Since Chuck Todd has declared that anything that gets blurted out of a Republican’s mouth must be reported, verbatim, by him, and then his job is to report when Obama “messages” against it, here are two lies that are truths until Obama says they aren’t:
- Bill Clinton disarmed guards at military bases, which made the Navy Yard a gun-free zone. (This lie references a Washington Times editorial about an Army regulation that keeps soldiers from bringing their personal guns on base. That regulation was put into place in 1992 by the George HW Bush administration. Not to mention that the one of the questions rolling around about the shooter is whether he killed a guard and took that guard’s pistol.)
- Warren Buffett opposes Obamacare. (This is based on a quote during the Obamacare debate where Buffet was advocating for changes to the bill, “reported” by the Daily Caller, unsurprisingly. Buffet has issued a statement saying he supports Obamacare today.)
Obama’s going to be very busy man, at least in Chuck Todd’s fantasyland.
J
So if it’s Chuck Todd’s job to just repeat what politicians say, why do we need him at all? We have Youtube now so he, and rest of the professional bootlickers, are no longer necessary.
c u n d gulag
UpChuck Todd should thank his god every day that he’s got Puke Russert on the same network.
Puke make UpChuck look like Cronkite.
Having said that, UpChuck is good at some things – or used to be, when he was an analyst.
Now, he’s an anal cyst, spouting whatever BS he’s fed from the Republicans.
WereBear
Because he’s got one job on this lousy ship! It’s stupid, but he’s going to do it, okay?*
*Galaxy Quest quote
scav
@J: because class warfare. why do you hate america and its dreamy dream?
mistermix
@c u n d gulag: matoko_chan, is that you?
khead
Local hometown wingnut paper from August. Same shit at the local level.
“Now we are being told that citizens in some counties or localities in Southwest Virginia may be limited to a single health care plan. That means they won’t have a lot — or perhaps any — options when it comes to selecting a plan under the state’s health care exchange. But wait. Some lawmakers are disputing this latest report. Republicans say it is correct. Democrats say it is wrong. Why are we not surprised?”
http://bdtonline.com/editorials/x1981930569/Affordable-options
Baud
I hope the Internet piles on the next time Chucky deigns to correct Obama on something.
some guy
the public shaming of Chuck Toad should continue apace. Pierce did a good job yesterday, hopefully the scorn and ridicule will keep coming. toadies everywhere need to feel the heat for such overt stupidity.
peach flavored shampoo
Do people actually look to Charles Toddler for insight and actual news? I always thought his job was to spread the GOP message, to please his corporate overlords. Anyone who thinks these clowns actually evaluate the veracity of the myriad statements from the GOP is a tad foolish and quite naive.
He’s a grown man acting as a parrot. Full Stop.
Ash Can
And when he does say they aren’t, the response will be “However, others disagree…”
geg6
@Ash Can:
Fixt for accuracy.
c u n d gulag
@mistermix:
Uhm… No, this is me.
That reference to ” matoko_chan” went right over my head.
I’m bald, so I don’t have any hair try to catch it.
So, uhm… What?
Eric U.
@Ash Can: “some people say”
geg6
@some guy:
Could not agree more. He should be humiliated every single day of his useless and miserable life.
geg6
@Eric U.:
Heh. Great minds.
geg6
I posted this in the last thread, but I think it belongs here, too:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/truly-in-lord-of-the-flies-territory
LOL!
scav
Alrhough, perhaps we’re being a little hard on Todd Chucker, overlooking his multiple talents and flexibility. He’s a doormat that can be rolled and used as a megaphone!
terraformer
These m*fkers in the “MSM” – not all of them, but most of them – have destroyed what has historically been news organizations’ raison d’etre; that is, to inform via an adversarial relationship in which any utterance or missive was to be scrutinized and dissected for truth and veracity.
It has instead become what Chuck Todd describes. And I think, sadly, exactly according to plan.
Poopyman
@mistermix: Behave. And DON’T use that name*.
While Chuckie is justly deserving of scorn for such a quotable quote, let’s bear in mind that the default setting for a “journalist” is just this. There are much worse out there, especially the Fox crew, who knowingly lie. But as I said, real journalists are few and far between and scorn should be the default setting.
