ICYMI: President Obama's job approval is now at an all-time low of 40%. The U.S. opinion poll about Obama whose negative results were buried by the very TV network who paid for it... Surprise! It's NBC News; Thanks to Fox News Channel's Chris Stirewalt, I know what they were ignoring. @cstirewalt continues the great work at "FOX News First" of finding the news & news nuggets I want to hear more about

The following is from an email that I sent out yesterday, early Wednesday afternoon, to my always-curious and very well-informed crew of friends and associates with a News Junkie gene located around Florida and thw world beyond, who, like me, can't watch and read everything, so you have to pick and choose your times and share what you know, when you can, oui?
In retrospect I really should've blogged it and simply sent an email out with links to it, but sometimes, even after all these years of having a blog and now an ever growing Twitter feed, @hbbtruth https://twitter.com/hbbtruth you don't think of it first at the time.

My post today are my thoughts regarding something I'd read in the FOX News First daily email, which is written by Chris Stirewalt, @cstirewalt, which I have previously mentioned here on the blog because of how often I see some interesting facts or anecdotes that I don't see elsewhere.

---
The poll referenced below in the Fox News newsletter that I get in my email inbox every weekday, which was financed in part by NBC News, is the very same opinion poll that last night's NBC's Evening News
conscipuously avoided mentioning last night. Really.


The very last thing that you'd expect, competition being what it is or at least used to be... once upon a time.
No, you would expect that absent some terrible/amazing story that knocks everything else off the lineup, given their direct involvement, the results of the poll would be one of the first 10 news stories reported upon, but it wasn't.
Why do you suppose that is?

That sort of attitude is precisely the sort of thing that only encourages most reasonable people, regardless of their personal or political positions, to doubt the veracity of so much of what they see reported upon -and only encourages them to wonder as I often have on my own blog over the past few years about the increasing number of legitimate news stories I know about taking place in South Florida that are either being consciously ignored, spiked or buried.

Despite all the advances in technology over the last two decades with regards to improved newsgathering equipment that makes it easier than ever to report, in my part of South Florida, more than ever, the stories that are being ignored by the news media greatly outnumber the ones that are actually reported upon in some manner or fashion, no matter how compelling or important they genuinely are.
A muzzled or lethargic press is not the same thing as a free press, no matter how many more instances we see all the time of this discouraging attitude.

-This is just an excerpt- see bottom for whole newsletter
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fox News First Daily Politics
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 09:51:27 -0400
Subject: Fox News First -- Crisis mode: Obama leadership woes sinking
Dem hopes | Walsh heading for the exits? | Grimes gets a 'Billigan'
from Bubba | Establishment scores, doesn't sweep in primaries | What
cheese?

FOX News First:  August 6
By Chris Stirewalt

CRISIS MODE: OBAMA LEADERSHIP WOES SINKING DEM HOPES

The WSJ/NBC News poll dropped like a bucket of cold water on Washington, where fevered attacks over legislative minutiae and blame-placing in recent weeks has caused politicians to forget what is actually going on. And what’s going on is that Americans are deeply frustrated with their president, his refusal to govern by normal means and his handling of crises at our border and around the world. Foreign policy seldom intrudes into the midterm election discussion, but when the world seems to be falling apart, Americans get anxious and upset with their commander in chief and his party. That’s clearly what’s happening here. Sixty percent of respondents said the U.S. is in decline, only 35 percent were satisfied with America’s role in the world, and just 21 percent said that the next generation would be better off.

The president likes to say that he can act alone on domestic issues, a dubious supposition. But on international affairs, an area in which American presidents have enormous latitude, the situation is dire.

Respondents offered a negative assessment of the U.S. response to the Ukrainian war, the Syrian civil war, the conflict in Gaza, the rise of ISIS and especially the flow of illegal immigrant minors across the southern border. Just 11 percent were satisfied with the handling of the border crisis. Overall, just 36 percent of respondents approved of Obama’s handling of foreign policy, 12 points lower than ahead of the 2010 vote.

The consequences for November are ominous for Democrats. Republicans are in slightly better shape in the generic-ballot test than they were at this point in 2010, the year that a wave election washed away the Democratic majority in the House. The president’s job approval, now at an all-time low of 40 percent in this poll, is 7 points lower than it was four years ago. The reality is setting in that Democratic hopes of

holding the Senate are winnowing, a realization that could turn a bad year into a rout. The president promises more executive action to mobilize base supporters on immigration and corporate taxes, but with numbers like these, Democrats will be increasingly unwilling to hustle for what looks like a lost cause. And the harder the president goes in rallying his base, the deeper he will sink in the estimation of moderate voters who are so fed up with his administration.

