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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (773384)	3/7/2014 11:32:09 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572571

Flashback, 2008: When A Russian Invasion Made Fox News Shrug mediamatters.org Recall that early in his presidency Bush famously announced he had peered into Putin's soul and spotted goodness in the Russian leader. The Georgia invasion belayed Bush's gut instincts, but few Fox commentators mocked the president's for his misreading of Putin. Yet unlike today, the Putin-led excursion in 2008 completely failed to spark the panicked rhetoric that's become Fox News' trademark since Russian troops crossed over into Ukraine last week. Notably absent from the 2008 Georgia coverage was relentless finger pointing and blaming the White House for the extreme actions of a foreign leader thousands of miles away. There was also none of the Putin cheerleading that we hear on Fox News today. In fact, some of the Fox commentators currently stoking the flames of "crisis" were rather non-judgmental when Russian tanks moved into Georgia. "I don't think the Russians are reckless," Charles Krauthammer announced on August 8, 2008, as Russian fleets advanced into the Black Sea and Russian jets launched raids targeting government buildings in Georgia. "What they are doing here is reasserting control of this province. And when it's done, which will probably happen in a couple days, the firing will crease." *Three days later, Krauthammer* *insisted* there was nothing for the United States to do as the crisis escalated: "Well, obviously it's beyond our control. The Russians are advancing. There is nothing that will stop them. We are not going to go to war over Georgia." Krauthammer's Fox colleague Jeff Birnbaum, agreed: "Because Georgia is not part of NATO, there's really no danger the United States or Europe will get in involved in what is really a civil war almost between--within this small part of Georgia." Fox News' message to America then? Just relax. There's nothing the U.S. can do about Russia invading its sovereign neighbor and it will all be over soon. Bill O'Reilly agreed with the laissez-faire analysis. "Even if President Bush wanted to help Georgia we simply don't have the ground forces to do it," said O'Reilly on August 11. "And confronting the Russians in the air would lead to major hostilities that the USA cannot afford right now." Even Fox's usually bellicose, right-wing think tank commentators demurred. "There's no easy answer; there's only tough choices," said the Heritage Foundation's Peter Brookes on August 12, 2008. "Russia is a tough nut to crack." Indeed. Recall that early in his presidency Bush famously announced he had peered into Putin's soul and spotted goodness in the Russian leader. The Georgia invasion belayed Bush's gut instincts, but few Fox commentators mocked the president's for his misreading of Putin. (Nor was there discussion that Bush's failed war with Iraq had created an opportunity for Russia's military expansion.) "I don't think that Putin spit in the eye of the president," insisted Karl Rove in 2008. And John Bolton, who this week accused Obama of not "paying attention" to Ukraine? Back in 2008, he gave Bush a pass when Russian troops poured into Georgia. "I think a lot of people missed it, not just the administration." Bolton said on Fox. Whereas the current Ukraine conflict is all about Obama on Fox News (i.e. Putin: leader; Obama: weak), Bush was portrayed as a minor figure when Russia waged war in Georgia six years ago.

To: i-node who wrote (773384)	3/7/2014 11:40:33 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572571

The Rachel Maddow special report on the Iraq War 'Why We did it' is now online. msnbc.com

To: i-node who wrote (773384)	3/7/2014 11:42:29 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572571

The Daily Show looks at THE GREATEST AMERICAN HEALTHCARE in THE GREATEST AMERICA EVER By Dok Zoom on March 7, 2014 at 9:44 am The Daily Show squeezes amazing comedy mileage from this ridiculously simple premise: Take a rightwing cliché at face value and then go into the world to check the fit. And so Aasif Mandvi went to Knoxville, Tennesee with a charity doctor to test the premise that America has “the greatest healthcare system in the world.” After all, Fox Business Network commentator Todd Wilemon warns that Obamacare threatens to someday turn our healthcare into something you might find in the third world. And sure enough, accompanying Dr. Stan Brock of Remote Area Medical to Knoxville, he found a gymnasium crowded with impoverished people desperate to be seen by a doctor, but unable to pay for care. Best part of the segment: Mandvi describing what he found to Wilemon, and Wilemon’s squirming as he attempts to explain that everything now is just fine, and all those folks in Knoxville are lazy and unwilling to pay, because “they’ve made that choice.” And yes, Wilemon actually does have a solution for poverty: “If you’re poor, stop being poor.” Damn! Why didn’t we think of that? video at link happynicetimepeople.com