Why We Think The Corpulent Media Suck

[filkertom]

Almost five hours ago, Porter Goss, the head of the C.I.A., resigned suddenly. (Very possibly because of a sex scandal, tied to former-Congressman-now-incarcerated-felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham.)

What's the big story on CNN.com? Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who crashed into a traffic barrier while apparently under the influence of some pills, is going into rehab.

He was stoned, he was wrong, and he needs help... but, ah, CNN? The frickin' head of the frickin' C.I.A.. Just resigned. Suddenly. Under a cloud. No replacement named yet, so it's not part of the big "shake-up".

We don't have a C.I.A. director. And there are going to be hearings for the new one, which I promise you will be an amazing mess.

But you have to focus on the traffic infraction and the drug use of the scion of a storied political family.

THE FUCKIN' HEAD OF THE GODDAMN C.I.A.

Priorities.

Update: Well, after 7:00 EDT they finally made Goss' resignation the lead story at CNN.com, mentioning that there might've been problems with John Negroponte (oh, that's a surprise). Still took 'em frickin' long enough.

Comments

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Well, say "Porter Goss" in a room full of random people and watch the blank stares.

Say "Patrick Kennedy" and, while they still aren't going to know who the hell he is specifically, they're going to know who he is in general: one of those damned Kennedys.

The average person doesn't want news that's significant. They want news that makes them feel superior and allows them to exercise their self-righteousness. I've never quite grasped why anything involving the Kennedys makes people into such dicks, but...*shrugs*

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Because people associate the name Kennedy with wealth and privelidge. Many see the Kennedy family as an elite group. Thus anything making a Kennedy look bad will be well received. Not to mention that the Kennedies have primarily been Democrats lately.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

No, I understand the (IMO mostly nonsense) reasons. I just don't understand why it has to turn people into dicks.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Maybe this has something to do with it.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

So has Laura Bush's car. =P And yet, no stickers.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

More people know about Ted Kennedy's car than Laura Bush's car. I'd blame the liberal media, but the Kennedies have been in the media for a long time, and Laura Bush hasn't been there as long. Still, the media is far too liberal to point out her car as well. :)

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Why wouldn't a liberal media hop all over that? (I don't buy the "liberal media" thing, to a large extent.)

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

I don't either. It's sarcasm.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

I was hoping, but I can't always tell with you. =P

After thinking about it, I guess my real problem is that the people who have this vitrol for the Kennedys are, in general, the people who do NOT hate the Bushes, and they hate the Kennedys for traits that the Bushes possess.

I don't give a damn if you hate rich people because they're rich, but hate 'em all, for crying out loud.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

There's always been something about Ted Kennedy and walking away from the incident at Martha's Vineyard that has really incited people. Far more than Laura Bush walking away from her car accident.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

So this isn't something I've ever run into personally, but I know it was, at one time, an issue in this country.

Because a dislike of the Kennedys has been around so long, most people sort of seem to do it instinctually. Most people who "hate" the Kennedys can't really explain why. But the original cadre of them, I wonder if it had anything to do with them being Catholic.

Well, and Joe Sr. was an ass. Still. I think Kennedy-snarking is more of an instinct than anything else anymore, like making fun of Michael Jackson or Yoko Ono.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

When I first heard the news about Rep. Kennedy yesterday, I knew the media was going to jump all over this to the exclusion of real news.

I'm now bitter to the point of thinking some GOP operative slipped him a mickey so that the news today would not pay attention to The Idiot's abysmally low poll numbers and the above-mentioned Goss resignation. I mean, they really are just that evil.

[greenlantern-oa.livejournal.com]

I don't see the problem, I mean apparently we have been getting along without a President for the last 6 years, what's one more politician out of the limelight?? ;)

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

::rimshot::

FYI

[janet-coburn.livejournal.com]

I checked at 7:06, and the headline at the was CIA foofooraw, with Kennedy at the top of the "also-ran" stories.

Re: FYI

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I was just updating the main post to reflect that.

[hms42]

9:45pm EDT - Back to the the kid killed by the camp guards. Its on the right side and not even with that title.

Harold

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

Here's a non-surprise: At 8 last night, I tuned in to Keith Olbermann's Countdown on MSNBC, and he led off with extensive coverage of the Porter Goss story. Countdown is, hands down, the best news show on TV right now. (Now, now, I said news. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report don't count.)

At either 9 or 10, I forget which, I checked in with Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN. I was channel flipping, popping in an out, but I'm sure he spent at least the first 20 minutes of his show on the Kennedy story.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

I dunno. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report do a damn sight better a job of reporting real news than the "real" news outlets do...