The Death of CNN

 

CNN is in big trouble.  It's viewership during prime time continues to drop.  To give you an idea about how bad it is, the number of people watching CNN during prime time is equal to the combined population of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties...around 530,000.  By comparison, about 2.65 million are watching Fox News.  Broken down by programs, it is even worse.  Piers Morgan's coveted 9:00 PM slot has a viewership around 200,000. 

CNN decided to remedy the situation by changing the head dude.  I have read numerous reasons for the ratings debacle at CNN blaming pretty much everything and everybody but the real cause.  Their news sucks.  It is bias.  It is irritating.  It is condescending.  

CNN still has the best breaking news coverage.  When there is a disaster or a breaking story of national import, it still maintains the capacity to get the news faster and better than any other news channel be it network or cable.  Unfortunately, it's regular news coverage has devolved into a complete mess.

It has become the voice of what it perceives to be the oppressed.  All black, all gay, all day.  If there is the even the smallest, most insignificant story relating to minorities, women and gay activists, it bounces to the front of the news lineup and the reporters harangue endlessly about how horrible the story is.  Maybe it is horrible, but that's life.  There is lots of horrible stuff that happens to people every day, but it doesn't make the news...and be all of the news...for a 24 hour news cycle.

The commentators and hard news reporters do little to hide their disdain for Republicans and conservatives.  Soledad O'Brien sneers when interviewing someone anywhere right of left of center.  Wolfe Blitzer isn't much better.  He is like a robot babbling on and on asking the same inane questions with his eyes bulging out of his head...baba-baba-baba-baba.  I stare at the television in disbelief that CNN even puts this guy on. 

Yesterday the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri made some asinine comments about women and rape.  There was a fema-nazi explosion on CNN. They were shaking in their ecstasy of excitement...it's the end of the Republican Party...he is going to save the day for Democrats....Ohhhh.  Romney is in trouble now because now the whole world can see the evil heart of Republicans.  Really?

What is shows is that Congressman Aikin is an idiot and horrible politician, but not much more. Yet these folks went into contortions to try to connect the dots between Aikin and Romney and the moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party.  Meanwhile, Joe Biden is off putting people back in chains and he was poo-pooed...and unemployment went up to 8.3%.

I challenge anyone to turn on CNN and not see the hard news reporters talking about anything but minority rights, women's rights, and gay rights.  Here are stories you won't hear on CNN.  The killing fields of Chicago.  The war in Afghanistan.  The homeless.  The high unemployment rate.  Rising gas prices.  Rapidly rising food prices.  College age adults living at home because they can't find work.  The strangulation of the coal industry in the United States. The number of people on food stamps. The rise in the poverty rate in the United States.  If it weren't for CNN International, which makes boat loads of money, CNN would be out of business. 

Everybody laughs about "fair and balanced" at Fox.  But some of the CNN reporters, especially some of the female reporters, are just plain scary.   CNN needs to lose Wolfe Blitzer, Soledad O'Brien, and Piers Morgan plus any number of those snob blond babes who are anchoring other "hard" news throughout the day.  They should put Anderson Cooper into a slot where that pained look may actually do some good. Maybe then, somebody would actually watch it.

In the meantime, the seriousness of the issues that CNN holds itself out to care about are trivialized to the point where people like me just turn them off.  And that's a real shame.  Talks is cheap...too cheap at CNN.

Obama the Motivational - Follow the Money

At the end of the day, this election is about choice. It’s very simple. Do we believe that the solution to our problems is found in Barack Obama’s big government model, or is found in a vibrant free enterprise system? One only has to look to Europe to see the answer. Once a country’s national debt equals or exceeds the GDP of that country, the proverbial you know what will hit the fan. There is no turning back and you get Spain and Greece with unemployment rates exceeding 25% and almost 50% for those under the age of 35.

We are almost there. I don’t understand Obama’s motivation for doing what he is doing? He is not a stupid person. I assume he reads the papers. He talks about hope and change but has yet to articulate a vision of what that is. And he obviously is filled with jealousy and envy for those who have worked hard and made it in the private sector…something he couldn’t do. His mean spiritedness is beyond all comprehension. When I am faced with an issue for which there is no obvious visible explanation, I follow the money. Who profits from what is happening?

