Gov. Good Hair's Bad Day In New Hampshire

He met educated voters, . . .

For Rick Perry, visit to New Hampshire town turns into an ambush - Poten & Partners:

Alan Cronheim, a Portsmouth lawyer, engaged Perry in a cordial, low-octane chat about health care, asking him to explain how 30 million uninsured Americans would fare if he succeeds in repealing the Obama overhaul.

"I just happen to think it can be delivered better by the states than by the federal government," Perry told him.

That hasn't worked out so well in Texas, Cronheim said, noting that after a decade under Perry, a quarter of residents still lack coverage.

"He did nothing to deal with the plight of those who can't afford health care," Cronheim said.

Interesting, the press considers educated voters asking intelligent questions an "ambush".

Clip and use

It's like a as Bingo Card for the Beltway Media talking points for the past week, . . .

Media Malpractice on Debt Ceiling

THE NPR'S OMBUDSMAN SPEAKS

NPR's GLOBAL WAR ON NOUNS

From the consistently well produced and thoughtful WNYC's On The Media , actual program transcript from the June 26, 2009 . Host Bob Garfield interviews Alicia Shepard, NPR Ombudsman, about her logic on defending why NPR is not calling torture "torture".

BOB GARFIELD: The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights says that waterboarding is torture. The International Committee of the Red Cross have called what the U.S. did “torture.” Waterboarding is unambiguously in violation of the International Convention on Torture, which has been ratified by 140-some countries.

It seems to me that the only people who think it’s a debate are the Bush Administration, who are the culprits. So how does that constituent a debate?

ALICIA SHEPARD: Well, there are two sides to the issue. And I'm not sure, why is it so important to call something torture?

Grumpy adjusts his glasses:

"I'm not sure, why is it so important to call something torture?"

"I'M NOT SURE, WHY IT IT SO IMPORTANT TO CALL SOMETHING TORTURE" ?

"I'M NOT SURE, WHY IT IT SO IMPORTANT TO CALL SOMETHING TORTURE"?

WTF? EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG, EXPLETIVE DELETED,EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG! EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG, EXPLETIVE DELETED, HOLY CRAP! (homage to Peter Boyle) WTF? EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, OMG! EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, EXPLETIVE DELETED, . . . (a half hour passes) ."

Ahem, well at least the host doesn't let Ms. Shepard off the hook, in fact he gets her to admit the NPR's euphemisms for torture reflect a pro-Bush bias:

BOB GARFIELD: I put it to you that embracing a euphemism for torture validates a political position. You’re trying to be apolitical but, in fact, to embrace terms like “harsh interrogation tactics” instead of calling a thing by its name, in effect, gives credence to the Bush Administration’s argument, does it not?

ALICIA SHEPARD: Yes, I think it does. I think using terms like “harsh interrogation tactics” or “enhanced interrogation techniques” does validate the Bush Administration. So that’s why I said why not just describe it. I think when you detail something and explain specifically what it is, then the public can decide.

BOB GARFIELD: NPR certainly has no difficulty calling murder “murder.” It doesn't call it “enhanced argumentation technique.” The terrorists call themselves “freedom fighters” but NPR calls acts of terror “acts of terror.”

ALICIA SHEPARD: Right.

BOB GARFIELD: In other respects, NPR hasn't taken a position against, you know, nouns. Why this one, in particular?

It goes down hill from there for Ms. Shepard. Like a good Beltway Village, Mr. Garfield's logic bounces off her like bullets against superman. Believe it or not, she attempts to create a (false) moral equivalency in NPR's coverage of abortion (a legal medically ethical procedure) to torture (illegal medically unethical).

Here's her closing statement, remember, she is an actual journalism professor:

And so in my opinion, as somebody with almost 30 years of journalism experience, it’s not the role of the media to take on characterizing things.