-- 90 days until Nov. 4 --

You can read the whole thing here, via Chris Stirewalt's Twitter account:

Fox News First -- Crisis mode: Obama leadership woes sinking Dem hopes #FNPolitics | http://t.co/VQAXhERjZY
— Chris Stirewalt (@cstirewalt) August 6, 2014

Fact-checking the Miami Herald's local coverage of the "fiscal cliff" budget issue shows their obliviousness; Charles Krauthammer ponders "Cliff-jumping with Barack"; I suggest everyone check their ropes now!

Louisthx YouTube Channel video: Countdown clock for an NBC News Special Report. Uploaded on July 27, 2007. http://youtu.be/41sQCLKpi78 

Since I don't have my own Breaking News countdown clock yet... 

Question: How many of South Florida's 8 present or future Members of Congress have been interviewed or quoted by the Miami Herald regarding the "fiscal cliff" federal budget issue since Election Day?

Answer: ZERO.

But we all know that this would hardly come as Breaking News to any well-informed person who reads the 2012 version of that newspaper, though they still might be surprised that the Herald could do such a poor job of following a big national story by not writing about the local angle, i.e. have meaningful reporting on what this area's elected representatives to Congress were inclined to do.

The Herald of the 1970's and 1980's would've not only done something, they'd have had an entire page about it in Section A or in their Sunday Op-Ed section, with each rep. having the opportunity to try to explain -in some cases, explain away- why they believed what they did.

Not the lackluster and lazy Herald of today against the worldwide talent and resources of the N.Y. Times of today, but rather than the lackluster Herald of today against the Herald of 25 and 35 years ago that had to make do without cell phones and the crutch of the Internet, but with hard-working reporters who wanted to get the story done right, NOT run away from it.
There's your compare and contrast.

To repeat what I've written here on the blog in the past, when I lived and worked in the Washington, D.C. area from 1988-2003, because of what I did, whom I knew and what the full array of my interests were, I spoke fairly often to some print/TV reporters and columnists based in the Beltway whom you've heard of. 
We talked about all sorts of things, of course, but among them were also the general state of journalism, trends in the industry and general industry gossip.

Sometimes that took place over the phone after some bit of Breaking News, or over an Orioles game up at Camden Yards, sometimes after movies at popular restaurants, 
Other conversations took place over a hot dog and Coke from a vendor at a nearby park at lunch time -McPherson Square- on one of those sunny Spring days in Washington that are amazing, and which pull everyone out of their offices after months of cold weather, a sure sign that the baseball season is approaching.

The fact that some of these people had earned Pulitzer Prizes for their hard work and resourcefulness and had become known "names," was not something they spoke about, per se, but because they were so recognizable, it was always something in the back of my mind, even when we pretended it wasn't.

So it's with that in mind that I can tell you this with absolute certainty.

Newspapers and reporters do NOT receive the Pulitzer Prize for making a very bad habit of habitually ignoring what's right in front of them and NOT asking hard questions of elected officials facing difficult choices.

People are elected to Washington to make tough choices, after all, and reporters are supposed to ask them how they made their choice and what it is.

That's their job.

And yet...

Which of the 80 federal entitlement programs does Frederica Wilson or Joe Garcia want to seriously reform in order to avoid the fiscal cliff?

http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/influencealley/2012/11/boehner-calls-fiscal-cliff-progress-disappointing--29

To repeat Charles Krauthammer in his Washington Post column titled, Cliff-jumping with Barack:

Where are the spending cuts, both discretionary and entitlement: Medicare, Medicaid and now Obamacare (the health-care trio) and Social Security?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-cliff-jumping-with-barack/2012/11/29/6ddd39f8-3a5f-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html

I can't tell you that now because the very people in the best position to actually find out, the South Florida news media, don't want to ask, in large part I suspect because they really don't care. But I do.

If only I could bolster my argument by linking to a single example of this. 
Oh, okay, here are eight examples of that media obliviousness, courtesy(!) of the McClatchy Company's Miami Herald.

Is that enough for you?

