Daily Show on Frank Luntz Changing the GOP Message

I've talked a lot about the right-wing bubble here on the blog, but probably not enough about the guy who shores it up, puts a shine on it, and helps people stay inside it when their minds start to see the cracks, by patching those cracks with bullshit. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart shines a light on the odious Frank Luntz, Republican wordsmith and one of the main architects of Bullshit Mountain.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Right Wing World: FOX "News" Losing Their Base?

There have been signs that FOX "News" is not what it once was. Surely, some people are still watching out of habit. And the nursing homes and your grandpa may not have yet discovered that there are other channels. But their ratings--while still technically #1 in the cable news biz--are in decline. Sean Hannity is looking bloated. Sarah Palin was politely turned loose (via very low resigning offer), as has been the always-wrong Dick Morris. The writing is on the wall, and some people are saying so.

Steve Deace is an Iowa talk show host of the radical right-wing, guns, God and (no) gays variety. I know of him because The Other Half is from Iowa, and because a former classmate of mine is an uber-conservative pastor there. Through Facebook, I've become aware of Deace, and he stuck in my mind because of his very anti-gay views which are in stark contrast to his very--shall we say--Marcus Bachmann-like air (and I have the same suspicions about the pastor). Deace may be an extremist, but he is 100% down-the-line FOX "News" bait. He's the guy they're selling to, and he's the guy who helps complete part of the right-wing bubble that FOX has cultivated over the years. But Deace looks like he's dumping FOX. And that makes me wonder if this bubble is popping, or if it's just splitting off into smaller bubbles?

[UPDATE]: Though this appears on Deace's blog page, I've just realized it was written by Bob Eschliman, and posted there. So, let me correct the record. One can infer from the lack of framing by Deace that he agrees with the sentiments contained. I'm happy to correct the record if that isn't the case.

[Excerpt]

Image from source.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do . . . But It’s Time

You’ve really got to hand it to Fox News. For many years, they been able to dupe an overwhelming majority of the American conservative movement into believing they were on their side with the cover of “fair and balanced. . .”


Read more (if you must) at: Steve Deace

2012 Reality Check: From Rove to Adelson to Las Vegas Water Woes

Since the beginning of this blog, I've railed against the Karl Rove anti-reality machine. I prematurely experienced schadenfreude at what I thought was the machine's demise. I lamented its reconstruction as a Citizens United/corporate-money-fueled "unstoppable force," and then had a full-fledged schadenfreudegasm when Rove himself was undone on election night. Live on  the GOP-TV that is FOX "News," no less!

It was really nothing short of amazing that Mitt Romney, right-wing talk radio, the right-wing blogosphere, the afore-mentioned FOX "News" and all of the rest of right-wing world undone by reality. They'd believed their own hype, own pundits, own predictions, own polls, own data and own bullshit for so long; breathed nothing but the air in their own closed-loop bubble, that they were stunned by the November election. Romney hadn't even prepared a concession speech, and the Romney/Ryan wives were reportedly in disbelieving tears.

"Thanks for the $150 million, bro!"      "You better watch your ass!"
Aren't these beautiful people? In an earlier time, Adelson would
have had Rove sleeping with the fishes!

Also since the beginning of this blog (and for years before), I've been a regular reader of Las Vegas City Life magazine, of the best of the local weekly newspapers. More often than not, City Life has at least three articles that hit home for me, and usually I learn something I didn't know. For instance--at what makes this a What Happens in Vegas feature--Sheldon Adelson's hilarious undoing by the Ron Paul supporters. Read on to see how Shelly's anti-reality bubble was popped by the Paulites, and other popped bubbles at the link below.

[Excerpt]

From Karl Rove to the Southern Nevada Water District, it was a year of bubbles bursting

Back in 2004, at the apex of the Bush era — that eight-year compost heap that fertilized so much of today’s right-wing gestalt — a Bush aide who turned out to be Rove spoke to The New York Times Magazine about the administration’s awareness of its manifest destiny. He introduced us to the mocking phrase “the reality-based community”…

Read more at: City Life

Here's Why Romney Thought He Was Going to Win

Image from source, The New Republic

It's still a little mind-blowing that Mitt Romney was so certain he was going to win, that he didn't even bother to write a concession speech. I still haven't figured out why people snowed by the self-contained bubble of FOX "News" and talk radio are still clinging to them, even though they were so misled by them. But Romney shouldn't have been in that bubble. As the candidate, we expected him to have real talent helping him with his campaign, not bubble-dwellers and yes-men. But there you go.

