Here’s an object lesson in so much that’s wrong with the corporate mainstream media.
U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, the Republican from Arizona, showed up at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night. He was mobbed by “reporters” from the corporate media (people with large video cameras and microphones who turn them on, point them towards famous people, and allow them to say whatever they want without ever challenging them in any way) out front of the Pepsi Center in Denver.
I happened to be there as well, with a much smaller video camera rolling, and the willingness to actually try to hold Kyl’s feet to the fire.
First he had mentioned John McCain’s “experience” in foreign policy that allowed him to deal with situations like the Russia/Georgia conflict in a way that Barack Obama couldn’t. The “reporters” asked no follow-ups in response to Kyl’s unsupported talking point, so I tried to ask him how McCain could deal with the two parties as an honest broker, given that he has senior campaign staffers who are paid lobbyists for Georgia. Kyle dodged the question and quickly moved onto something else. I tried to follow up, but he ignored me.
Then, when one of the “reporters” asked Kyl a hard-hitting question about whether he had “seen anything this week that made [him] cringe,” he referred to Bill Clinton’s convention speech, made within the past hour that night. Responding to the compliant, smiling media zombies he charged that Clinton had cited “statistics…that are not accurate.” However, the Senator gave no evidence for those allegations, and the zombies didn’t press him, so I decided to do so.
Here, then – with my polite pauses, allowing him to ramble on in answer to other inane questions from the zombies, edited out for time — is what it looked like…
excellent job brad
i am so tired of politicians outright lying and nevr being called on it
if anything pres clinton was generous towards the repubs with his stats…the 5 million less jobs created point didnt mention how the jobs created under the current admin r mostly low paying service jobs while the good paying manufacturing jobs r what have been lost
Maybe you had to hit him on the head with your mic…he answered the ladies question because he said she was getting hit on the head with them (the mics I guess).
Ok, THUMP, answer the question you twit~
Don’t you wish you could waterboard this jackass?
It could have been much worse Brad, you could have been pushed into traffic, had a cops (thugs) hand around your throat, and being arrested like this ABC reporter. He was doing his job, trying to find out which Democrats were being entertained by Big “F””ing Donors/Lobbyists.
ABC News Producer Arrested in Denver
You need a bigger fucking camera! And one of those bullshit lanyards that say “PRESS”, and a cute girl running around with a microphone.
What arrogance, he nearly got YOU in trouble.
Brad, that was a orchestrated post Bill Clinton speech, Karl Rove/RNC talking point including the reporters question…she was in on it.
I flipped over to Fake News right after Bill’s speech and KKKarl Rove was saying the exact same thing as Killer Kyl was in your video.
Not surprising.
Got plenty of bullshit lanyards out here (would never have been inside the Pepsi Center without ’em). Also, got a cute girl. But I don’t think any of that would have helped Kyl answer the questions he didn’t want to. However, if everyone else there had been pushing for him to do so, instead of asking inane bullshit, then maybe we’d have gotten somewhere.
AWESOME job Brad!
Floridiot –
I’m neither suprised, nor bothered by the GOP attempts to respond to the Clinton speech et al. That’s their job after all.
I am, on the other hand, appalled at the corporate media allowing them to do so without being challenged. That’s supposed to be their job, but they are AWOL, which is why we’re in the mess we’re in.
Yeah Brad, It’s way past the point where we have an objective televised media anymore.
More like compliant/complicit
These “professional” journalists are paid large amounts of money to come up with news stories, so why does it take a volunteer like you to ask Kyl what statistics were inaccurate? Do you have any videos where you’re asking these guys why they don’t report the news?
Paul McCarthy –
I should have turned on those media folks directly, frankly, and asked them exactly that.
Not only is Kyl a liar, but he is obviously a snake, slithering away from your question. He is a sssnnnnaaaakkkkeee…
ssssssssssssssss
snake.
Kyl is a snake.
A LYING SNAKE
I truly hope Obama gets his point across clearly and puts jm lies to rest. I am so tired of hearing on the radio about how Obama will take people’s savings and income with taxes, more taxe to the middle class, etc. This is the perfect opportunity to put the lies to rest and tell Americans why he is the best for Prez – facts, not rhetoric. Hit it out of the ballpark!
Yellowbird
Get your point; but this is unfair to snakes…:-)
Brad,
Way to be persistent. Remember what Barack said, we want a persistent president. And we want a persistent blogger.