@peach flavored shampoo: A lot of people absorb the news without a skeptical filter. Maybe most. That’s why we’re in the shape we’re in.
(* – Especially three times and in front of a mirror.)
Xantar
So if a Republican claimed several times that Chuck Todd blows giraffes and that he founded a club with Mickey Kaus, would Chuck Todd correct him or would he dutifully report it and then leave it up to Obama to say, “As far as I know, Chuck Todd does not blow giraffes”?
Elizabelle
Chuck Todd actually has a family he could spend more time with.
He may have done the discerning a public service, confirming what they already suspected about the purveying of “news.”
Anybody heard how al-Jazeera is doing? We don’t get it on cable, sadly.
mistermix
@c u n d gulag: m_c was a resident troll who wrote cryptic sentences and kind-of used her own vocabulary.
c u n d gulag
@mistermix:
Oh yeah!
I’d forgotten!!!
And I can see the confusion.
I often have to over-ride “Spell-check,” because I’m trying to create a new word by altering an existing one.
Sometimes it works – and is kinda clever. And, sometimes – FAIL!!!
geg6
@mistermix:
You forgot “and sometimes tipped over into outright lunacy.”
But I will admit, she was a much more entertaining troll than the current ones we have. BoB, too. I miss both of them. At least they were originals.
TaMara (BHF)
This can’t be because I’ve been told that having armed guards will prevent a gunman from killing innocents.So this cannot be true.
/snark (this tag seems needed lately)
ETA: And I cannot take Chuck Todd seriously. That goatee. Ewww. Some men look great with them, he just looks…well…ewww.
Punchy
@Xantar: Does one stand to blow a giraffe?
Kay
Obama and Democrats set themselves up for this one. The unelected billionaire demo has too big a role in public debate. Warren Buffett is one person, as is Bill Gates and the rest of them.
Amir Khalid
@mistermix:
She left her mark on this place, didn’t she? A few of us still say “cudlip” and “WAI”. I’m still trying to figure out what a “maftoon” is.
patrick II
So, when Chuck appears on the Rachael Maddow show, what is it he thinks she is doing?
scav
Admire the gravitas of this BBC one clutching his ream of paper. Mr Pink Tie at the bottom stumbles into a moment of truth as well.
Gex
If the media is just supposed to report things in a he said, she said manner, maybe they could stop having far more Republicans on the “news” programs than Democrats. I would assume that if they are only supposed to report what is said as is, they should at least be required to give each side equal time on the air.
Oh wait, we decided that the “Fairness Doctrine” is something to be mocked.
Meanwhile when I had my brouhaha with Dave Weigel over his shitty reporting on Orson Scott Card, Dave said he’d write an update to amend what was said. And he fucking lied. I checked the piece later, there was no update. And when I asked him about it he was too cowardly to reply.
I can only assume that the work is too easy and the pay is too good for them to give a shit that they are destroying America.
Mark S.
@TaMara (BHF):
Preach it, sister! You need to have a gaunt face to pull it off, not a chubby-still-have-a-lot-of-baby-fat face like Todd’s. Neal Cavuto would look only slightly more ridiculous with a goatee.
mistermix
@Kay: Um, Kay, they were elected, by the free market, in the election where votes are dollars. Stop being such a neo-commie.
Mark S.
@Punchy:
You might even need a step ladder.
The Other Bob
The military – those people with a shitload of firepower – who are well tained in guns – know that the way to keep people safe on a military base is to keep the guns stored and safe. Call it a gun-free zone if you wish, but I trust those people way more than some NRA fool who thinks the best way to keep people safe is to throw more guns at the problem.
RaflW
Buffet did more than issue a statement saying he supported Obamacare, he told the Omaha Weird-Herald that the misquote was “outrageous” “100 percent wrong … totally false”
Ash Can
@patrick II:
Why, admiring his brilliance, of course.
MomSense
@TaMara (BHF):
Exactly! The NRA reliably informed us that the school shootings happen because they are gun free zones and that armed guards or good guys with guns are the only way to stop bad guys with guns.
