Showing posts with label Mainstream Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mainstream Media. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Mieux vaut tard que jamais - Better late than never...

Updated 2017-05-04 255 PM

I'd meant to post some thoughts last week on my blog about the recent passing of Kate Walsh O’Beirne, but somehow, I got so distracted by the dozens of other things on my mind these days that the first time I had a chance to publicly comment on her death, it was via Twitter, which for all of 140 reasons, is simply too small a platform for me to share what I knew with you loyal readers of the blog.

With the epidemic of shallow and biased news reporting going on all around us in South Florida on local and network TV, as well as what's in print locally and nationally, where a once-iconic magazine like TIME magazine is a shell of its former self -to say nothing of what's become of the once impressive reporting talent at the Miami Herald of the mid-1980's, when there were few newspapers in the U.S. who had a better group of clever and curious foreign correspondents trying to ferret out facts and trends worth knowing- I'm trying to rectify that oversight of mine regarding Kate O'Beirne today.

My reasons for doing so are both altruistic and self-serving. 
Self-serving in the sense that I always like to have an opportunity to remind you in a very tangible way that my blog and I can offer you a unique perspective on the news and current events of the day, locally and nationally, that you simply can't find elsewhere in South Florida or Florida.

Altruistic because I want you loyal readers of the blog to have the advantage of learning and knowing something very fundamental about the ways of Washington, D.C. that are usually ignored by the news media but which I came to learn from personal experience via my 15 years of living and working in the Washington, D.C.area, and getting to meet and know personally some of the biggest political, social and media personalities of the area from 1988-2003.
People whose names and work you know and whom you recognize the moment they appear on TV, even before they're identified on-screen.
People whose work and reputation at or whom are closely identified with The Washington Post, the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the Brookings Institution and CSIS to name but a few places... 

I suppose the best way to express my feeling is to say that more than the vast majority of you readers can possibly imagine, even the more open-minded among you, there really ARE LOTS of very smart, opinionated and hard-working people in DC who, while perhaps holding diametrically opposing political or policy points of view from you, are not just lots of fun to be with personally, but are, fortunately, possessed of a unique kindness and sense of generosity that 99% of the people with whom you probably politically self-identify with, simply are NOT.
But Kate Walsh O’Beirne was one such person.

In the entirety of the 15 years I lived and worked in the DC area, meeting and working with a wide variety of very smart and conscientious people in all kinds of political and policy areas, there was never a year I was there when at least one person -and often several- and very well-known persons at that, who trusted me to keep their confidence, didn't at some point confide to me a positive story or anecdote they had to share about the exceptional nature of Kate Walsh O’Beirne's personal kindness.

Since I need to respect that confidence that was placed in me, I choose here, now, to share the story of someone who personally knows of her kindness and generosity, and whom, regardless of what you may think about him personally or politically, is better known than any of those people whose names I could name-drop here - Rush Limbaugh.

He, along with Ramesh Ponnuru's spot-on appreciation of her in his National Review column, tell a compelling story of a very influential woman.
Rush, thru the magic power of radio and painting a picture of her that's better and more true than almost anyone else I can think of on the current stage today could.

As it happens, I listened to Rush Limbaugh's nationally-syndicated radio show that day, as I do most days, and knew that it must be important because he started off his show -the single most-listened to radio program in America- with this very telling anecdote.
And as soon as he said her name, I knew exactly what was coming...

(Below, I have posted the video of that Limbaugh radio show segment that is, in a word, amazing. Or as I described it in my tweet last week, GOLD.)

And in listening to Rush Limbaugh relate the story of how she came to take an active interest in someone like him who was then an unknown quantity on the DC political stage, and someone that even many Conservatives and GOP partisans were highly-suspicious of, and often outright condescending of, it made me smile.
Smile because Rush was sharing a story that I personally knew to be true from experience over the years. 
But it's also a story which also made me quite sad because it only reaffirmed the reality that it's usually the case that most people in a community, even the very small community that political/media DC really is, don't hear about those truly selfless positive stories until after someone has passed away.
Trust me, there are a lot of people in Washington at all sorts of places who have felt true #gratitude.

And when you think about it, it also makes you wonder why we can't hear about these sorts of stories about other well-known people when it actually might matter and serve as a model for others, right?


---


National Review
Kate Walsh O’Beirne R.I.P. 
By Ramesh Ponnuru
April 23, 2017 3:05 PM 
@RAMESHPONNURU

Kate O’Beirne was part of National Review’s world before she joined the staff. When she became the magazine’s Washington editor in 1995 her resume already included stints at Senator Jim Buckley’s office, the Reagan administration, and the Heritage Foundation. She served NR in that position for eleven years and then became president of National Review Institute for six more. 
She brought a witty and well-informed conservatism to a national television audience as well through weekly appearances on CNN’s marquee political talk show “Capital Gang.” Conservatives were outnumbered there as on cable news generally at that time, but it never seemed that way as long as she was on.
Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.



Kate O’Beirne: Godmother of the Modern Conservative Movement
Transcript of this segment is here:
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/04/24/kate-obeirne-godmother-of-the-modern-conservative-movement/
I encourage you to read it, too, since it might make even more of an impact.


