The Associated Press is up to their old tricks. Now that Democrats are in control, "pork projects" and "earmarks" are no longer called for what they are--government waste directed to the best-connected congressional cronies. Instead, now that the tax-and-spend Democrats are--GASP--planning to eliminate waste from the federal budget--waste, mind you, which was deliberately punted to them as a parting shot and giant "fuck you" from the departing "fiscally responsible" majority who deservedly got thrown out on their asses by the righteous anger of the American people, the proclamation has been issued from Rove spin and propaganda headquarters that, in true "Clear Skies/Healthy Forests/Mission Accomplished" fashion, the correct terminology for congressional waste is now---drum roll---
Hometown Projects! of which the new tax-and-spend Democratic majority plans to Kill Thousands!.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
The headline:
Dems to kill thousands of hometown projects
And choice quotes:
Although critics call hometown projects "pork," their sponsors claim that, as elected representatives, they know more about the needs of people in their states than the president and government bureaucrats. Projects they often want funded range from road, bridge and flood-control construction to economic development. Beneficiaries include local governments, hospitals and universities.
Such projects exploded in number under GOP control of Congress over the last 12 years. At the same time they spawned a boom on Washington's K Street lobbying corridor, where consultants earn big fees by helping outsiders navigate the system.
(emphasis mine) Note the fawning tone taken toward the corporate lobbyists who help the poor, disenfranchised "outsiders" (corporations) to "navigate the system", and the insinuation that Democrats want to take money away from the things people love, like "local governments, hospitals and universities". No mention of bridges to nowhere or no-bid contracts for Halliburton.
Just when I think the establishment media couldn't possibly twist yet another story about Democrats pursuing overwhelmingly popular policies to portray them in a negative light, they never cease to amaze me with their linguistic acrobatics that slam Democrats as much as possible without sacrificing the appearance of neutrality (Fox News being the shameless exception of course).
Of course it would be impossible for Media Matters to go after the partisan bias in every single story, but stories like this, from "respected" media outlets which feign neutrality but consistently display a subtle pro-GOP anti-Dem slant, are far more infuriating to me than, say, Fox News, which is so ridiculously and unabashedly a GOP propaganda arm that anyone with a brain can see through their BS. This kind of thing is much more dangerous when it seeps into "mainstream" reporting.
When I think about the consistent barrage of pro-GOP, anti-Dem slant in coverage of the news that has existed and only grown worse over the past decade or so, I begin to realize that the American people deserve more credit than I have given them for having working bullshit detectors--that Democrats did even as well as they have done in recent elections is nothing short of astounding, given how lopsidedly the deck is stacked against them in terms of the media, the gerrymandering, and the overrepresentation of small states in the Senate (I'm not passing a judgement on our political system here, just pointing out the fact that this has helped Republicans in recent history.).
The winds of change are in the air...