MattF
True, false, whatevs. What matters is that wingers will screech at you and at your bosses until you’re either tamed or fired. I wonder if Todd ever tugs at that leash around his neck.
Kay
@mistermix:
I like him! I listened to a long lecture from Buffett on why “I” should invest in railroads. I also like Bill Gates for admitting he was born on 3rd base.
I want Obama to quote the lady at the dry cleaner who needs health insurance, and then Andrea Mitchell can interview her.
I think she’s the person we need to please.
kd bart
So basically, Chuck Todd sees himself as a tape recorder and no more.
MomSense
@Xantar:
Then it would be his failure to sell his side of the story therefore allowing the Republican to out message him.
Jamey
@Mark S.: It’s not a goatee, it’s a facial mullet.
WereBear
@kd bart: He says it with a goatee! Now that’s Value Added.
bemused
@patrick II:
Now that’s funny and I’d love it if Tawd had to answer that question.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Punchy: By joining CNN, you stand to do all sorts of things, and stand to gain monetarily from every one of them.
The most baffling insult I ever received was someone on the phone telling me that I blew a seal, which was less weird once I realized it was my mechanic.
Soonergrunt
Funny thing–I don’t remember EVER being able to walk around any military installation with a personal firearm. Those of us who had them who resided on post (whether family housing or the barracks) were under orders from the Commanding General to secure our personal weapons in the unit arms room in a separate locker from the government property weapons, and if we wanted to take them out, we had to get a signed memorandum from the unit commander a week in advance that described the weapon, how it would be conveyed (minimum standard was a locked case in the trunk with the ammunition in a separate locked case,) and when it was expected to be returned. There were private weapons ranges as part of the range complex, but to use those you had to coordinate with Range Control a week in advance as well. There was hunting allowed on every Army post, but that too had to be coordinated with Range Control in advance since they didn’t want some hunter blowing away a Private taking a leak on a training exercise.
On Fort Ord, CA, the locks for the weapon and the ammo had to be separate types, even. If one was a combination lock, the other one had to be a keyed lock. This was in 1988.
Keeping privately owned weapons secured has been something the military had done for decades.
As far as government-owned weapons, they are kept secured in Arms Rooms (big vaults with security systems) and are only issued out on an as-needed basis. As an Infantryman, I had my weapon in my hands more than most, and I’d still say it was only about 20% of the time if even that much. And I almost never had live ammunition for a guard mission. The only people who routinely carried hot weapons were the MPs on Law Enforcement and the DoD cops.
Mike E
@Gex: Orson Scott Card was appointed to the UNC-TV board of trustees by NC’s TEA Party legislature. Oh, rapture!
WereBear
@Mike E: I guess resistance is futile.
raven
@Soonergrunt: Our “Arms Room” in the Nam was a conex with double locks. You drew your weapon when you were going to leave the compound and they were sometimes issued when we had a high level of alert. I flew into Pleiku Airbase on a C-130 and was walking down the street with my M-16. The AF Security dudes stopped me and said “what the hell are you doing with that weapon? You can’t have that here”! They escorted me to the gate and put my ass out!
eta I do have home movies of a bunch of officers in Korea with shotguns and ducks but I don’t know what the situation was with them.
Felonius Monk
@Elizabelle:
The wack-a-doos here in NY are agin’ it. We still don’t have it on Time-Warner cable.
zoot
the real question is: why does anyone ask chuck todd about anything?
Xantar
@Punchy:
Let’s get David Axelrod and Reince Preibus to argue about the question on TV.
Violet
I cannot believe I ever thought Chuck Todd was good at anything. He’s such a toady. And whenever they remove Dancin’ Dave from MTP, Chuckie is probably next in line.
Bill in Section 147
@kd bart: If he ever verified the accuracy of a statement he would say he was a digital age “Mr. Spell.” He transcribes input and plays the content back in his own voice. Now in Toy Story Mr. Spell could handle his own business but that is fiction.
Felonius Monk
@kd bart:
Not exactly. When the rethugs or wing-nuts speak, he is indeed a tape recorder. When the Prez or other Dems speak, he is an interpreter except he doesn’t seem to understand the language being spoken so he just improvises.
