More Spin from NPR on Blue Dog Democrats

Again this morning, NPR is pushing conservative spin on the election results.  They've been telling us ever since the election that the takeover in the House was led by "Blue Dog" - that is, conservative - Democrats.  This in spite of the fact that the most prominent Blue Dog candidate, Harold Ford, lost while many of the people who won are progressives.

Not only that, but they're now calling Blue Dogs "centrists".

I know that NPR feels pressured by the White House cronies who run the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  But don't they have enough integrity to resist such political influence?

If you have an opinion on NPR's coverage, feel free to tell them what you think!  Go to their web form here.

•  The democrats are centrists!

  This is an accurate title.  We ar ein the middle of the political spectrum when we have progressive view.  Rights for everyone.  Good education.  Strong national defense.  Opportunities for all.  The rest of the country is with us progressives.  At that point, we are centrists!

  Where are we left wing?  Few people think we can just raise taxes on businesses to make things better.  Though we have trade problems, we know we can't end all trade.  It is a centrists postion to demand oversight, stop waste, stop fraud, and stop corruption.  It is centrist to not impeach Bush but to hang him like an albatrass around every Republicans neck and keep him there.

  We won because of their excesses.  The congressional corruption should be gone, but the President is still in power, and that corruption should really come out.  We will make sure that albratass helps us capture more in 2008 with a great progressive/centrists candidate and strengthen our majorities in congress.  

  by boji on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 07:51:42 AM PDT

  •  Blue dogs...

    Voted for or endorsed the war, torture, anti gay legislation and balls out dominionist/opus dei wingnuts for the supreme court.

    If that is the center we are doomed as a species and a republic.

    by NCrefugee on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 07:55:52 AM PDT

    •  Few of those.

      Those are also issues a democratic congress does not need to address.  We need to repeal doma, but not this year.  We stop the conservatives from getting another supreme court nomination.  The torture issue will come back to haunt them, and we must get back habeas corpus.  

      The blue dogs can help, and some of the moderate R's can help.  It won't be easy, but the vast majority of congress has moved a long way to the left not right.

      by boji on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:01:13 AM PDT

  •  ugh.

    Few people think we can just raise taxes on businesses to make things better.

    That is such a ridiculous straw man oversimplification of a left position that you completely drag down your quite solid point that the Democratic Party does, indeed, control the "center" of US politics, for what those designations are worth.

    We won because of a host of factors all adding up at the right time and because we've all been working our asses off. Now that we've got a congressional majority in both houses (WOOHOO!) we've got even more work to do.

    NPR is definitely not an ally, but it's hardly our biggest problem our. And it's only a small part of the huge problem we have with the media in general and isn't, to my thinking, the main thing we should be attacking. I think the NPR bias really gets to us because so many of us listen to it expecting some confirmation of our own take on reality, since once upon a time it was like that. But no more.

    We need to take the Wurlitzer on head on, and continue to push people like Clinton to fight back against the lies. We need the mainstream "centrist" Democrats to push back against the bullshit as hard as those of us on the left have been doing. And we need to get rid of the Republicans heading up NPR and injecting their bias into the entire outlet.

    by hyperstation on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:14:25 AM PDT

  •  We're moderates...

    ....not centrists. A centrist is someone who runs after the center, no matter how stupid that might be, no matter how far to the right the right-wingers drag the center. A moderate is someone who is towards the middle of American's ideological views and is generally sensible.

    by metal prophet on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:46:58 AM PDT

•  I would complain but...

  I quit listening and donating in 2003 when one Sunday morning, E.J Dionne and Kookie Roberts spent 45 min trashing every  Dem primary candidate with repub talking points and other lies.

  So I will give ya a rec instead in hopes current listeners will smack them with a clue via the form.

  by NCrefugee on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 07:52:10 AM PDT

  •  E.J. Dionne did that?!?

