown is Money.
Kay
@Amaranthine RBG:
The NYTimes never explained why they printed a piece that quoted FBI individuals exonerating Trump 6 days before the election. They were fed bullshit that directly misled their readers. Not only was Trump not exonerated, at that time the opposite was true- he was under investigation.
That’s a huge failure. Profound. This failure on one candidate was exacerbated by their ridiculous obsession with Hillary Clinton’s emails- inequitable treatment of two similarly situated candidates. Yet they’re so incredibly arrogant, so sure of their clout and power that they feel NO duty to correct or explain it. It’s fucking hubris. It’s raw power with no acccountability and no ethics. Why did they do it? Because they CAN. For them to be lecturing politicians on accountability and ethical use of power is a joke. They have no standards when using their own.
I get it, I really do. They lead news coverage. They can make or break candidates. They need to stop pretending they don’t have this power and put it inside some set of standards. This huffy denial is just bullshit. They don’t get to be “influencers” while also insisting they’re just calling balls and strikes – passive observers. Choose.
Jeffro
@different-church-lady: It’s actually funnier? It’s a great opportunity to elect the next Doug Jones – should play out much the same way. Wait until the polling comes in and Trumpov starts hedging his bets on his buddy Joe.
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: The Doug Jones Experience made me feel good. But it in no way made me feel comfortable.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Daniel Almont:
Her mother is a big wig at PR firm Rubinstein, that handles the Kushner family. Does she disclose this fact and the fact that she also is writing a book about Trump on her many TV appearances? No? Oh.
different-church-lady
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Ah, that explains it.
It’s a shame she’s the only writer the NYTs has.
B.B.A.
I tossed a couple of Benjamins into the ActBlue jar, for literally the first time ever. Time to put my money where my mouth is.
Jeffro
@different-church-lady: It wasn’t good, it was GREAT! =)
It was like watching Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell all over again, only in a deeply red state. And now we’ll get the benefit of watching Trumpov either go down in flames with his buddy Sheriff Joe, or disowning him. Love. It.
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: And what if he wins?
bemused
@different-church-lady:
I wonder if $2 million income earners are too small potatoes to register with them.
Yarrow
@Kay:
They have yet to apologize for that article.
Jeffro
@different-church-lady: Then a Trump supporting Arizona senator is replaced by another one? Highly unlikely, though. Arpaio will have at least one primary challenger, his Luther Strange if you will.
Keep it up, GOP! Far right is never right enough!! ;)
B.B.A.
@different-church-lady: Then Arizona trades someone who always votes with Trump but whines to the media about how he doesn’t like doing it for someone who always votes with Trump and loves it. Would it embolden the haters? Sure, but they’re already emboldened as fuck. I don’t see what we have to be afraid of here.
different-church-lady
@B.B.A.:
Only hubris.
SFAW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Your concern is duly noted. Of course, it was SC who made the initial “Nazi” comment, or at least the one to which I responded.
Oh, and by the way, if you think the current maladminstration does NOT have a fascistic bent, then you might want to pay closer attention.
J R in WV
@Barbara:
One big problem for Haberman is that her parents founded a big commercial PR firm in NYC that works for conservative companies, like the Kushner Group. She is so not impartial, so not conflict free, so beholden to the right wing nuts that make her family wealthy, she can not be an impartial political reporter.
Someone should have sat down with her over coffee or tea and slowly and carefully explained conflict of interest and journalistic ethics, and guided her into a career as a sports reporter covering the Washington Racial Slurs controversy.
She had no business working in politics at the NY Daily News, or Politico, MUCH LESS the FTFNYT, which also has it’s honesty and impartiality problems, or they wouldn’t have hired her. Maybe if she worked in Albany on NY State coverage? Nope, that won’t work either, Kushner Group is mostly a NY State real estate group, at least HQ is there.
As @different-church-lady: puts it, “It’s a shame she’s the only writer the NYT has!”
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: They have yet to apologize for Walter Duranty, and it’s been 85 years.
B.B.A.
@different-church-lady: Short of war or the collapse of constitutional government, things can’t possibly get any worse. And the election of Arpaio to the Senate, as offensive as it is to all decent people’s sensibilities, will not bring about war or the collapse of constitutional government. We’re already at rock bottom. Nowhere to go but up.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Yarrow:
They have yet to even begin to acknowledge or explain it. That was a coordinated attack on Clinton.
Amaranthine RBG
@Kay:
Is the NYT perfect? No, of course not. Neither is the WaPo or the Guardian. But they all provide good news coverage and tilt left/progressive.
Asserting that they are “all in” for Trump is absurd. I get that Trump is effective at gaslighting the left, but some people are positively unhinged so that they can’t even think rationally about this stuff anymore.
p.a.
Here we fucking go. From TPM:
Amaranthine RBG
@J R in WV:
I wonder why Trump rages about Haberman as described in the Wolff book and elsewhere. Doesn’t he realize that she’s “all in” supporting and protecting him?
