Huff Post: Hear What Rand Paul Said Yesterday?
Insane. (Video below.) He was on Rachel Maddow - quite the get for her; he'd announced his candidacy on her show as well - and she pressed him on his view that part of the Civil Rights Act of the '60s was flawed. Specifically, the law forcing private institutions to desegregate. In other words, a diner can't turn away black people. Paul thinks businesses should be able to say "we don't serve your kind" to blacks, Jews, gays - take your pick. Insane.
I adore Rachel - she performs some hard-hitting journalism - and while most television pundits would have let Mr. Paul get away with endless hedging on the subject, she grilled him for a full 20 minutes to make sure we were all clear on his point of view. And I could not believe my eyes and ears.
What will be more depressing is if the man actually wins despite this - it's Kentucky, and Kentucky trends Republican. On a brighter note, the Democratic primary drew bigger numbers than the Republican primary, a possible sign that Democrats are more enthused about the race than their counterparts. We'll find out in November. If he's smart, the (D) nominee, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, will pound away on his opponent with this new piece of information every day until the polls open.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
CNN's Non-News
The Wrap: "Campbell Brown Quits CNN, Falls on a Sword"
People yawned at this story. I yawned at this story. CNN is a joke, losing half their viewership in the last year if I remember correctly? Which makes me happy because it at least means people know ineptitude when they see it. I think CNN should go the non-profit route. They could be our BBC and no longer feel the need to dumb their content down for ratings' sake or to compete with Fox and MSNBC's bloviating. But as long as they make merely cosmetic changes to their programming, nothing is going to change.
It would be soooo nice to have a news network that performs reputable, fearless reporting. On the danger of corporate monopolies, need for campaign finance reform, failed drug war, unchecked lies of politicians and pundits, outdated minimum wage, our deranged health care apparatus, need for election reform, bloated war budget, insensible occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and on and on. There's no shortage of news to report on - let alone news not getting reported elsewhere. And this is due to media congloms' obsession with the bottom line, and failing in their obligations as the fourth estate.
People yawned at this story. I yawned at this story. CNN is a joke, losing half their viewership in the last year if I remember correctly? Which makes me happy because it at least means people know ineptitude when they see it. I think CNN should go the non-profit route. They could be our BBC and no longer feel the need to dumb their content down for ratings' sake or to compete with Fox and MSNBC's bloviating. But as long as they make merely cosmetic changes to their programming, nothing is going to change.
It would be soooo nice to have a news network that performs reputable, fearless reporting. On the danger of corporate monopolies, need for campaign finance reform, failed drug war, unchecked lies of politicians and pundits, outdated minimum wage, our deranged health care apparatus, need for election reform, bloated war budget, insensible occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and on and on. There's no shortage of news to report on - let alone news not getting reported elsewhere. And this is due to media congloms' obsession with the bottom line, and failing in their obligations as the fourth estate.
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