Rachel Maddow is TICKED OFF

[FourScore]

Thu Oct 18, 2012 at 06:59 AM PDT
Rachel Maddow is TICKED OFF
by Exurban Mom

I waited for someone else to diary this, but haven't seen it in the last 12 hours, so here I go...

Rachel Maddow is angry. One doesn't often catch Ms. Maddow in a moment of anger; she is calm, deliberate, and thoughtful at all times, even when an asshole like Alex Castellano treats her like crap. But last night, as she closed out her show, she delivered an almost Olbermann-like rant against the right wing closed bubble of disinformation. ..

SNIP

...The last segment on her program Wednesday evening was called "Can You Say That A Little Louder, Candy?". In the segment, Rachel discusses the closed loop of right wing media and how the disinformation feedback loop can lead a candidate like Romney astray. When you are only trying to appeal to the base, who is also trapped in the bubble, you end up making mistakes like Romney did on the Libya question. After replaying that moment from the debate, Rachel begins her closing.

This is my transcript; errors are mine. Video here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#49456831

...Mitt Romney, repeating a story told about this subject on the Right, in a way that is very satisfying to conservatives. The way this story is told on the Right is a story that tells conservatives exactly what they want to hear and what they want to believe about that bad bad President Obama, a comforting story about how this bad president never used that word "terror" in talking about these attacks until TWO WEEKS after they happened. This awful guy! I mean, that story must feel great if you are a conservative, if you're against this president.

If you only experience reality as mediated through the conservative media, you might think that is really what happened.

That is not what happened.

[VIDEO of PRES. OBAMA in Rose Garden on day following Libyan consulate attacks] "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act, and make no mistake, justice will be done."

RACHEL: You can count down "3, 2, 1..." until the Right starts saying that that tape has been 'doctored,' that that transcript has been 'forged from a fax machine in Hawaii.'

[Rachel starts tapping her pen on her paper in an annoyed manner...]

RACHEL: Mitt Romney, getting it wrong last night because he apparently consumes the Right Wing version of reality, instead of the real reality outside of the Right Wing conserviative media bubble. That was the story of the night last night when he just face planted on that story...just a shocking stylistic and substantive face plant! By an excitable candidate who decided to take a leaping roundhouse punch, while his opponent was standing there at his most presidential. And the guy taking the punch not only missed his target, he punched himself out in the process. Splat!

That was THE story of last night, but the story of today, was that the Right decided that was too painful. The Right decided that what happened to Mr. Romney there felt too bad, that they were going to make themselves feel better by telling themselves that that did not actually happen. Telling themselves that Mr. Romney actually DID land that punch. That he was right and he looked great for it!

Look at the lower third [Rachel is referring to the chyron titles that are used to identify news stories on screen in the lower third of the frame] on Fox News today when they were talking about this. This was on their dayside programming, which Fox says is supposedly when they are not doing any opinion at all!

[Photo of Fox News, chyron title says DEBATE INTERRUPTION BY CANDY CROWLEY STEPS ON MAJOR MOMENT FOR GOV ROMNEY]

RACHEL: Just straight news, fair and balanced! Lookit: DEBATE INTERRUPTION BY CANDY CROWLEY STEPS ON MAJOR MOMENT FOR GOV ROMNEY!

Oh darn that Candy Crowley, her pointless interruption ruined Mitt Romney's big moment when he was just nailing Obama for not saying the word "terror" in the Rose Garden that day.

[VIDEO of Pres. Obama in the Rose Garden: ""No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation."]

RACHEL: In Right Wing World, President Obama never said that. Part of the reason I think this country would be better off if the website Politifact didn't exist, is because Politifact has encouraged relativism--on the subject of whether or not stuff happened--as a mainstream thing.

So like when Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt", and then he went on CBS News and defended his call to Let "Detroit Go Bankrupt," including that headline, Politifact fact checked whether or not Mitt Romney said "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt". And they found that "half true". Because basically they don't think that Mitt Romney likes to be quoted saying "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt", or something.

Even though he did. So half true?

Politifact last night looked into whether or not President Obama used the phrase "act of terror" the day after the Benghazi attack when he gave that speech in the Rose Garden.

[VIDEO of Pres. Obama in the Rose Garden: ""No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation."]

Politifact in its assessment said "oh yes, he did say that" but it's really only half true because people on the Right say maybe he didn't mean it when he said it.

This infection is leaving the conservative media, through purportedly neutral arbiters of fact like Politifact. These baldly false conservative feel-good assertions about knowable facts that come from the Right, end up becoming...just 'the other side' of a political issue...'we're taking an objective look' And That is BULL.

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. The unemployment rate is below 8%. The day after the Benghazi attack, the President called it an 'act of terror.' Do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better, but do not confuse your ''World-Net-Daily-caliber-theraputic-conservative-alternative-reality-fantasy-babble for what actually happened.

Because stuff really does actually happen. And eventually, you really do have to deal with it.

Best part? She ended the rant by throwing her papers at the camera, perhaps a subtle homage to our friend Keith.

Thanks, Rachel, for telling the truth. Those of us living in the reality-based community appreciate you so much.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/18/1146345/-Rachel-Maddow-is-TICKED-OFF