The ever-skeptical Sway then plays a clip of Obama's acceptance speech: "Patriotism has no party. I love this country and so do you . . . the men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America. They have served the United States of America."
Tom Tarantino, another liberal veteran, commented for MTV that this line by Obama was "the absolute key . . . the military is one of the most single diverse minorities in the country . . . all types of people in this country choose to stand up for this country."
Actually, Tom, the military is one of the least ideologically diverse places around, where liberals make up a paltry 8 percent of the armed forces. Pathetic, homeboy. Get your friends to sign up!
"Obama didn't disappoint," said the hard-hitting and always fair-and-balanced Sway.
A Zombie reaction to Obama's education plan outlined that night, where you would get money for "serving your community": Bonner Springs of Kansas told MTV, "I can't really see any way of going about being someone who is in lower class and trying to go through and get a college education. There really needs to be a level playing field for people who want to work and want to try."
MTV's Jake: "80,000 Americans are now finally proud of their country again after 8 years of what we've had. It's just great seeing everyone; seeing the excitement; and seeing how proud everyone is. It's just phenomenal."
And that's how MTV covered Obama's convention speech, folks! There was not one critical piece of information. Not one! No tough questions. No analysis. Just fawning fluff piece after fawning fluff piece, all reinforcing the image of Obama as Rock Star of the Universe.
John McCain got similar coverage at his convention acceptance speech, right? Ha! And Michelle Obama doesn't believe America is a "downright mean" country?
Remember how the journalistic icon Sway and the MTV gang couldn't find or feature one--not a single--young person who was critical of Obama at the convention? Well now, miraculously, in the opening segment of MTV's coverage of McCain's speech, Sway Calloway finds an Obama supporter at the RNC Convention!19 After interviewing two young McCain supporters, Sway goes to Bill. After acknowledging that Bill is liberal, Sway asks him what McCain has to do to convince him to vote for him. Bill says that McCain must explain how Obama's plan to tax the "wealthiest Americans is bad for the middle class as well as poor America." To be clear, in the opening segment of MTV's "nonpartisan" coverage of McCain's convention speech, good ol' MTV finds (or plants) a guy to parrot Obama's talking points!
If that weren't bad enough, Sway highlights the leftist protesters who descended on Minneapolis and finds a girl among them to say Sarah Palin shouldn't be running for vice president, because of her daughter's looming pregnancy. How progressive and feminist of her!
To put this in perspective, Sarah Palin rocked the GOP house with her convention speech. It was more talked about than McCain's was. There were thousands of adoring fans--thousands--at the Xcel Energy Center who fell in love with Palin as the VP candidate, and this nitwit Sway finds some schmuck on the street to trash her? Fair and balanced at its best, no?
After McCain's actual acceptance speech, the unstoppable Sway managed to find a disgruntled veteran to sound off on McCain as someone who doesn't care about soldiers' post-traumatic injuries.20
But MTV's bias was even more insidious. Somehow the network found another convention "attendee" to trash McCain on the war. Bill Halter: "I would've liked to hear John McCain address how he plans to bring the Iraq conflict to a conclusion."21 Most Republicans are strictly against an arbitrary timetable set by politicians and prefer drawdown or pullout dates to be set according to the commanders on the ground. It's remarkable that out of a crowd of tens of thousands of people with that understanding of Iraq, MTV found "Bill Halter" to talk negatively about Iraq.
So, to recap. MTV features Obama Zombie after Obama Zombie, wetting their pants over the Anointed One. No criticism. No tough questions. But at the Republican convention, well, you can't let conservatives get in the way! MTV features leftists to strike a discord in the hearts of young voters on McCain's military commitment. . . . even McCain's military record.
MTV develops its programming through the goggles of liberalism. Its programming team either is unaware or dismisses opposing views. There are no conservative correspondents, reporters, or even questions that tackle a conservative perspective. And that's just the coverage of the two convention speeches. MTV sponsored presidential forums with Democrat and Republican candidates. God knows an entire chapter could be written just on those performances. But I'll give you a few gems.