In his column, Ramesh Ponnuru uses the phrase rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense

It's also what, after I changed my party registration from Democrat to Republican after moving back here from DC in 2003, I observed is so clearly and frequently missing in Florida and South Florida commentary, esp. among the GOP set who so often are jaw-droppingly disconnected from pop culture. 
Or boring.
Or boring and depressing to be around!


Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.

And yes, in case you forgot, Ramesh Ponnuru was talking her working for the Sen. James Buckley who was William Buckley's older brother, so she knew both brothers about as well as anyone could know them.




Dave 


Thursday, January 8, 2015

Poor news coverage in U.S. of terror attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris reminds us of what we've complained about for years: inferior news coverage of foreign news on U.S. TV networks! Save yourself the aggravation of watching PC and sanitized MSM newscasts and start watching Sky News and France 24's English service if you really want to know what's going on in France right now








As many of you know from my past blog posts here over the years, due largely to my own wide-ranging pursuits, interests and inclinations, I've been watching Sky News and France 24's English and French language service for many, many years and have been watching them again since 
this terror attack happened in Paris yesterday.

(And SVT, SVT Play, TV4 and TV4 Play in Sweden, too, of course. Especailly the morning news shows like SVT's Gomorron Sverige and TV4's Nyhetsmorgon both of which I watch when I can and whose daily newsletters I receive, just as I receive Channel 4 News' daily Snowmail
I'll even admit to a bit of a crush on TV4 presenter Tilde de Paula Eby! 
Then again, over the past five years or so, I've gotten VERY frustrated with BBC America's mediocre programming lineup that for so long has featured StarTrek-TNG episodes instead of the sorts of engaging and compelling news shows and documentaries that have recently aired back in Great Britain, which I'd much rather be watching.)

The news coverage of yesterday's Paris terror attack at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo reminds us of what we've complained about for years: inferior news coverage of foreign news on U.S. TV networksSave yourself the aggravation of watching PC MSM newscasts in USA that sanitize news and start watching Sky News and France 24's English service if you really want to know what's going on in France right now

I strongly encourage you to check these tow news outlets out so you can see and hear the facts 
for yourself and not be forced to wonder, as so many do, why the highly-edited and highly-sanitized 
versions of reality seen on US. network evening newscasts, especially important news in foreign countries, seem to leave out so many important and salient facts after they are edited out in London:

Want to know what's going on? 
Close your mouth, open your eyes and expand your news horizons.

Dave

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Selected 2014 stories/tweets re News Media worth taking a 2nd and 3rd look at: Hyperdemocratization of news, sleepwalking journalists, elite media, news media bias, swooning White House press corps vs. stonewalling Obama, collapse of The New Republic, et al






Sharyl Attkisson - Stonewalled - My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington. 
Seasoned former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson reveals how she has been electronically surveilled while digging deep into the Obama Administration and its scandals, and offers an incisive critique of her industry and the shrinking role of investigative journalism in today’s media.
https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson






 






-


-


-


-

CBS News YouTube Channel: Former CBS correspondent Richard C. Hottelet dies at 97
Uploaded December 18, 2014. http://youtu.be/TgUNmijqNFM


Richard C. Hottelet on D-Day

The first time I ever walked into the CBS News Washington office on M Street, around '91, the very first person I saw was Eric Sevareid
I stopped in my tracks and immediately thought of all the amazing things he'd witnessed first-hand, for both good and bad. 
And we even got a chance to talk for 5-10 minutes while he waited for his driver.
Hearing THAT voice from a few inches away was both thrilling and other-worldly. 
But even he was never held in solitary for a LONG TIME by the Gestapo like Mr. Hottelot.

-






















































































Blondinbella does it again!






























Per saturation coverage of Ray Rice story at ABC News but no follow-up to an earlier story that shocked people:










Monday, November 4, 2013

Baltimore Sun's savvy TV critic David Zurawik zeroes-in on Beltway political class & MSM's tacit agreement on unethical conduct and asks rhetorical question: "Is it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give money to Al Franken?" Yes, let me count the ways...but let's not forget to throw Stephanie Cutter on the fire, too; @davidzurawik


Baltimore Sun
Z on TV blog
Was it wrong for CNN's Paul Begala to ask me to give Al Franken money?
To me, this is how the channel's news identity is demeaned by mixing politics, money and media
By David Zurawik The Baltimore Sun
6:58 a.m. EST, November 4, 2013
Maybe it's just me, but a fundraising letter I received from CNN's Paul Begala last week struck me as emblematic of what's wrong when media are mixed with money and politics -- as they increasingly are these days at cable TV news channels in Washington.
Here's the letter. And you tell me if this is appropriate for someone listed as "commentator" at CNN -- someone who also appears on the channel's website under the heading "Anchors/Reporters" as Begala does
Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/bal-cnn-paul-begala-money-fund-raising-20131031,0,6011421.story

As for Stephanie Cutter, well, she merely proves that the sort of unethical behavior we've been force-fed by America's Mainstream Media and been forced to expect from certain Democratic Party & GOP consultants and strategists is not a Male-Only preserve:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/cnn-lowered-its-ethical-standards-make-things-easier-newt-gingrich/69959/

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/obama-guys-were-too-afraid-demote-stephanie-cutter/69384/

Fox News Channel
White House getting advice on Syria from former Obama campaign advisers 
By Ed Henry
Published September 03, 2013 FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/03/white-house-getting-advice-on-syria-from-former-obama-campaign-advisers/

Sure, why not get advice from people who don't actually know anything original about the country or speak French and Arabic, and who only know what other people have told them or what they've read.
Just like your neighbor or the person who hands you your coffee at Panera Bread.