Believe it or not words escape me, so I'll let some else contradict Ms. Shepard's argument:

As someone who studies the media, writes about it and believes in it, I can easily say that Jon Stewart may profess to be a comedian but he is also one of the best journalists in the country.

He holds people in power accountable on a daily basis. he provides context and he does it all in a way that is totally enjoyable to watch
-Alicia Shepard, commenting on Planet Money blog, re: Jon Stewart vs Jim Crammer 03/13/09

I wonder what changed Ms. Shepard's mind about what constitutes good journalism in less than three months?

OOPS! CRAP!

Ok, I discovered yesterday that blogger labels all posts as "drafts" even the active posts.

The Grumpy Industries Quality Control Department was tasked yesterday with deleting the sub-standard drafts that don't meet our stringent quality standards for freshness and minimum number of typos (something to do with the Five Sigma Program.) Anyway, turns out all blog posts for June were deleted.

Fear not, June's posts have been restored, no thanks to Blogger's [not] help, but thanks to Google cache - nothing on the Internets is ever erased.

YOU COMMENTS WERE NOT INTENTIONALLY DELETED, I just need to figure out how to find them again. I'm not sure if the old links to this site work.

Anyway than you for you cooperation, carry on.


We now return to our regularly scheduled rant.

NPR'S TORTURED LOGIC

What journalism used to strive for when Grumpy was growing up:

"To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful." -Edward R. Murrow

What journalism at NPR and among the Beltway Villagers has become:

"the role of a news organization is not to choose sides in this or any debate. People have different definitions of torture and different feelings about what constitutes torture. NPR's job is to give listeners all perspectives, and present the news as detailed as possible and put it in context." -Alicia C. Shepard NPR Ombudsman, Journalism Professor

If you want to be appalled, just read the defense of NPR not calling torture "torture" by Alicia Shepard NPR's (Not A) Obudsman.

It hard to believe that anyone, much less a journalism professor, would actually write such nonsense:

"To call them torture suggests we've taken sides in the debate."

Oh, no, can't control, . . . ist too much, GRUMPY GET MAD, RANT ON, . . .



Only NPR and the Ombudsman would think that correctly and accurately describing water-boarding, considered torture for centuries, and illegal under US law for more than a half century, would be "taking a side."

What side would that be? Human decency? The side of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Red Cross? Talk about an Axis of Evil. Maybe NPR is doing its best of offset reality's well know Liberal bias.

There's only one problem with this facile and less than honest explanation, NPR originally didn't have a problem calling "torture" torture take a look at this series from 2006 The Question of Torture The Question of Torture three years ago NPR called torture "torture".

It seems clear to me that once Bush/Cheney's crimes were being revealed, NPR made a clear and conscientious decision to defend the Bush Administration. This combined with NPR' numerous interviews with torturers and their apologists (Yoo, Cheney, Gonoz, even "Jack Bauer", et al) while blacklisting Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other critics, while numerous staff work full time for FOX, shows NPR's abandonment any journalistic standards.

Thank God for Terry Gross, Bill Moyers, and PBS, who didn't show NPR's cowardice in the face of torture. For example PBS broadcast s"Ghosts of Abu Grave", "Taxi To the Dark Side" and "Torturing Democracy" excellent documentaries, which apparently Ms. Shepard along with NPR editor didn't watch.

Don't know which is worse, NPR's contempt for its listeners, journalism or human decency.


RANT OFF.

The always excellent Glen Greewald, has a much better point-by-point rebuttal of Ms. Shepard's poor logic and moral turpitude. Here's the first sentence:

Anyone who believes that NPR is a "liberal" media outlet -- and anyone who wants to understand the decay of American journalism -- should read this column by NPR's Ombudsman, Alicia C. Shepard, as she explains and justifies why NPR bars the use of the word "torture" to describe what the Bush administration did.

He then hits the ball out of the park after that.

Also, tip o' the hat and much deserved congratulations for NPR Watch getting the recognition for its good work.