Timurid
@p.a.:
Two can play that game. I’m sure all of those scary looking New Black Panther guys from a few years back can find time in their schedules…
Amaranthine RBG
Here’s another example of “all in” NYT: nytimes.com/2018/01/09/opinion/stable-genius-white-house.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&…
A couple of reporters/columnists sitting down and talking about whether Trump is mentally fit to be president.
I guess I missed it in my “How to go all in” playbook, because I thought that a publication that is “all in” for a President would a) not openly question the President’s mental fitness, and b) not ridicule the President.
Fair Economist
It should be front page news that the NYT’s lead reporter on Trump has a major conflict of interest. Not only is her family working for his family, it’s in *PR*. For her to report honestly would be a direct attack on her family members’ jobs.
Talk about compromised! And of course the NYT knows it, and still put her on the job, so the compromise must go to the top.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Amaranthine RBG:
Well Trump is an idiot and in cognitive decline. That doesn’t mean Haberman’s not a hack and sucking up for access.
J R in WV
I may have over emphasized Haberman’s family’s status in the PR firm her mom works at… not founders, just feasting at the money trough. And her dad is apparently a senior editor at the NYT, so there she’s a legacy hire. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing, when the legacy hire is very professional.
But this is Haberman, so not so much.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Amaranthine RBG:
Coming from the person who named their nym after RBG because she wouldn’t retire, that’s hilarious.
Gin & Tonic
@J R in WV: Her dad was a very good writer, and a serious foreign correspondent. But he was a first-generation striver. Son of Orthodox Jews, went the typical route: Bronx Science, then CCNY. Once he made it, he sent Maggie on the money route: Ethical Culture Fieldston School, then Sarah Lawrence. That tells you nearly everything you need to know.
Kay
Feinstein released some testimony.
They need to release as much as they can despite GOP objections. It’s ludicrous that the public knows next to nothing about the President and his sleazy associates and his campaign.
Enough hiding. It’s been months and months. We need information.
schrodingers_cat
@Barbara: Thanks btw for yesterday. I went back and read that thread late at night.
Kay
@Amaranthine RBG:
The justification for the obsessive coverage of the emails was “there was an investigation”
There was an investigation re: Trump too. As it turns out. So explain this to me. I don’t care if they “thought he would lose”. They’re not paid to hide information based on their handicapping of elections.
I’m interested as a citizen who helps pay the salaries of FBI agents which public servants planted this bullshit in the NYTimes. I don’t even care that much how corrupt the NYTimes is-
I would like to know if the FBI is corrupt, however. Oh, well. I guess we’ll never find out. Unless someone at the NYTimes deigns to inform us. Secretive power brokers strutting around pontificating about a free press don’t impress me. They’re not victims. They’re actors in this power drama. A position they revel in. You know who the victims are? Us. The public. We are the LAST to know.
SFAW
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Don’t be an asshole. ArgleBargle made the most-validest point EVER that, had she retired, the Senate would have given the opening to whomever Obama wanted. You seem to think that McConnell would do something corrupt, such as refuse to vote on Obama’s nominee, for like a year. McConnell has too much respect for the traditions of The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body to do something so un-American.
Do you feel properly chastised now?
Kay
@Amaranthine RBG:
I’m just tired of it. I’m tired of the fake sophistication and world-weariness of these people. I don’t understand why THIS FAMILY is given so much protection. I watched for 8 years while they treated Michelle Obama like she was some kind of exotic slightly SUSPECT person, up to and including tracing her ancestry. She’s from fucking Chicago. She never hid anything. She got ZERO privacy. They treat Melania like she’s a member of a royal family – like white people are by definition “the norm” and all inquiries are out of bounds. I don’t know the FIRST thing about any of these people and either does anyone else outside of the charmed “insider” circle. Why is that? What gives with this? Are they scared? Are they being blackmailed? Do they want us to send help? I don’t get it and when I don’t know I speculate, which is human and natural.
Why do I know all about Laura Bush’s vehicular homicide and NOTHING about the Trumps?
pamelabrown53
@Kay: @#109.
Killer comment, Kay. I love how you eschew emotional detour hooks and present your opinions with laser like clarity.
Amaranthine RBG
@SFAW:
Obviously, the best time for RBG to have retired would have been shortly into Obama’s 2nd term.
But don’t worry, after she drops dead and Roy Moore or somebody similar is appointed to the Supreme Court, you can dust off your Notorious RBG T-shirt and dance a little jig celebrating her longevity.
Amaranthine RBG
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
So you, too, think the NYT is “all in for Trump”, do you?
Really no way distinguish between Breitbart and NYT, their full-throated endorsement of Trump is so similar, right?
Keep embarrassing yourself.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
@B.B.A.:
It would be pretty to think so, wouldn’t it? Still, you’re joking, right? I mean, I don’t get the humor, but you can’t possibly be serious.
lapassionara
@Kay: Amen! I have wondered about that article since he won the election.
SFAW
@Amaranthine RBG:
Delete your self, moron.
I wish I could say “nice to see you returning to troll roots,” but it’s not. Maybe Bernie has a place for you on his 2022 Exploratory Committee. I’m sure he’s as Ruth-lessly pragmatic as you.
But thanks for showing the rest that you’re same as you ever was.