So, what exactly went wrong? Here's a hint. I'm still hoping there's a movie.

[Excerpt]

Exclusive: The Internal Polls That Made Mitt Romney Think He'd Win

It’s no secret that the Romney campaign believed it was headed for victory on Election Day. A handful of outlets have reported that Team Romney’s internal polling showed North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia moving safely into his column and that it put him ahead in a few other swing states. When combined with Ohio, where the internal polling had him close, Romney was on track to secure all the electoral votes he needed to win the White House. . .

Read more at: The New Republic

Rachel Maddow: It's Time to Pop the Conservative Bubble

Fans of Rachel Maddow know that one of her biggest strengths is in her narrative-driven, educational storytelling. She manages to get several points across in a fact-rich, easy to understand way. She's Glenn Beck without the crazy, or the tears or the. . .well, everything else.

But the drawback in Rachel's style is in sharing her nuggets of wisdom. The clip below is more than 16 minutes long! So, while the whole thing is good--great in fact--you should know that at just about 9 minutes in, there's a terrific composite of FOX "News" and their disbelief at the election results. At just over 12 minutes, there is a must-see deconstruction of the conservative bubble, how it led to to utter shock when Mitt Romney lost, and how the bubble needs to be popped in order for America to properly function as a democracy.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have an alternate plan. I'm hoping that when conservatives get past shock, anger, denial, bargaining and acceptance, that they take their tea party into an official Tea Party Party. I want their purity test into a viable Tea Party candidate. I want the bubble to be moved around that party, and for the Republicans to soldier on with the reasonable, non-crazy Republicans. This way, everybody's happy, we no longer have a two-party system. . .and Democrats win for at least the next several cycles. 

Right Wing World: Faux Outrage Over Obama on Daily Show

In the previous post, I put up the two-part President Obama interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I watched the interview as it aired (and the Late Show with David Letterman one right after), and found the Prez to be very thoughtful, smart and funny. He also showed the appropriate level of seriousness when the conversation called for it. I saw nothing particularly controversial.

Image from source, The Wrap

But then, I don't live in Right Wing World. Word must have come from on high, presumably from Mount Limbaugh or Drudge Hill that the thing to focus on on Friday would be the word "optimal." As in, what happened in Benghazi was "not optimal." If that sounds like simplistic overstatement for what happened there, that's what the right is going for in their faux outrage. Watched in context--please click the link above if you don't believe me--was a very serious moment, with Obama merely echoing Stewart's word choice. To take it as cavalier or dismissive would be quite simply to lie. But lying seems to be de rigueur in Right Wing World.

[Excerpt]

'Daily Show': Obama's 'Not Optimal' Answer Rallies Conservatives

President Obama's appearance on "The Daily Show" was supposed to be a chance to rally his liberal base in front of a supportive crowd in a comfortable setting. But he may have gotten too comfortable. . .

Read more of this silliness at: The Wrap


UPDATE: The Daily Show has posted a note on their Facebook page in response to the poutrage:

ALERT! SIREN SPINNING ALERT! Obama calls Benghazi attack a "tragic event" on The Daily Showhttp://on.cc.com/PfCpJH

FOX "News" Has a Wildly Optimistic Election Map For You

Wow. I'm not going to say the map that FOX "News" presents is impossible, mind you. Anything is possible. Joltin' Joe could fumble his debate. The Prez could snooze through the next two. Romney could save a half-black, half-Latino lesbian from a rampaging right-winger, and win the black, Latino and gay vote. . . I'm just spit-balling here. Yes, Obama fumbled his first debate. A bit. If you watched--and are honest--you know that the entire debate was a snooze-fest, and that Romney seemed like a wound-up, caffienated, steam-roller. He wasn't "good," he was bigger, louder. If that's a win, take it. But it wasn't what it's been made to be.

All of that said, nothing at this point paints a picture as red as the map FOX "News" has foisted upon their viewers. But you know what? Have at it, bubble-dwellers. Coast safely along--perhaps like we liberals until last week--thinking it's in the bag. That's it, nice and easy. You're getting sleepy. . .

Only FOX. Image from source, Wonkette.

[Excerpt]

Fox News Starting To Get A Wee Bit Cocky

Here is a map from an “election forecasting model” that the Fox News sent out to America, and your Editrix found it on the Twitter and shared it in the Secret Wonkette Chat Room, for panic-laughs. But seriously. . .

Read more at: Wonkette