In MTV's "Countdown to the 'Super Dialogue,' " our crack reporter Sway says he asked young voters what issues they consider most important and, what do you know, he found students to say: "nationwide healthcare," "gay rights," "the war in Iraq," "college affordability," "Darfur," "withdraw some troops," "the environment and the energy crisis in our country are horrendous." Obama Zombie after Obama Zombie, liberal line after liberal line.
On December 3, 2007, at Southern New Hampshire University, John McCain participated in the dialogue, which was moderated by the girly boy Gideon Yago and the clueless Sway. In the forum, Yago shows McCain a video submitted from students at the University of Southern California. It went like this: "We believe that global warming is the greatest threat to our future. Every day we feel how real global warming is, with drought conditions fueling recent wild fires and rising sea levels eroding our coastlines; it's clear these threats are here now, not years away. Our next president needs to be a global leader on this issue; as young people who will inherit this problem we need a clear plan now."22 As it turns out, these were no ordinary students. They were part of the group CalPIRG, a leftist activist student group started by Ralph Nader decades ago! PIRG falsely stands for Student Public Interest Research Groups. These are the biased of the biased. And MTV picked their video.
Actually, the PIRGs are another one of these allegedly "nonpartisan" youth mobilization efforts we hear so much about. For the 2008 election, the group teamed up with the other "nonpartisan" groups Rock the Vote, Declare Yourself, and HeadCount to churn out the student vote. These groups described themselves as the "four largest non-partisan voter registration groups."23 The four horsemen, folks. Recall that Declare Yourself is run by left-wing producer Norman Lear; HeadCount was started to elect John Kerry; and Rock the Vote, well, you know about Rock the Vote.
With this type of "nonpartisanship," I wonder if MSNBC will have me on the program and allow me to identify myself as an Obama supporter. I will then go on to give Obama advice on how he is wrecking our economy with irresponsible spending. I'm as much of an Obama supporter as these groups are nonpartisan. Combined, these organizations boast that they have registered millions of young voters through voter drives on campuses, at concerts, and online. And with the star power these groups are packing, and with help from MTV, I tend to believe their numbers.
When the PIRGs at the University of California finished asking McCain the loaded global-warming question, MTV's cohost said, "There you go, USC has spoken, Senator."24 Actually, it was a gaggle of students who spoke, but that doesn't fit into MTV's left-wing narrative.
Manufactured questions like this were normal. When John "I ain't yo' baby daddy" Edwards spoke at his presidential dialogue, a student from the ONE campaign to end poverty asked, "Do you believe that AIDS and poverty are national security issues for the U.S.?" Right on cue, Edwards ran his fingers through his Breck Girl hair and said, "Yes."
Ron Paul was asked about the federal government's subsidizing birth control and human papillomavirus shots on campus. To his credit, Paul said that such funding is not the responsibility of taxpayers, but it goes to show the complete left-wing tilt of every question. There was not one conservative activist identified or given the microphone to ask a question. Keep in mind
that there were more than four presidential forums, featuring more than five candidates.
Keeping with MTV's leftist activism, in 2007 the network partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Campaign to Make Poverty History. The event was called "Giving--Live at the Apollo," and by "giving" the organizers meant redistribution of wealth in developed countries passed down to third-world spots in Africa. The forum was organized to "engage college students" on the world's most "pressing problems."
"Today's generation of young people hold more power than any generation before them to make a positive impact on the world," President Clinton said about the MTV forum.25
"College students are a potent force for positive social change, and we're thrilled to join with the Clinton Global Initiative to stimulate even greater civic participation on campus and worldwide," said Christina Norman, president of MTV.
