Conservatives Are Awful Liberal With Their Bias

(Johnson, 2012)

The most patriotic day in an American year is soon upon us. July 4th, with all its picnics and BBQs and water fun and fireworks, is just around the corner. It's that time of year where small and big neighborhoods nationwide are festooned with waving flags, and red, white, and blue everything is everywhere. 

Alexandria's especially fond of berry pies, contests and all.  Grills are fired up, and most everyone manages to stuff themselves before nightfall. At the appointed time of night we sing The Star Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs while facing skyward, and then later you can hear the cannons showing off during the 1812 overture. There is something so very special about the oooohs and aaaaaahs coming from a huge crowd watching the oh so colorful shows in the skies. 

So how's your summer going? If you have been listening to the news cycle, you would think it was alot closer to Halloween, perhaps hoping against hope for April Fool's or War of The Worlds. But no. The scary talk just keeps coming. Benghazi, drones, the IRS, Snowden, and NSA, are being name dropped more often then Kanye mentions Kim. 

The creepiest part is the glee with which Fox and Friends spews their balanced fair. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Each Rovian sculpted phrase is ripped off the word-of-the-day faked white papers popping out of Crossroads and broadcast with extra drooly zeal. While there are liberal talk shows and blogs aplenty, the conservative claim that the entire media has a bias favoring liberals is just another piece of misinformation from their exclusive line of facts.

50 of the worst places you could go 
to get your news & information.

(Tea Time, 2009)

1. Fox News

2. The Rush Limbaugh Show

3. Glenn Beck

4. Savage Nation w/ Michael Savage

5. Alex Jones' Info Wars

(Brews, 2010)

6. The Heritage Foundation

7. The Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

8. The Neal Boortz Radio Show

9. Sean Hannity

10. Bill O'Reilly

11. Rightwingnews.com

12. National Review

(Home Brand, 2013)

13. The Mark Levin Show

14. The Weekly Standard

15. Washington Times

16. The American Conservative

17. The Drudge Report

18. The Cato Institute

(Then & There, 1979)

19. Media Research Center

20. Townhall.com

21. Red State

22. Andew Breitbart's Big Government

23. The American Cause

24. Christian Coalition

It's Not A Tea Party Without White Tea
(Johnson, 2013)

25. The John Birch Society

26. Citizens United

27. Freedom Works

28. Tea Party Express

29. Tea Party Patriots

30. The Herman Cain Show

31. News Busters

(ipolitico.com, 2010)

32. News Max

33. The New York Post

34. Conservative HQ

35. Sirius radio "Patriot"

(Facebook, 2013)

36. Conservative American News

37. Conservative Daily News

38. Judicial Watch

39. The Source Daily

40. Republican National Committee

41. American Spectator

42. Reason Magazine

43. Freedom Rings Radio hosted by Kenneth John

Tempest In A Teapot
(Developer, 2013)

44. Conservapedia

45. The Right Side of the Web

46. CNS News

47. Michael Reagan

48. Family Research Council

49. Conservative Underground

50. The Hugh Hewitt Show

So if you didn't know, now you know. You can't tell the players without a program, and you can't fight misinformation, if you can't track down its source. What are your favorite, or least favorite, news sources?

Lisa Lindo
The Policy Geek
thepolicygeek@gmail.com
Twitter @ThePolicyGeek

Tweets From The Dark Side

As a policy wonk is apt to do, we were following some fun tweets during the first Presidential Debate of 2012 between Romney and Obama this evening. Social media creations are often lively and informative. Here's some of the flotsam and jetsam:

Boone Pickens TWEET:
is happy Romney's #1 worry is energy independence. #Debate
Geek Translation:
That means more money for oil companies like BP.

A fun Karl Rove TWEET: 
Who woulda thunk Obama would suggest Lehrer move on to another topic after Mitt pounds home tax reform? #Debate
Geek Thought:
Now there's a sound bite you can sell, Rove. Not!

*NICE DETAIL
Obama when discussing Medicare and Medicaid, said that 'the name lends one to think of people who are dependent, but in reality the money comes from people who have worked hard, hard all their lives, and paid into Medicare/Medicaid.'
Geek Reflection:
Lovely soft comment Mr. President, but in 90 minutes there were so many more important things the lefties would have loved for you to have hammered home.

*FUN FACT: 
In an effort to bring down Medicare costs, $716 Billion was saved in the costs of the Medicare program by no longer overpaying for things.  This resulted in a $600 average drop in prescription costs to seniors on their medications each year.
Geek Timeline Note:
Lots of trending comments about how Romney is interrupting and bullying Lehrer at this point.

*MOST TWEETED ABOUT AND MENTIONED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Romney says, "I love Big Bird" as he notes he would cut PBS subsidies to address national debt.
Wonkathon Finds:
This post going viral on Facebook and Twitter...

 
Neal deGrasse Tyson @nealtyson TWEET:
Cutting PBS support (0.012% of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room for a 500Gig hard drive.
Geek Reflection:
Said as only Neal deGrasse Tyson could phrase it.  Gotta love facts and brains.

