PBS's Lehrer is selling GOP propaganda on the original stimulus bill.

[Bill USA]

I was watching, PBS's NewsHour last Friday, Sept 9, listening to the discussion of Obama's Jobs Bill speech. Jim Lehrer was discussing the speech with David Brooks and Mark Shields.


At one point Lehrer speaking to Brooks says:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec11/sandb_09-09.html

JIM LEHRER: Do you think that's important, David, that he has got -- he really has to go to the country with this, or forget it?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes. Well, I think he went to the country on health care. I think he can go to the country.

He is facing a tough public. A lot of Americans have, A., given up on him, but a lot of Americans have given up on government. When he came into office, he said, I want to restore some faith in government. But if you look at the polling, do you trust government, it has fallen in the last two years, continuing really two decades of fall. And now it's down to 17 percent.

So he's facing a very skeptical public. He's facing a public which is, to my mind, insanely skeptical about stimulus packages in general. The vast, vast, vast majority of people say the first stimulus did nothing. Now, I didn't like that bill, but it must have done something.

JIM LEHRER: Done something, yes.

DAVID BROOKS: Right. So...

JIM LEHRER: There's a lot of lists of things it did, but people don't agree.

DAVID BROOKS: Right. Right.

JIM LEHRER: Yes. *

DAVID BROOKS: So, there's a lot of skepticism out there.

*..... now what the 'transcript' that PBS has on their website and the tape (very nicely edited) do NOT show is an aside between Lehrer and Brooks which occurred between Brooks' statement: "The vast, vast, vast majority of people say the first stimulus did nothing.".. and just before he said: "So, there's a lot of skepticism out there."...... (about 4:30 into the tape)

Lehrer leaned in kinda low, towards Brooks and with a grin and a barely stifled snicker (great acting here, Jim), and with affected serruptitiousness (like what he's about to say to Brooks is for his ears only, like nobody else is going to hear what he shares with Brooks - while the cameras are on and what is said is broadcast across the nation) ....Lehrer says: "Everybody I've talked to ..."

... Now, since Lehrer was grinning and leaning in towards Brooks' to share this personal aside .. the obvious implication was that Lehrer was agreeing with and about to add something to Brooks' allegation (and with some delight). The whole intent was for the audience to complete Lehrer's statement in their heads "everybody I talk to .... thinks the original stimulus didn't accomplish anything at all (as Brooks alleges 'the vast, vast majority of people' think). (The original stimulus, you will remember, was the one that was down sized 40% in order to get one or two Republicans to vote for it and thus get SOME kind of stimulus bill passed). This is the same technique sometimes used in advertizing. A couple of years ago they used an unfinished jingle at the end of the advert, knowing full well the audience would be hard pressed to NOT complete the jingle (previously heard in the ad) in their head. Very clever. Very insidious.

...NOtice too, it's much more effective to just set out a proposition as a statement as if it's already an accepted fact. You don't say, "In my opinion", or "It's my contention that..."... that only invites someone to offer their position, or question the basis of your argument. Better to act as if it's a fact, not even subject to discussion.

Now what is interesting is that while this was part of the broadcast discussion, the comment by Lehrer does not appear in the tape or the transcript. Very slick Mr. Lehrer. (I wish I had TiVoed it! --- oh, I don't have TiVo!).

... Maybe if Jim Lehrer talked to other than GOP operatives, perhaps he would know what economists across the political spectrum have stated, publicly (including publishing formal reports evaluating the impact of the ARRA concluding that the ARRA most definitely DID do something). ...that it created or saved about 2 million jobs and prevented The TRICKLE DOWN DEREGULATION DISASTER from turning into a totally devastating Second Great Depression.

Moody's, the Congressional Budget Office, the Council of Economic Advisors, IHS/Global Insight, Macro Economic Advisors all concluded the stimulus created/saved 1 million to 2.4 million jobs and prevented an absolute Depression (yeah, like with bread lines). Even USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-01-25-usa-today-economic-survey-obama-stimulus_N.htm">polled 50 economists who said the stimulus bill worked.