So, what are these "pressing problems" youth care about? To elaborate at the Apollo event, Sway "finds" a recent graduate in the audience to interview live. It's Erica Williams, that employee for Campus Progress, which is the "youth" arm of the left-wing Center for American Progress. Thousands of people there and Sway just "happens" to stumble across a leftist activist. What are the odds? To Erica's credit, she embraces her employer, saying how Campus Progress "empowers young people" to get involved in the issues that they care about, "like about global warming, and Iraq, and academic affordability."26 You see how this cycle works, don't you? Young people are bombarded with leftist propaganda from an array of celebrities, organized agitators in Washington, D.C., college professors, and networks including MTV, and then all these groups have the audacity to say that the liberal line is what young people care about. Funny how that works. Plant the propaganda seeds, water them constantly, weed out opposing views.
The always impartial Sway finishes with Erica by saying, "you're motivating me." Nowhere is Erica identified with a partisan, left-wing group. Only if you knew what Campus Progress does would you be able to identify the bias. But MTV gives her a platform as though she's a mainstream voice looking out for young people.
Norman, the former president of MTV, probably has no problem with such blatant bias. After all, she did contribute $4,600 to Obama's presidential run and $28,000 to the Democratic National Committee Service Corporation in 2007 and 2008 alone.27
Norman is neck deep in liberalism, so duh, she's going to use her stature at perhaps the most important network dedicated to young people to shovel Obama's talking points on us all. The "potent force for positive social change" is nothing more than what the Democratic National Committee is planting in her ear. (Notice how the social change and the elimination of poverty are always via the hand of government bureaucrats, never through the power of the tried-and-true force of capitalism.)
So when MTV decided to highlight veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it's no surprise it found those who suffered injuries. In July 2008, MTV put together a reality TV documentary called Homecoming, an hour-long special about veterans, hosted by Kanye West and Sway Calloway. Now, to other "nonpartisan" organizations, allowing Kanye "George Bush hates black people" West to be the center of attention may not jibe well with the nonpartisan moniker. But such rancorous partisan fools are exactly the type of persons MTV partners with.
As the New York Times reported, the premise of the show was Kanye and Sway's surprising a veteran named Lorenzo Zarate, who had returned from his deployment in Iraq. The MTV hosts come bearing gifts, giving Zarate six months' rent and setting him up with an internship at a local radio station. That's honorable of MTV. But that's not the documentary's angle. "Once the surprise subsides and the two men settle down in the living room, the talk turns to 'before I went' and 'when I got back.' " You see, Zarate suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. And there's the angle. As the Times notes, Homecoming was part of MTV's 2008 election coverage to spotlight a "few of the roughly 1.6 million Americans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq." In the documentary, Zarate tells Sway and Kanye of his battles with adjusting back to life in Austin, Texas.
"The Army could teach you to kill, kill, kill, but they can't teach you to come back home and be a civilian," he recounts. Zarate even tried to attain a college degree but was relegated to the back of the class because he "had to be fully aware of his surroundings."
"I couldn't have anyone behind me. I was always alert." Zarate's level of trauma was acute enough that his doctor advised him not to work, a problematic diagnosis since his wife was pregnant and they were behind on mortgage payments.28
Tirann Laws of Oklahoma City is also featured in Homecoming. His symptoms also prevented him from holding down a steady job. The third veteran interviewed, Shameeka Gray of Charlotte, North Carolina, was in the same boat as the other two individuals.
Dave Sirulnick, an executive vice president at MTV, told the Times that Homecoming doesn't exaggerate the difficulties facing GIs. "These stories are emblematic of a lot of veterans, certainly not all veterans, but a lot."
Sirulnick observed that "over the last three years we [MTV] have found--this is not scientific--but we have found that well over 70 percent of the veterans we speak to have had some sort of" post-traumatic stress disorder. In reality, the number isn't nearly as high, and most servicemen returning home do not have those symptoms. Would it have killed MTV to highlight veterans who are proud of their time in Iraq? Explaining the valuable leadership skills they gained? How about the heroism? Yes, war is hell. And that must never be diminished or overlooked; lives are, tragically, lost and disrupted. But to focus on just the negative is the ultimate antiwar propaganda machine. It discourages rather than cultivates interest in joining the United States military. Moreover, such documentaries foster antiwar sentiments.