Twitter Government TWEET and *FUN FACT Combo:
17,000 Tweets per minute for "Big Bird" and 10,000 Tweets per minute for "PBS".

Here's a video clip of that moment courtesy of ABCNews and You Tube:

Nuff said.

Moving on, Romney says that: 50% of doctors say they won't take any medicare patients.
Geek Note To Self:
We have to do a #FactCheck on that one.
 
*DEBATE MOMENT:
 Romney proposes voucher program which eliminates the collective buying power of Federal Medicare and Medicaid as it determines costs and co-pay amounts. During his flashy vouchery-states-rights talk, Romney interrupts POTUS a few times and bullies Lehrer.  Oh yeah, and when Mitt No-Apologies Romney apologized to the President for saying "Obamacare," he also dropped a "bro" in there, as in "Ok, bro."  Seriously.

Jenny Johnson TWEETS:

Y'all stop making fun of Jim Lehrer, this is his Make-A-Wish.

Chris RockOz TWEETS:
I wish Mitt Romney could figure out how to smile without looking like he's at his mother-in-laws house for xmas dinner.
and later
Obama is waiting for the right moment to pull out Bin Laden's skull from behind the podium. Wait for it. Wait for it. 
Geek Fun Fact:
This Chris Rock "Bin Laden's Skull" #debate joke was retweeted over 7770 times & faved 1400 times in first hour, according to a tweet from Mark Silva. There is also a discussion on whether or not this is even Chris Rock's twitter account.

@Imagination TWEETS:
"As President, I will sit down on day one" -- Mitt Romney, man of leisure.

PoliticsUSA.com tells us which top 5 lies Romney drops in the first half of the debate: "Mitt Romney is telling so many lies at the first presidential debate with Barack Obama that we had to take a half time break." www.politicsusa.com

The Washington Post TWEETS:
[Romney's] math on green energy does not add up.

Andy Borowitz ‏@BorowitzReport TWEETS

Paul Ryan on Romney's performance: "I was proud of him. He said all the things I wanted to lie."

CNN's Gergem TWEETS:
Romney was "sort of flat out lying."
 
HuffPost Politics‏@HuffPostPolTWEETS:

No mention of #47percent remarks. Why? http://huff.to/RC6QaX

 

*DEBATE MOMENT:
Romney tonight:  "I have five boys, I know what it's like to have a lie told to me over and over hoping I believe it's the truth."

@AngryBlackLady (who we love) TWEETS:
#Debates: Ultimately, It’s Not Good News for Mitt Romney. At her site, she adds, "The media has been building up this debate as if it was going to be a game-changer. Folks expected Romney’s debate performance to be as much of a clusterfuck as his campaign is. It wasn’t. Romney stood up on two feet, with a weird grin that made him look like he was in gastrointestinal distress, and he lied. HE LIED. He exuded confidence when he did it, which, hooray!, I guess. But he lied."

Our general takeaway?  This policy geek thinks the main problem was that POTUS looked down sometimes, didn't call Romney out on bending the debate rules, and didn't call Romney out on ANY of his lies really.  We couldn't see the President's hands during the debate so  most viewers didn't realize he was taking notes to respond.  Lastly, we want sound bites.  Loud, angry, I-welcome-their-hatred type of speech regardless of what Romney says.  Romney's not debating.  His dropping propaganda nonsense and campaigning still.  POTUS should be angrily and dismissively defending his legacy of legislation, and look and sound like he's out there campaigning.  This isn't a final exam.  It's an American election, by golly!!
 

 Here's a video of the whole debate, so you can watch it yourselves.  Let's just hope Potus gets sharper and angrier and fights more in the next ones. Mentions the filibuster abuse, mentions the blocked legislation list (not even allowed to come to the floor for debate let alone a vote). 'Cause the main consensus on the evening is, "Wah?"
 

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The Policy Geek

 
 

Finding Home

"With Malice Towards None, With Charity For All" (Mountain State Collector, 2011)

Hi, I'm Lisa Lindo, and I guess I'm a policy geek.  I mean, how can any red blooded American with a keyboard turn down a front row seat these days to history? As no generation before could ever do, globally, instantly?

I certainly couldn't.

The last 7 years have been like a doctoral thesis of history study and world travel. Fortunate, I know, I'm fortunate. To spend so much time absorbing and sharing with those who also love following CSPAN radio...what more could a girl ask for?  Friends, who, if given the opportunity, would carry Rachel's books home.  I mean if she asked.

We are discussers and debaters, sometimes fed up but always engaged. Book readers and paper turners. We are awake and involved in the process, and occasionally manifest as a listener of bars and sitter of lobbies. When you speak a few languages it's fun to eavesdrop.

(Cardcow.com, 2011)

Then two years ago I moved to D.C., so I've been in heaven.

During this fabulously historic period, it's nothing short of patriotic to pay attention, self educate, and share what you are taking in. So check out our list of vital links and maybe find something you wanted to know more about.  A more informed voter is a better voter, we always say, and therefore more likely to vote. And despite all evidence to the contrary, I still believe in the electoral system.

The Policy Geek
Lisa Lindo
thepolicygeek@gmail.com