    I thought that Dionne was pretty strongly for Dean? I've always liked his columns and he's pretty good at making Republican talking points look like nonsense. Cokie Roberts is a piece of shit, though.

    by metal prophet on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:49:31 AM PDT

    •  I've tried to stop

      getting irate when there is no link.

      by Elwood Dowd on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:41:03 AM PDT

•  The high point of my morning

  was listening to Perle 'stay the course' on the neocon agenda.  Nothing that came out of his mouth made his views any less laughable.  The interviewer gave him a lukewarm reception.

  by Fabian on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 07:56:55 AM PDT

•  I've been gone for at least 8 years

  When NPR jumped on the Clinton scandal bandwagon and started echoing Republican talking points, they lost me.

  The takeover was emphatically not led by "blue dog" Democrats.  It was led by yellow dog Progressives in the red states who are tired of voting for golden retrievers instead of bloodhounds.

  by TarheelDem on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 07:58:02 AM PDT

  •  good analysis

    by boji on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:02:09 AM PDT

•  I've seen two great responses to this spin

  They both depend on how you define "conservative":

  • Rachel Maddow. She pointed out that conservative Ford lost, while liberal Sherrod Brown WON. She also gives a long list of other races that demonstrate that the country is NOT more conservative (if you defind conservative as mean-spirited theocratic kleptomania).
  • Al Franken. He pointed out that Bush doubling the national debt, killing the Constitution, and and trashing the environment conserve nothing. And if you define conservative by its good qualities, all the REAL conseratives are now Democrats, and our party is not the party of liberals, moderates AND conservative.

  by daulton on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:04:54 AM PDT

  •  Sherrod Brown is a liberal?

    Congressman Brown was one of the turncoats who voted YES on The Military Commissions Act. That says everything about the senator-to-be's "liberal" credentials.

    by Blue Patriot Woman on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:52:57 AM PDT

    •  Well, to be fair, outside of that horrible vote

      he had a pretty good rating and voted right most of the time.

      by tigercourse on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:00:02 AM PDT

      •  But when it really mattered

        he voted for one of the most horrible pieces of legislation [sic] in our history.

        Sorry but it will take a lot for me to ever forgive (but never forget) the Democrats (32 representatives and 12 senators) who signed off on destroying The Great Writ of Habeous Corpus.

        by Blue Patriot Woman on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:07:15 AM PDT

        •  No argument here.

          by tigercourse on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:14:29 AM PDT

        •  Yes, but on trade issues ...

          Sherrod Brown can be counted on not to sell out America's workers.  (He has a great book called, "Myths of Free Trade").

          Sure, his vote on habeas corpus stinks, but let's see how he does in the Senate before condemning him.

          by Bob B on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:16:13 AM PDT

        •  I get the impression a lot of Democrats...

          ...thought that vote was Rove's "October surprise." If they voted to preserve the Constitution, then the Republican-owned MSM screams "they voted for the terrorists."

          In fact, it may HAVE been planned that way. It is no less insane than spending several news cycles on the fact that Kerry left the word "us" out of a joke.

          by daulton on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 11:16:41 AM PDT

    •  Also, his liberal credentials are indicated

      ...by this column written by his wife, Pulitzer Prize winning Connie Schultz. Here

      by daulton on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 11:19:23 AM PDT

•  Very odd choices

  of people to highlight this week. Richard Perle, Blue Dog Democrats. Richard Viguerie.

  But tune in to On the Media. They talk about the Webb campaign, and how one volunteer at the Nov. 7th party was staying ahead of CNN on voting results.

  Ken, I think his name was.

  by Elwood Dowd on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:05:33 AM PDT

  •  Yes, "On the Media" is a good show!

    In fact, one of the best on NPR.

    by Bob B on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:08:08 AM PDT

    •  I agree.

      "On The Media" is one of the best shows they have!

      My all time favorite show was when Bob Garfield gave a little editorial about Terri Gross' interview with Bill O"Reilley after which the head of NPR took her to task.

