Nadir

[filkertom]

I do believe that we have finally sunk to the absolute depths of "reporting" in the mainstream media, the lowest and stupidest and funniest possible story intended to slam a Democrat.

Did you know that Obama gets to use a limo tax-free? Not to mention a private plane and a big muckin' house.

This is why you don't reason with them, why you can't reason with them. They are not only beyond scum, they are too stupid to breathe. They only care about winning, in the cheapest and most expedient ways possible, and you have to BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF THEM in every way possible.

Your Vichy media... complicit in destroying the country since 1979.

Comments

[jblaque.livejournal.com]

Jesus F. Christ. They have got to be kidding.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Oh, the horror.

Seriously, the impression that I get from reading the article is that ABC is defending these perks as necessary for being an effective President.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

And they waited until Obama was president to report them?

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Let me correct my impression. They are defending the perks. I think that they're doing so in a clumsy, less-than-effective way.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

But -- but, the media has a liberal bias! Rush assures me so!

(I'm hoping that it's a hopeful sign they're forced to veer so far into "completely ridiculous" to come up with something to complain about. Next, perhaps, that he's not doing anything Senatorial in NY?)

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Isn't Rush *PART* of the media?

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Did you read the comments? Most of the ones that I've skimmed through have called the author a moron and are lambasted ABC for printing this article.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Gives me hope. But they still keep publishing stuff like this. We need good media, not utterly discredited media.

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

Quite simply, I would allow CEO's to have the same perks the president gets, but only if they can prove that they are the target of insane people trying to kill them all the time....

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I suspect they are. Great kidnapping targets, which gets practiced in places all over the world.
Not that I sympathize in the least with such problems, really...

[msgeek.livejournal.com]

ABC lost me at "The Road To 9/11." Screw them. NBC/Universal is owned by corporate scum as well, but at least they give Olberman and Maddow airtime on MSNBC. So bite me, Mickey.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Der Mouse should stick to what it's good at. Running theme parks. (Notice I didn't say making movies; if it hadn't been for Jobs and Pixar and Roy's Rebellion, Disney would STILL suck at that.)

[mouser.livejournal.com]

You don't reason with them because you believe there is the possibility of you changing their mind.

You reason with them so that when someone else is watching they can tell the difference!

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

No, I reason with them in the hope that somebody watching can tell the difference.

Remember, the United States is a country where people tried to position "elite" as a negative attribute in a candidate for president, and "thinking Republicans" were slammed by other Republicans.

[invader-tak-1.livejournal.com]

Hard to remember the days I use dto vote Republican because they believed in integrity and personal responsibility. Ah, live and learn. :/

[catlin.livejournal.com]

Out with the days Repubs were about fiscal responsibility, less government intervention, and responsible government?

They lost me when they dropped that...

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd be quite happy if somebody enforced antitrust legislation of the old skool type on this conglomerated media, but I suspect market forces may have some interesting effects without help.

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

The MSM is a business, plain and simple. Their job is to get people to pay attention long enough to sit through the commercials (or stay on their web page while the banner ads scroll by). It's no different than any other tv show now.

I've heard those on the right call them the Vichy media as well. It just depends on your personal predilections as to whether you think they're being unreasonable or not. I rarely hear the right complaining when the MSM says nasty things about the left. It works the other way as well.

To put it bluntly, the MSM doesn't have a "Red" bias. They don't have a "Blue" bias either. They have a big honking green bias though.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

All the people I've talked to (many of whom work in finance) agree with my proposals:

1. The government bailout money is a loan; the government gets free warrants on the company's stock as a kicker (as in he Chrysler bailout lo these many years ago).

2. Cash compensation is capped. Employees may get stock options, providing (i) the strike price is at least 25% higher than the strike price of the government's warrants, and (ii) the options are not exercisable until after the government's loans have been repaid in full with interest.

I'd also want some restrictions on the company: for instance, it can't buy other companies for cash. (A pure stock-for-stock merger is fine.) Strong restrictions on how the gov't money can be used would be good, but there's a lot of detail work involved because dollars are fungible.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Would you be as irate if this had occurred about four weeks ago, and the focus was President Bush?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Actually, yeah, and for precisely the same reasons. This is an eye-rollingly stupid thing. The president has some perqs because the president is the representative of the nation and the guy in charge of the military. There are security concerns. There are things that, as a head of state, cannot be left undone. And, yeah, there are bonuses to the job. I think you get a few of those along with the nuclear football, and if they had brought it up with Dubya, I would feel precisely the same way. I don't think Dubya deserved them because I think he was installed in 2000 rather than elected, but he was at that time (as the late Molly Ivins called him) The Only President We've Got, and he got the rub that came with the job.

ETA: I was going through these comments and realized I'd started out saying basically exactly the opposite of what I meant, and what I argued for the rest of the comment. Fixed.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

My utter lack of pity for the poor, mistreated CEOs is only surpassed by the volume at which I laugh at the enitre situation. It's really ridiculous if you look at it right.

[violinsontv.livejournal.com]

IIRC at about this time in W's first term, the media was gushing how great it was that everybody in his cabinet wore jackets to work.

[madrona.livejournal.com]

Oh, those elitist WORLD LEADERS. Don't you know limos and personal jets are for people who throw balls at sticks or pretend to sing in their underwear?

[connor-campbell.livejournal.com]

i may be missing something here, but the jist i get is that the protests are being directed at the president because the CEOs salaries are bein glinked to the presidents?
so what i am seeing here is that once again, "they" are looking in the wrong direction once again! blame it all on the president, who hasn't had but five raises in 220 years, as compared to what kind of raises and benefits that congressmen get? why doen't people put the congressmen on the grill for once? the president is gone in four or eight years, and congressmen are there for how long? and they get raises how often? and what kind of perks? and maybe there aren't any "on paper", but what about those that get taken anyway? bush was a bugger, and i'm glad to see him gone, but i said this even when he was in office - go after the congress people for once!
like i said, maybe i'm missing something, and i really don't know anything about the bailout and such, but i think it is all a side issue to keep attention from where it should be.