FL-17 Frederica Wilson

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Frederica+Wilson

FL-18 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Ileana+Ros-Lehtinen

FL-19 Ted Deutch

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Ted+Deutch

FL-20 Debbie Wasserman Schultz

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Debbie+Wasserman+Schultz+

FL-21 Mario Diaz-Balart

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Mario+Diaz-Balart

FL-22 Congressman-Elect Patrick Murphy

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Patrick+Murphy

FL-23 Alcee Hastings

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=%22Alcee+Hastings%22

Bonus:  http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2012/05/alcee_hastings_complains_about.html

FL-25 Congressman-Elect Joe Garcia

http://www.miamiherald.com/search_results?aff=1100&q=Joe+Garcia

Delicious! CNN Piers Morgan punctures smug CNN afternoon anchorbabe Brooke Baldwin's ill-founded predicate in attack on Romney. Morgan: "He's only been saying what's been happening."; #London2012

No, the predictable -and unexpected- safety, security and logistics problems associated with London hosting something as huge as the 2012 Olympics have NOT exactly been a secret, as this front page Sunday story from The Daily Mail makes clear: Minister's Daughter in Olympic Safety Scandal. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177018/Claudia-Blunt-Ministers-daughter-exposes-Olympic-safety-scandal.html

Oh, dear! The cat is out of the bag. Just don't wake CNN's Brooke Baldwin, as she needs her beauty sleep.

Delicious! CNN Piers Morgan punctures smug CNN afternoon anchorbabe Brooke Baldwin's ill-founded predicate in attack on Mitt Romney. Morgan: "He's only been saying what's been happening."


Get it?

Romney's only been saying about logistics and security problems with the London 2012 Olympics what has been reported on the front pages of the British and Scottish newspapers for months!

They already know!

And it's been reported at the Drudge Report and on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News Channel newscasts for months, too.

That's why it's called "common knowledge!"

Taxi for Mr. Buckles -MPs savage G4S boss over Olympic chaos, The Guardian from last Wednesday, July 18, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/17/nick-buckles-g4s-olympic-chaos

So with so much being written, on the front page, something that a supposed-journalist like Baldwin should've known, or at least acted like she already knew was common knowledge, what gives with the dopey and smarmy attitude? 
Baldwin seems to be the last to know, the latest idiot who has a TV show.

(I'd planned on having some screenshots here of what took place around 2 p.m. on CNN but I'm having a problem downloading the photos from my videocamera.)

Jesus, that was so embarrassing, and really showed that left to their own devices, CNN's desire to go after Romney, who is clearly often his own worst enemy, when there's little rationale.

They do it because it's their natural instinct.

I'd forgotten why I didn't watch CNN during the day and Brooke Baldwin reminded me.

The real question is why Romney felt the need to say anything about it at all.
Oh, that's right, because NBC News Brian Williams asked him.
The same NBC that is airing the Olympics starting tomorrow.


Romney's comment should've been that he would mention his concerns or constructive suggestions to people who could actually do something about it, and that didn't include Brian Williams.


An hour after that 2 pm exchange with Morgan, yet another CNN host was brought on board to say something and Fareed Zakaria largely agreed with Morgan.
But then used that as an opportunity to attack the caliber of Romney's foreign policy people, including, surprisingly, Richard Armitage.


Hmm-m... I thought the Mainstream Media had voted that Armitage was a good guy because he was Colin Powell's top assistant under Bush 43, despite the fact that Armitage was the actual person who leaked the info about Valerie Plame
Powell acted ignorant about that publicly for months and months as people who were NOT involved, had their whole lives completely disrupted as they had to hire expensive defense attorneys during a government witch-hunt.


And lest you forget, one of the principal reasons that I've never liked Colin Powell and thought him a bit of a fraud is that despite all his tough talk about doing the right thing, when the opportunity presented itself, we never got any explanation from Powell on why he didn't publicly say that his assistant was the leaker.

Colin Powell didn't care about how much his secret affected those other Americans, he only cared about protecting his pal's identity. 
That's who Powell really is to me -an over-rated, aloof and self-absorbed person.

U.S. Mainstream Media's manufactured "War on Women" campaign is fine with them up until it actually backfires on Obama, then, surrogates are tossed overboard and MSM shakes head disapprovingly like they weren't willing participants. Same old after-the-fact moralizing and editorializing...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC-TV News video: Meet The Press, April 15, 2012: Democratic media spokesmodel Hilary Rosen's controversial comments about Ann Romney’s lack of employment and stay-at-home Mom status, and the Obama Administration's forceful distancing of themselves from her remarks via Social Media, perhaps too forcibly to be believable, are analyzed for future portent by former Democratic congressman from Tennessee and DLC Chair Harold Ford, Jr., GOP campaign strategist Mike Murphy, and Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie and MTP host David Gregory.


As regular readers of the blog may recall, I'm a longtime fan of Savannah but had to give-up watching her on MSNBC after Obama got elected once it became largely a West Wing echo chamber, and as others have noted, became both too predictable and chick-ified thru the likes of not-as-bright-as-she-thinks Contessa Brewer. I rarely watch NBC's Evening News broadcast, and if I watch Meet The Press at all, which is not that often anymore, it's always the repeat on MSNBC.