Snarki, child of Loki
I’m sure the NRA is getting ready to roll out their “this tragedy would have been prevented, IF ONLY THE NAVY WERE ARMED” media blitz.
I’m probably a really bad person for hoping that the DC naval yard has a little ‘oopsie’ with a guided missile cruiser, that results in a direct hit on the NRA HQ.
amk
@scav: “He’s a doormat that can be rolled and used as a megaphone! ”
stolen & tweeted.
Patrick
That would make Chuck Todd and his ilk a stenographer. If that’s what Chick Todd considers as his job description, then why do the heck is he on TV? Why the heck should anybody listen to him if he thinks it is his job to repeat lies without questioning them?
RP
I thought that children are the only ones who blush.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Jamey:
Fixt?
Mike E
@WereBear: UNC-TV put out a presser: Trustees are symbolic! Real power is with the board o’governors! Pledge!
Jay C
@Soonergrunt:
Umm, Sooner? Your reminisce about military arms protocols may be quite accurate, but misses one significant point. It is a recall of real-life experiences in the real military operating in the real world. Which seems to be a place most ‘Net-posting gun nuts visit infrequently, if at all…
PS: How is you daughter doing?
Gin & Tonic
The period of at least somewhat objective reporting on the news, from, say Murrow through Cronkite, was a historical anomaly. You think 19th or early 20th century newspapers gave half a shit about objectivity? They were mouthpieces for rich people, as newspapers have been through most of their history. Expecting TV to be different is delusional.
gbear
@RP: And villians always roll their eyes.
I just hope that the next time that Chuck Todd wants to ask Obama a question at a press conference, Obama says ‘Chuck! What can I bring you up to speed on this morning?’
Eric U.
I worked at an Air Force school in the early ’80s. One of our crises was that a student was caught bringing a gun onto base. Saint Reagan was president. At that time the gate guards didn’t have ammo in their guns because two security guards were having a mock duel and one ended up dead. In fact, they probably didn’t have ammo most times until 9/11.
When I went to the middle east for GHWBush’s little adventure in ’90, they made us clean our guns and then turn them in to a central armory. They didn’t tell us where that was or what the procedure would be if they decided we would need them. They re-issued them to us when we left because we had to turn them in to the supply unit back at our home base
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
It’s funny how the one supposedly bad Democratic POTUS (Jimmy Carter, who I didn’t think was that bad) in the last half-century still gets mocked on a regular basis, but everyone has amnesia about failed republican presidents. They blame all of the first Bush’s unpopular actions on Clinton, and half of his son’s goofs on Obama (or Clinton, who failed to overcome republican stonewalling and get Osama – yes, they blamed Clinton for 9-11). It’s like in their minds Obama is at the start of his fourth term and the Bush administrations never existed.
Patrick
@gbear:
Better yet – Obama could lie about literally anything. According to the insane statement by Chuck Todd, it is not Todd’s job to question it. His job is only to report what Obama said verbatim. It is the GOP’s job to question it if they choose to do so.
Is there any wonder why our public is so uneducated when it comes to how our government works and corresponding policy issues? If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Chuck Todd’s statement came from the Onion…
Southern Beale
I have created the word Chucksplains and I plan to use it any time some idiot journalist says it’s not his job to report facts and then claims he was misquoted.
El Cid
If it isn’t Master Todd’s job to evaluate politicians’ claims between accuracy and falsehoods, what’s his ‘value added’?
Why should I watch his show and allow that show to receive paid advertising instead of me going to the politicians’ websites and reading or listening to or watching their spin directly?
Unless the business model is to lie about your role and pretend to have an active involvement in truthfulness evaluation while in reality just letting your favorite sources spin things as desired.
PurpleGirl
@Felonius Monk: In NYC we have Al Jazeera English on channel 92. I don’t watch news much so I haven’t watched it.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Other Bob:
The military does not have the mission of selling more guns.
The NRA does.
Jay in Oregon
@The Other Bob:
The right-wing/NRA propaganda is that military bases were FORCED to disarm by Clinton, b/c evil liberal gun-grabber.
If every sailor, grunt, and Marine were packing an AR-15 with a full magazine, the shooter wouldn’t have gotten 6 inches past the front gate. So sayeth the wise LaPierre…