      In the editorial, Bob Garfield said something along the lines that he would "Gladly wear a whole omlette" on his face for the chance to call Bill out on his many lies.

      by Naniboujou on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:55:33 AM PDT

  •  I don't think they have any Democrats

    On their call list. They've been so used to keeping Democrats off that now they don't know who to call.

    NPR spent lots of air time talking about Democrats but not talking to Democrats.

    by kateNC on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:10:36 AM PDT

•  Complain Anyway...

  Regardless of how little esteem people have for NPR, or how long people haven't been listening, I do hope everyone will let NPR know that the "Blue Dog" takeover is just a conservative fabrication.

  When the media lie to us, we must call them on it!  We must let the media know that we're on to them, and that we're not buying what they're selling.

  by Bob B on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:06:51 AM PDT

•  It's a fair cop

  to say the Democrats have modified their rhetoric to suit the times.  Campaigns are poetry, governance is the dullest of prose.

  Nobody has a lock on what defines the Democratic Party.  That's one of the reasons I converted from the Republican camp.  The other was Dubya's disgusting military record.  I'm a veteran, and have no use for people who won't finish what they started, but that's another story.

  Blue Dog-ism isn't simply centrism.  It's a far older thing, what Democrats once were, essentially populists, repeating the mantras of whatever the crowd is saying.  Lots of soi-disant Liberals have sold us out at vote time, preferring to be guided by political expediency in Washington, not their consciences or the will of their constituencies.  Sorta like that old New Yorker cover showing the world seen from NYC.

  The newly-elected Dems said a great many nice things to us, while they were campaigning.  They said other things to other crowds.  If NPR observes this phenomenon, it's just one viewpoint.  Let's not be too violent in our opposition to other viewpoints, lest we fall into the Belief Trap the Repubs got into with their candidates in the last elections:  their candidates pretended to be conservatives, but defied conservative principles, that's why they voted for our candidates.  Don't trust a politician, however well you may like him or her.  I believe NPR has a point here, a point we may not like to hear, but which very definitely needs making.

  by BlaiseP on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:19:24 AM PDT

•  I Posted This on the Open Thread This Morning:

  I  listen to NPR every work day going back and forth.  Sometimes I hear that moron Mara Liasson, the whining weasel Steve Inskeep and the zombie Cokie Roberts.

  I haven't been able to give any money to NPR for the last year and a half, those Stooges have gotten so bad.

  But last night, I got an idea!

  Every day, I will get a dollar out in the morning.

  1.  If I don't hear any of the three aforementioned hacks read the Corpublican talking points during the day, the dollar goes in the NPR jar.

  2.  If any one of those hacks launch a Corpublican talking point, the dollar stays out.

  3.  If I have to hear any combination of the three talk to each other and launch talking points, I will take a dollar OUT of the jar.

  I have sent this scheme on to NPR just to let them know that I'm listening and keeping score.

  by InquisitiveRaven on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:21:23 AM PDT

  •  Great Plan!

    I thought maybe I was the only one who was falling out of love with NPR. I have listened to them for 20 years but during this election cycle they have really pissed me off. I love the tip jar idea.  

    If you are looking for a great candidate look no further -- John Edwards in 2008!!!

    by The Armchair President on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 08:43:42 AM PDT

    •  I'm Leaning Wes Clark...

      ...who was my first pick in 2004.

      Plus he came to YK07.  On the Science Panel.  He's my guy...until the convention.  Then whoever get the nomination is my guy...even..arg, arg, RALPH....hillary.

      by InquisitiveRaven on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:46:03 AM PDT

  •  We need to support our local public radio

    True they do send money to NPR and NPR needs to change its ways. But they do a lot of critical reporting that would not be done otherwise. Without WPSU and its other stations, central PA would have nothing but right wing talk and fundies.

    by shirah on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:37:23 AM PDT

    •  YOu Must Listen...

      ...to a different All Things Considered and Morning edition than I do.