Next time, when he doesn’t answer, put a lemon in his mouth. Then watch it get swallowed whole and go through his entire snake body. What a sleeze bucket. He just oozes sleeze.
These repugs need to be turned out of office wholesale. Thanks for doing one hell of a great job. UDAMan!
Maybe next time you just say “OK, so essentially you are saying you lied because you have absolutely NOTHING to back up your Rovian talking point.” Thank you for confirming that by saying nothing. We will note that as your official response, unless you’d like to clarify it further.” (Then, under your breath, “asshole!”)
Heh heh heh.
Yeah, beautiful. Repub senator has absolutely no clue about the stats but of course he “knows” what Clinton said was inaccurate.
Total B.S. laid bare by Brad. Nice going.
And the Mouth Piece Media keeps marching on…
GWN @4
I think that incident and what Brad experienced are related. These “reporters” are well paid and well educated, and realize, that if they get out of line, the fascist state could turn on them like it did that ABC reporter.
“Do the right thing” has been turned into “do the right thing for me.”
Most would rather party it up with their “access” to politicians and the open bar, than risk having the hand of a cigar chomping pig around their throat.
Kudos to Brad for his intrepid work.
Who were the mum reporters? Or, what media companies were represented in that woeful group? I would like to talk/write to the management and ask them why their reporters can’t keep up with BradBlog and Glenn Greenwald? If not management, eventually the stockholders will realize why they are losing viewers.
THANK YOU, Brad!!
Thank God somebody’s at least out there trying
to do the Media’s job.
God knows The Media won’t do it.
Thanks again for the effort, Brad.
I’m not sure, but somebody said McCain had voted with * 95% of the time when everybody else was saying 90% of the time…. I was sure it was Clinton until this became an issue. Mox nix. Kyl is still a rotten old jackass… but… well…?
I mean, if my recollection is right, here, and Kyl knew what he meant, he still could hardly have answered you without making his position seem even more pathetic than it already does.
You must remember – EVERY Arizona Politician is owned lock, stock, and kitty-kat by the Lansky-Bronfman arm of the organized crime syndicate. (Just ask ANY Arizonan who is paying attention. Therefore Kyl was there on a mission from the Mob, and you were kind of brave trying to disrupt his propaganda. (Unfortunately, according to my Arizona friends, Arizona “Democrats” are also owned by the Mob. But we are in severe danger of putting a man who is owned by the Mob into the top slot! That’s one reason so many states still use the hackable voting machines – the Mob wants them.
I’ve heard all my life that politicians LOVE television cameras and microphones. Brad, the mythbuster!
Funny stuff!
He couldn’t respond, because he had no data. He only had a talking point, which someone else had given him to say.
If there was a convention to go to … This was it !
The fuckin m$m keeps lowering the bar for mcbush & the gop … and they still can’t hit the mark … Then they set the bar much higher for Obama and the Dems and they keep topping it !
Yet you’d never know it listening the m$m.
Accountability has never been in the gop vocabulary … if ya don’t have to lie then just avoid. Cheers ~ Brad.
I’ll have you know that a right wing bozo friend of mine, with whom I have had relentless political battles most of my adult life, has been burying me with emails tonight about how he’s voting for Obama in November. He was giddier about this convention than any Democrats I’ve heard from. He’s SOLD… which means none of his buddies will stop hearing about it for the rest of time….
No. Seriously. He’s talking about seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. So that is not small. Believe me.
While i have had to come to grips with my own anger management demons as of late, the depth of my anger still does not seem to diminish towards these corrupt sellout politicians and their corporate media parrots, zombies, whatever who only stand for lining their pockets and sustaining their power. In this world, confusion of the people is KING so up is down and left is right. Then the media does not establish an intelligent dialogue or sounding board but acts as an amplifier of the original lie/s, misdirections, and or coverups. Should someone come along and question an official’s comment or statement, the time tested move that has worked over and over consistantly since the complete US media takeover that occurred under Reagan is exactly what happened to you.
You are ignored and will never be allowed to debate the issue because the truth is not important only the collective perception. If you persist you will either be accused of being rude or arrested in our US police state, 1st amendment rights violated as well as unlawful detainment without probable cause. You got to be smart picking your battles because “they” don’t give shit who they kill such as the 3000 on 9-11.