Here's a link to the report authored by Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder: http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/End-of-Great-Recession.pdf">How the Great Recession was brought to an End - Moody's Zandi and Alan Blinder

Here are a few more references and links: https://sites.google.com/site/gopgames/stimulus-created-saved-jobs">the Stimulus Created/Saved Jobs - a consensus.)

Now I know, since this is a discussion segment, perhaps Lehrer feels he can express opinions (especially 'opinions' he knows will please corporate funders, i.e. advertizers, and GOP operatives). But when those 'opinions' are stated by someone who has been presenting himself as a souurce of unbiased news, this seems illegitimate to me. Seems that PBS is succeeding in establishing themselves as second only to FoxNews Network, as a source for GOP Propaganda. What's next Lehrer, "Global Warming is a scam."???

[elleng]

1. Thanks so much for telling us about the 'obvious implication,'

NOT.

[Recoverin_Republican]

2. If M$M pulls this kindof thing and they aren't 'called' on it, they are only

encouraged to do more of it.

I don't get defensive when somebody is doing something so important as keeping an eye on the media using suggestion to 'sell' a point. IF people don't call them on this sort of thing they will only be encouraged to do more of it. Thanks!

recommended!

[LonePirate]

3. If a Repub says the 2009 stimulus was a failure, remind them of the bill's massive tax cuts

You should be able to connect the dots from there after asking where are the jobs from the 2001/2003 tax cuts.

[pscot]

4. Jim Lehrer is a tool

It's hard to think of the last time I actually learned anything at all from that show. They deliver the talking points, but that's about it.

[Duppers]

6. Yes & btw

GOPism is a family malady - his brother is a fundie Baptist minister.

[russspeakeasy]

5. Thanks...

:evilgrin:

[JohnWxy]

7. Excellent, specific, detailed dissection of Lehrer's disgusting grovelling for GOP approval.

It's sad, really. He used to be someone with a reputation. Well, he still has one, only it's as one of the GOP's bitches.

[mulsh]

8. That show has been scewing right wing for a few years now.

Lerher should probably retire soon, he's not doing a very good job of being "impartial".

Having the opposing views of the American Heritage Institute and the Cato Institute as talking head on the same issue is one of many constant examples of how the show skews. I watch it for the minute section with the day's news. I try to never watch anything with David Brooks.

[Uncle Joe]

9. I've lost a great deal of respect for Jim Lehrer.

I used to watch the News Hour daily when he and Robert McNeil hosted it, thinking it was apart and better than the commercial buying corporate media, discussing the issues in-depth with less spin, but over the past few years, the program has eroded.

Lehrer just repeats the same rote right wing talking points on many subjects.

I guess with government funding cuts to public television, The NewsHour came to increasingly rely on corporate funding and sold out.

Thanks for the thread, Bill USA.

[Doctor_J]

10. File this under "duh"

the Petroleum Broadcast System employs far more wingers and republican propagandists than it does liberals.

[Bill USA]

11. to fight disinformation we need to offer specific criticism of the GOPers & their M$M minions.

It is not enough to just say: "yeah, there they go again. The M$M sucking up to the Fascists." .. yes we know they are doing it, but we need to make specific allegations and critiques of instances of the spreading of Disinformation whenever the GOPers their sycophants in M$M are guilty of it. Or we should, at least point out, with a response to the article or video, that they are guilty of trying to sell disinformation and then remind readers/viewers of what the pertinent facts tell us. This is why David Brock established MediaMatters.org. Because he once was a creator of Big Lies and he knows firsthand how effective they can be - if people do not challenge them.

Obviously, we can't critique every instance of Disinformation (not enough time in the day) but we should criticize and point out instances of use of 'The Big Lie' and other examples of disinformation whenever we can. These indictments should point out a particlar case and be specific. This gives the indictments more weight and they then have more impact.