      I don't advocate not giving...I do advocate giving NPR feedback about their Ken Tomlinson-produced slide right and give it the heave-ho.

      by InquisitiveRaven on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:44:25 AM PDT

      •  WPSU does a lot of local reporting

        and truly there is no alternative in central PA. Most of us send in contributions to the local stations which then pay for programs they buy from NPR, etc. I am suggesting that we need to consider them - even though they do send money on to NPR.

        I suspect lots of places in the US are more like my area than places like SE Michigan where you get lots of news sources and many public radio stations. If I don't support my local station, I will have nothing.

        And I never said NPR - ATC are great - notice the other comments that include criticisms about their treatment of labor issues and reliance on very sketchy underwritiers.

        by shirah on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 12:32:51 PM PDT

•  NPR turned it's back on me

  the moment they fired Bob Edwards after 24 years 6 months. Wouldn't even allow him the dignity of completing 25 years. Not that Bob was progressive but he at least wasn't the Repug toady that is Steve Inskeep. Of all of the people they could have chosen to replace Bob....

  by Blue Patriot Woman on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:13:34 AM PDT

•  Tues was Labor, Progressive, Fair-Trade Victory

  Nathan Newman wrote an excellent diary on this topic yesterday:

  http://www.dailykos.com/...

  by Bob B on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:28:15 AM PDT

•  Don't forget NPR's underwritiers

  They may have a higher conviction / corruption / law breaking rate than do Republican congress reps.

  Gee, what is it with NPR underwriters? It's getting so that being on that list they read at the end of NPR shows means joining a gallery of rogues.

  Now joining NPR underwriters as Wal-Mart, ADM - Supermarket to the World as malefactors with image problems who underwrite NPR, we now have Keane of "We get IT done" fame.

  From [Keane - We Get Sexual Harrasment Done
  http://www.unbossed.com/...

  by shirah on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:30:36 AM PDT

•  NPR and Labor

  They generally do a very bad job in this area. Remember the NY Transit strike? All the stories I heard were on how the strike made it harder to get to work. Virtually not a word on the reasons for the strike, nor on support for the strike, of which there was a lot.

  by shirah on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 09:35:17 AM PDT

•  Truly right wing spin

  Shea Porter, Tim Waltz, Sherrod Brown, are these conservative Democrats? Tester, while not a liberal, did beat a DLC candidate in the primary and went on to win narrowly in red state Montana. Between Webb and Ford, Ford was definetly the one that ran further to the right, and up until late in the election was considered the more likely to win. He lost and Webb won. What is wrong with NPR that they have to put out right wing spin.

  Of those that gained seats some were very progressive, many were moderate, and some could be called conservative, but the fact remains that the failed DLC policy lost to the policies of the likes of Howard Dean. The fact remains that these candidates had D's, not R's, after their names. People wanted change, wanted to throw Republicans out, and wanted a check on the Bush administration, and most of these races would have had near identicle results had the Dem candidates been either a little more liberal or a little more conservative.

  by Christopher Liberal on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 10:52:07 AM PDT

•  Varied, hits it

  Populist on average.

  Not knowing all the candidates, I can't truly say, but the ones I saw were:

  1. In governmental policy, Anti-authoritarianism

  2. In foreign affairs, for Ethical Realism

  3. In domestic affairs, for Economic Populism

  That's conservative under one on the 19 definitions you could put on conservative, but it's just as close to 10 other different movements...You can even argue some elements of 1930s populism in there except for the suspicion of new expansive government programs.

  The one thing it is not, in its pro-union, anti-interventionist stance is DLC. And it certainly doesn't map to anything the Republican party has recently supported.

  But like I say, a truly know only a small sample of the candidates.

  I think we need a name for this combo of traits. I think reporters feel smart when they say Blue Dog --there's a value to having a cute name....

  by keener on Sun Nov 12, 2006 at 10:29:35 PM PDT