My recollections of September are that President Obama's policy on Syria was a disaster from beginning to end and something that everyone, regardless of political ideology, agreed upon on from coast-to-coast.

You remember, the policy that even the Washington Post's Editorial Board strongly criticized and which I mentioned last Tuesday, here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.be/2013/10/obamas-bad-foreign-policy-from-start.html

The one time in five years that Obama really brought the country together -in opposition to his own policies.

Sure, of course, that result is to be expected when you've got such great consultants and advisors.
Just don't say anything bad about Valerie Jarrett and her lack of knowledge or else...

-----
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/tv/z-on-tv-blog/

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Video: Michelle Malkin hammers Marco Rubio over his duplicity, pandering and condescension this year in crafting the ill-advised Schumer-Rubio immigration bill that puts Amnesty first and Border Security and everything else second, in an effort to appease the GOP Establishment, agribusiness interests, Hispanic voters and the Mainstream Media. In doing so, she lambastes him in a way that no prominent person in Florida has been willing to do publicly, though Mickey Kaus has been doing what he can to inform & educate from The Left Coast; @michellemalkin, @kausmickey, @TwitchyTeam, #marcorubio, @powerlineUS


Thesharktank1 YouTube Channel video: Michelle Malkin Talks About Rubio's Immigration Position with blogger Javier Manjarres. Recorded at the Defending the American Dream Summit  in Orlando, Florida. Uploaded September 1, 2013. http://youtu.be/PDG-LAra9io

Video: Michelle Malkin hammers Marco Rubio over his duplicity, pandering and condescension this year in crafting the ill-advised Schumer-Rubio immigration bill that puts amnesty first and border security and everything else second, in an effort to appease the GOP Establishment, agribusiness interests, Hispanic voters and the Mainstream Media. In doing so, she lambastes him in a way that no prominent person in Florida has been willing to do publicly, though Mickey Kaus has been doing what he can to inform & educate from The Left Coast; @michellemalkin, @kausmickey, @TwitchyTeam, #marcorubio, @powerlineUS

And boom goes the dynamite! :) 
In my opinion, conservative writer, pundit and Twitchy head honcho Michelle Malkin's 100% right about everything she says in this video, which I saw early Sunday morning before going to sleep, when it then only had about 5 views.

It's funny -no, not really- that a relative outsider to Florida politics like her can so easily size-up this whole episode for what it really is and has been, but the supposedly better-informed (re Rubio) Florida press corps that has largely carried Rubio's luggage has avoided -even while finally starting to acknowledge some faults and mis-steps, NOT that they ever did during the policy debate, esp. in the pages of the Miami Herald, which censored any and all anti-amnesty points-of-view!

Something that regular readers of this blog have known from the very start as I've endeavored to point out one instance after another of the Florida press corps going out of their way to NOT see things that were contrary to their Editorial Board's pro-amnesty positions, or reporting on honest fact-based disagreements with Rubio.

By contrast to their soft, gentle and sycophantic touch, almost acting as a Rubio protective cordon, Michelle Malkin just walks up and pulls the Band-aid off without any warning!

It's almost like she's reading my mind -and has been reading my blog posts- and is applying just the right amount of honesty, anger and sarcasm to really make the point crystal clear. :)

TwitchyTeam  @TwitchyTeam, https://twitter.com/TwitchyTeam
http://twitchy.com/

-----
Mickey Kaus continues connecting-the-dots on Marco Rubio and the realities of Schumer-Rubio that the Mainstream Media and Beltway Dems like our own DWS are trying very hard not to reveal. 
Mickey wants everyone properly informed, MSM and Dems want everyone sleeping, sleeping, sleeping... like babies 



I sent that odd Thomas B. Edsall piece in the NY Times from a month ago on Rubio and his latest K Street contributions to Mickey in LA on Tuesday and was pleased to see that he ran a few tweets on both of them. 
I'll have more original thoughts on Rubio's fall-from-grace soon on the blog.

http://dailycaller.com/author/mickeykaus/

Rubio Doubles Down into Disaster 
6:26 PM 06/17/2013  
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/17/rubio-doubles-down-into-disaster/#

Mickey Kaus @kausmickey https://twitter.com/kausmickey www.kausfiles.com

Michelle Malkin  @michellemalkin https://twitter.com/michellemalkin
www.michellemalkin.com

See also:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/07/schumer-rubio-gives-pandering-a-bad-name.php
SCHUMER-RUBIO TAKES PANDERING TO A NEW LEVEL
PAUL MIRENGOFF
JULY 9, 2013