In this particular case, Lehrer is echoing a Big Lie the GOP are now pushing with particular relentlousness with the 2012 elections coming up - that the stimulus (ARRA) didn't work. (Of course the stimulus didn't do as much as it could have because, thanks to the Republicans, it was downsized 40%. Also, the GOP has fought, delayed and done everything they could to weaken, delay and sabotage any stimulus bill offered by the Dems.) The whole point of 'The Big Lie' is to keep repeating it - and eventually the unthinking public begins to think it's an accepted fact, rather than a baseless falsehood.

YOu have to attack the use of disinformation and the Big Lie whenever it is tried. John Kerry tried ignoring the idiots of the Swift Boat bullshit and waited too long to fight back. Big mistake.

[pscot]

12. Liberty Media (John Malone) owns a 65% share

in the PBS News Hour, according to Wikipedia. Malone also owns a big piece of News Corporation (Murdoch).

[mnhtnbb]

13. We stopped watching The News Hour years ago--about the same

time that Gwen Ifill started anchoring. She'd have on 3 guests
and constantly 2 of the 3 were R's and the one D wouldn't
even be a progressive. It was sickening.

But just look at the line-up of sponsors. ADM? Please.

[Puget Progressive]

14. I watch it irregularly and usually only

when Lehrer is off for the night. I will never forget his "interview" with three people who were commenting on the Matt Taibbi piece in Rolling Stone which talked about what General Stanley McChrystal's staff claimed were his negative comments about Obama. Lehrer had a retired Army General on who claimed that the derogatory comments couldn't have been true. His reason - because he knew McChrystal personally. That was it. Lehrer, in typical fashion, did not challenge this weak assertion even though it had already come out in the press that McChrystal's staff confirmed that the General DID say the comments. Lehrer, if he was any kind of journalist, should have known this. Perhaps he did but he let the comment go unchallenged. This was just one of many examples of a bias that has become increasingly evident on this show.
Also, Lehrer is 77 years old! I think he is long overdue for retirement. I also want to make mention of the loathsome David Brooks. If that is the best right of center pundit that PBS can find for their flagship news show then they are seriously deficient. The truth is that the Petroleum Broadcasting System has become a caricature of itself in the last 20 years. Their increasing reliance on awful corporate "underwriting" (commercials) and questionable foundation money AND their refusal to find a time slot for Bill Moyers' new interview show says a great deal about what their real agenda is.

[roseBudd]

15. The purpose of the stimulus was to prevent a liquidity trap...

Below is my smackdown to dittos who claim it did nothing:

April 17, 2009 the day Republicans voted against the stimulus

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/29/national/main4485321.shtml

Wall St watched Washington with shock and fear as the bailout package flamed out on Capital Hill.

The result on Wall St was a history-making 777-point nosedive. The financial crisis, continued to spread

"The clock is ticking," said economist Mark Zandi. "We need to have some relief very rapidly."

Zandi says the credit markets are still frozen, & Main St could feel the effects within weeks.

"I've heard from numerous businesses that they're running out of cash," Zandi said. "So that means if they don't get relief from their bankers soon, in the next few days or couple of weeks, they will be laying off workers and shutting operations."

Among 160 COMPANIES IN DANGER OF DEFAULTING over the next 12 months, according to Standards Poors are: United Airlines, General Motors; Six Flags; & Trump Entertainment Resorts.

Credit markets, whose turmoil helped feed the stock market's angst, froze up further amid the growing belief that the country is headed into a spreading credit & economic crisis.

It takes an incredible amount of fear to set off such an intense reaction on Wall Street, and the worry now is that with the $700 billion plan fate uncertain, no one knows how the financial sector hobbled by hundreds of billions of dollars in bad mortgage bets will recover.

While investors didn't believe that the plan was a panacea, and understood that it would take months for its effects to be felt, most market watchers believed it was a start toward setting the economy right after a CREDIT CRISIS THAT BEGAN MORE THAN A YEAR AGO AND THAT HAS SPREAD OVERSEAS"

A thank you to the reality based community will suffice Bush voter

[Bill USA]

16. Good info. Thanks