Obama practices crony capitalism. He rewards his friends with extravagant contracts…think Solyndra; and punishes his enemies with unending and baseless investigations…think Gibson Guitar and Boeing. General Electric is the among the largest of exporters of American jobs…as well as General Motors as it builds its new mammoth plant in China…and yet he is simpatico with Jeffrey Immelt and bailed out General Motors at the feet of our bankruptcy system. And white collar workers are bad and not deserving of pension rescues, think Delphi…and blue collar workers are good and are worthy of rescued pensions, think GM.

Obama has not been hesitant to make shady deals to his financial benefit, think the house deal with convicted felon Tony Rezko. I still believe that if anyone took the time to examine Obama’s 2008 campaign reports, one would find an electronic version of the oldest political contribution scam in the book…phony ticket sales…phony small donations.

The press has ignored these questions. Reporters might have to think and do some work. I suspect that the true issue of Obama isn’t one of race or one of liberal radicalism, but rather one of dirty Chicago politics. The corruption in the Obama administration is so blatant it is breathtaking. How far does it go, and where does the money land? Follow the money.

There was big money behind Obama in 2008. I am not sure who was fooling whom…whether he was a liberal patsy bought by Chicago thugs…or whether he was a Chicago thug playing to the most radical of American liberals to find a base of support to get elected, throw them a few bones, and play with his friends back in Chicago.

I suspect the latter. Sooner or later we will find out, whether after this election or the election in 2016. It will be interesting once the next administration gets into office and gets access to the information of a man who promised to be the most open President in history.

In the meantime, watch your wallet.

Does Harry Reid Beat His Wife?

The question I have is what do Obama and crew see in the polls that they are willing to throw Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid under the bus? The weasel eyed Senator from Nevada stood at the Senate podium and accused Mitt Romney of not paying taxes for the past 10 years. He claimed he has the information from an impeccable unnamed source that, of course, will continue to be unnamed. He further said that Romney used tax avoidance measures in his tax returns. Of course, Mr. Reid has never released his tax returns…and just for the record….those tax avoidance measures were put into the tax code by….let’s see….YOU, Senator Reid.  And by the way....when did you stop beating your wife?

Even Anderson Cooper looked stunned tonight. His knight in shiny armor finally fell off the horse. In an interview with Democratic Party activist Paul Begala, Cooper actually started to laugh at Begala’s feeble attempt to justify Reid’s actions. How do you defend the indefensible?

Don’t think for a minute that Reid has gone off on this tangent on his own. There is no way in hell he would do this without the imprimatur of the White House. More than claiming Ann Romney is not a true woman because she never worked. More than claiming Romney is dirty because he worked hard and was successful. More than claiming Ann Romney wore $900.00 blouses which couldn’t touch Michele Obama’s $4000.00 jacket. More than demonizing Ann Romney for owning a horse. This is almost laughable, but absolutely indicative of a failed progressive presidency as the country slowly falls back into recession. At least it keeps the spike in gasoline prices this past week off of the lead story on the evening news.

The good news is I think the American public, at least the part that is paying attention, will see this for what it is. The only issue in this election is the economy, and things aren’t good. Manufacturing is slowing down. Car sales are slipping. Unemployment is creeping back up. And if gasoline prices go any higher, the economy will grind to a halt.

President Obama is a true believer in his uber Keynesian economic philosophy. Unfortunately it has a strong dose of class envy and hatred mixed in with an eye to punishing people for success. After all, they didn’t build that. Obama was swept into office on the back of an economic collapse and a belief in the inherent goodness of the man and the essential honesty of his hope and change message. What we got was the most partisan president in American history. We got a man who combined environmental extremism with crony capitalism. We got a man who left the details to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid while he jumped into racially charged situations that backfired in his face. We got a man preaching a civil tone while stoking the fuel of class, sex, and minority warfare. And we got a man who just doesn’t understand how business works. How could he? He is an academic who lived a golden and charmed life.

So, Mr. Reid, when you release your taxes showing that your didn’t take advantage of the tax avoidance provisions that you and your congress put into the IRS code….then I will listen to your BS. Meantime, sit down and shut the hell up.