Is it any surprise, then, that the Iraq War was the second most important issue for voters 18-29 surveyed on Election Day?29 Young people are thinking nearly 70 percent of veterans are coming home maimed and psychologically scrambled.
But it wasn't just biased forums and documentaries that MTV was promoting. As part of MTV's "Choose or Lose" election coverage, the "Street Team '08" covered the 2008 election supposedly from a "youth perspective." An MTV press release even boasted that some of the reporters were children of "once-illegal immigrants." Just an FYI, execs at MTV: most people don't boast about such things. According to the Boston Globe, MTV's Street Team '08 went through an "intensive three-day orientation" where they received "lessons on ethics and journalism" and "maintaining objectivity."30
So get this: To maintain objectivity and fulfill ethics in journalism, one of MTV's "reporters" was Jane Fleming Kleeb, who, as I noted earlier, is an outward lib. But don't take my word for it. Jane describes herself as "the Executive Director of the Young Voter PAC which helps Democratic candidates and State Parties win with the 18-35 year-old vote through endorsements, on-the-ground support, training, strategy and money."31 As I also pointed out, Jane's husband, Scott, was the Democrat Senate nominee.
Jaime McLeod, the Vermont "reporter," is a gay rights activist who, in her MTV profile, gives props to Kobutsu Malone, a rabidly anticapitalist, anti-death penalty, and antiwar Buddhist priest.
Minnesota "reporter" Carissa Jackson covered the Republican convention by highlighting leftist protest groups. Because that's objective and all. This is how Carissa titles her article: "Students Saying No to War, Yes to Schools."32 Yep. As balanced as a teeter-totter with Michael Moore on one side. Carissa profiles a bunch of nitwits on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol who were part of the group Youth Against War and Racism. Participants apparently staged a "theatrical arrest of 'Dick Cheney' and 'Big Oil Bob,' whom the group considers to be" war criminals.
Other reports featured the "Rise of the Christian Left."33 The Philadelphia correspondent, Cassidy Hartmann, profiled women to dismiss the selection of Sarah Palin as nothing more than "pandering" to women and evangelicals. One Zombie called her a "token," while others on the video report decried the pick as "demeanin
g" and insulting.34
MTV IS SERIOUS about bringing young people to the polls.
"Now is the time to have your voice heard," Gideon Yago told the presidential forum audience. "Let's put to rest the notion that young people don't show up to the polls."
Granted, MTV's forums aren't as bad as Cameron Diaz saying "If you think rape should be legal, then don't vote," or Diddy's "Vote or Die Campaign." (Hyperbole, anyone?) Still, MTV may be more lethal, because it cloaks itself in the appearance of objectivity. MTV's decidedly pro-left-wing stance on every political issue acts as a constant electoral battering ram against young people.
9
The Dynamic Duo: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
Why Mediated Morons Matter
JON STEWART
It was a special homecoming weekend for Northeastern University. More than five thousand students packed the Matthews Arena on the Boston campus to hear the feature speaker in what one school official labeled the "single best event" in his time on campus. From a Zombie perspective, he was right. The event featured the left's best spokesman, and it was on the eve of the November election, on October 17, 2008. A perfect forum to juice up support for the One. The speaker wasn't Obama, Bill Clinton, or Oprah. No, it was Jon Leibowitz, more commonly known by his stage name, Jon Stewart, of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.
Stewart stormed the Northeastern stage to a rock-star welcome as thousands of Zombies cheered liberalism's patron saint. Then the conservative bash-fest began. Sarah Palin? "She said that small towns she really likes going to because that's the pro-America part of the country. You know, I just want to say to her, just very quickly: Fuck you."1
Actually, what Palin had said on the campaign trail was "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe . . . that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hardworking very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation."