I've come to never be surprised over anything I see on CNN these days. Despite the fact that over half the people who watch the cable news network call themselves liberals, the powers that be on what used to be the most trusted name in news continue to push neocon bullshit down our throats at every opportunity.
Why? Because they know it doesn't matter how many of us watch their crappy channel, just as long as the top 0.5% of wealthy folks out there keep buying ads.
But tonight was too much. Tonight I just wanted to punch John King in the throat before coming after Suzanne Malveaux with a heavy rock.
Seriously, I'm not a violent guy, but there comes a point where any peacenik is forced to go all Billy Jack in the face of jackbooted fascism.
CNN is doing a series this week called 'Revealed', and the basics are simply an in-depth look at each of the Presidential candidates (that matter), and what made them who they are today.
So tonight they did a bit of promo for these pieces. The first was Suzanne Malveaux on Barack Obama.
The clip they used to portray what's to come? A story about how, back in the day, Obama was offered a State Senator spot in Illinois to replace an incumbent who was going to run federally.
When she lost her election, she decided to run for state senate again, and asked Obama to pull out. Obama, not keen on the idea of jumping ship, looked at her papers and found they had been put together incorrectly, pointed out as much to the electoral boffins, and the incumbent was forced to withdraw.
It's the kind of thing you could spin two ways. 1) He's someone who doesn't take kindly to being double-crossed and smart enough to avoid letting it happen. Or 2) you could say 'it's an example of his iron-fisted Chicago-politics style determination not to let anything get in the way of his career'.
Guess which CNN went with?
Then, just minutes later it was McCain's turn.
Now, they could have mentioned how he cheated on his first wife for two years, dumping her with medical problems, no money and kids to deal with. They could have mentioned how he has an infamously awful temper, or how some of his war stories don't jive with reality. They could have mentioned a gazillion flip-flops, campaign heads tied to lobbying firms, blah blah blah.
What do they mention?
'This one time, on an aircraft carrier, some planes blew up and McCain somehow survived, which shows how determined and brilliant and fit to lead he is, and how he'd never send his troops in harms way without it being really necessary, and yeah some people say he has a bad temper, but we'll show you how he also has a soft side and we found some Democrats (read: Lieberman) who said they like his temper anyway, so it's a good thing.'
Then they show McCain telling a story about his dead war buddies, complete with a teary eye. Touching. Loving. Presidential-like.
I tell you, I wanted to boot the damn TV screen, and my wife, who normally has a much higher tolerance level for this bullshit than I, was yelling at the top of her voice "why are these bastards DOING THIS TO US?!"
Three minutes a day of Jack Cafferty, followed by half an hour of Glenn Beck is just about all you need to know about this asshole of a propaganda outlet.
I barely watch the damn channel at all as it is, because only an idiot allows himself to be lied to on a daily basis, but I'm just done from here on. Absolutely gobsmacked.
Obama = take no prisoners self-obsessed career man.
McCain = emotional hero who can escape fire.
Tomorrow morning I empty my bank account into the Obama campaign. He can have it all. I refuse to stand pat as the nation is stolen out from under me by a pack of hyenas in nice suits.
UPDATE: Thanks to Hannibal in the comments for more details on McCain's 'heroic act':
That's the other side of the story about the carrier fire. That McCain, in his recklessness, caused the fire by performing a wet start, cooking off a rocket behind him, and that rocket hit McCain's plane, causing him to panic, and dropped two bombs into the fire.
Just over 130 dead. Because McCain screwed up.
But not something worthy of repeating by CNN, apparently.
UPDATE II: "Next on CNN, John McCain has been accused of using negative tactics on Barack Obama, but after the break we learn how those tactics may be the same ones Hillary Clinton used."
No mention of how they're also the ones KARL ROVE used, and how they were used ON McCain by Rove in 2000, and how Rove's advising the McCain campaign now... no, they're HILLARY tactics. Democrat tactics!
We should start a fun. Everyone throws in $50 and we start our own news network. Heck, if we can get Obama $50m in a few weeks, we can damn sure start a newspaper or something... please?