POLITICS : In regards to Jim Acosta's press credentials revocation.
This is what I posted on Facebook:
Acosta's press credentials revoked
Two years ago, I would have said ‘unbelievable.’
Now it’s another day, another brazen assault on the meaning of a free press. From the pulpit of the most powerful position in the free-ish world.
Unbelievable. This cannot become normalized.
A comment from someone to me, and also: don’t call me Joe:
Wow... I think you're getting out over your skiis little too far here Joe. Jim Acosta is a rude arrogant partisan baffoon who should have lost his pass a long time ago. His behaviour prior to yesterday has been unacceptable, and yesterday was clearly the last straw.
CNN still has other reporters with passes. Multiple other members of the press are still covering the whitehouse. It is not "a brazen assault on the meaning of a free press."
Today's press doesn't care about facts. All they are looking for is that gotcha moment. It doesn't matter how combative and rude they are, as long as they can get anyone from the Trump administration to give them the soundbite they're looking for its a success. Is this really what we want from our "free" press?
In comparison, when Obama was in office they handled him with kid gloves. Rarely asked tough questions. Always treated him with honor, respect, and frequently awe. Think for just a moment about what would have happened if anyone from a conservative outlet were to have treated Obama in a similar fassion to Ocasta. They would have been labled racist, and all the major outlets would have been calling for their heads. If it happened more then once Obama certainly would have revoked their pass and the media would have talked about how it was justified.
Similarly to you, I don't like Trump labeling those who report what he calls false news as enemies of the people. I do however like that he is willing to fight back when the media lies about him. His fighting back is in no way witholding freedom from the press. They gave that freedom away a long time ago to the DNC.
My reply:
No, not getting ahead of my skis.
It is an attack. Period.
The press has always had an antagonistic relationship with those in power. As it should. Their job is to question. And, although I’m weary of Trump apologists jumping to “look at Obama or Hillary” examples because so much of what this administration does is indefensible in ANY OTHER WAY, I will say this: yes, every past presidency has had its problems with the press, and there have definitely have been times when they should have hit harder. See: pre-Iraq invasion, etc. including Obama.
The press SHOULD be holding those in power’s feet to the fire. That’s how it goes, and past presidencies have complained and grumbled, but aside from Nixon, have largely accepted that is the nature and gift of this beautiful country.
Not this president, not this administration. The press gets things wrong sometimes. But the big difference is, they generally admit it when they do.
Yes, there are examples of when they haven’t. Including with Obama. Agreed.
But these are patterns. The pattern and treatment, and respect given to the press, or rather not given under 45’s direction is a slap in the face to those value a free press as a foundation of our country.
And he has assaulted it. Again and again, in ways that defy reason. Except that - and he has noted this in his campaigning - he calls into question their legitimacy when they’re reporting news he doesn’t to hear.
News that will be unfavorable to him.
He is proactively, preemptively ensuring that a certain percentage, his core constituency, will accept his reasoning, his explanations, his lies, as replacements for...
...facts.
That is the reality he has worked masterfully to construct. That his words, WHATEVER they are, trump reality.
Patterns. This is an escalation. And he will continue pushing.
As an aside, since when has he become a martyr? How do you manage that, when you’re occupying the most powerful position in the world?
You kind of can’t have it both ways.
MY RESPONSE TO A POST IN WHICH 2017 LINDSAY GRAHAM STATES THE SEVERE REPERCUSSIONS SHOULD TRUMP TRY TO FIRE MUELLER OR REMOVE HIM FROM THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION; A STANCE HE HAS TRIED TO RETREAT FROM.
I recognize the probable futility of saying what’s been said a thousand times - and to little avail - but this is Graham speaking IN HIS OWN WORDS.
And yet this administration and cohorts, despite a massive ongoing legacy of lying, misdirection, and hypocrisy (saying one thing, doing a different) that is documented IN THEIR OWN WORDS has still, has STILL somehow convinced a portion of people - and I will say, some that I love and sometimes respect - that this is...wait for it...
Yep. Fake news. Again, that phrase: IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
Reporting somebody’s own words, in totality, as given to a news person.
What happened to what used to happen: a politician lies or gets called out on a hypocrisy, and they either face the consequences or at least acknowledge they got caught.
But now? Nope. I didn’t say that. Fake.
Morning rant. Sorry. Thanks for posting, Chad. It seems futile to keep talking and keeping tabs on all the lies. But I guess, what’s the alternative? Fatigue? People just stop calling them out?
That’s the line I don’t want to get to. Which is why a free press is such a big deal.