Testimonial evidence about the pools of molten metal found in the basement of all 3 World Trade Tower buildings along with the signature particles of military high tech super thermate were identified in a peer reviewed paper by Professor Steven Jones. NO Arabs in a cave would have access to this product let alone be able to get inside the WTT #7 that housed the FBI, Secret Service, Internal Revenue to name a few. In layman’s terms, fires building fires burn at 1200 degrees and steel doesn’t become a liquid product until at least 2800 degrees. THESE PEOPLE WERE MURDERED BY THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF US GOVERNMENT AND THE BOX CUTTER ARABS ARE A BUNCH OF UNSUBSTANCIATED PATSIES. THESE PEOPLE ARE STILL IN OFFICE AND THE CATASTROPHIC TERROR KID PHILLIP ZELIKOW’S 9-11 COMMISSION REPORT LIE works BECAUSE IT’S SUPPORTS THE general PERCEPTION WHILE BASED ON bUSHIT.
Grizzly FYI (and anybody else interested in 911 truth research),
MISSING LINKS is the first movie to expose the identity of the criminals responsible for 9/11. Officially released on 8/18/2008
another piece of the jigsaw !
WHAT THE HELL CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A MEMBER OF THE PARTY OF DESPERATION….THE ONCE DESENT…BUT NOW DISFUNCTIONAL..REPUBLICAN PARTY—RUINED BY GEORGE H.W.BUSH AND GEORGE W. BUSH. AND THEY ARE NOT EMBARRASED, BY ANY OF THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR. WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING AT THEIR CONVENTION…GO HOME WITH YOUR ‘ TAIL BETWEEN YOUR LEGS ‘…I ‘LL NEVER AGAIN VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN IDIOT.
TO ALL RESIDENTS OF ARIZONA: I AM CONFIDENT, AS A LIFE LONG INDEPENDENT VOTER WITH 42 YEARS OV VOTES..THAT THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA ARE SEEING THINGS ABOUT MCCAIN AND KYL; THAT WILL SEND BOTH OF THEM ‘ PACKING ‘ AND INTO RETIREMENT–THE NEXT TIME THEY RUN FOR RE-ELECTION. BECAUSE THE NATION IS ‘ FED UP ‘ WITH PEOPLE LIKE THIS. ‘ CORRUPT ‘ HAS MANY MEANINGS…AND THE NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY KEEPS REDEFINING IT, THEY HAVE BECOME MORALLY, ETHICALY, AND IDEALOGICALY CORRUPT…AND THEY DID IT TO THEMSELVES. GOOD BY TO THE FORMER SENATORS FROM ARIZONA…WHO BY THEIR OWN ACTIONS HAVE DEGRADED AND DESTROYED–THEIR VERY INTEGRITY; IF THEY EVER TRULY HAD ANY.
Isn’t it funny that many Republicans are constantly talking about all flash with no substance from Obama yet they rarely (if ever) give any meat to their claims. They talk over and around things and play dodgeball with ever question that is thrown at them.
Here is a perfect example of why the corporate media fail.
Brad did what a proper reporter should do.
However, the result was that he got zero airable soundbites for his efforts.
If a mainstream media reporter tried to ask pressing questions and got ignored like that, eventually they would lose their job because they weren’t producing airable soundbites. So, they stop (or never start) being tough, and just throw softball questions around.
The fix is simple. The FOOTAGE of the politician ignoring a perfectly legitimate follow up question to one of his claims should BECOME the news. “Senator claims Bill Clinton’s speech was innaccurate … refuses to state which parts were innaccurate.” I.e. Senator is lying and/or is full of shit.
But it would require an entire shift of mainstream media to stop publicizing the faces of smiling people lying to them, and instead publicize the back of their heads as they walk away and refuse to answer legitimate questions about their remarks and actions.
My guess is viewership would go up, but the boards of these giant corporations would never take the risk, because they’d be afraid viewership would drop.
I asked my mom about this and I quote, “He’s an arrogant fucking asshole.”
I laughed my fucking ass off.
Boy, mom, Right On Mom, I couldn’t agree more.
I might add, so was that little bitch that cried about her question to the Shit Heel Senator who quickly reversed the threat on Brad (potentially a setup), by the Senator saying some shit about bumping or banging her head.
A Secret Dis-Service!
That motherfuckin Senator needs a wack on the side of the head. (You all remember the book, “A Wack On The Side Of The HEad” it’s a figure of speech your fucking DHS shit heels that want to make criminals out of the population!!, not a threat or a suggestion or call to action) God I hate these fuckers that escalate a non-situation into a criminal offense. That should be a crime itself. Apparently it’s a loophole to fuck people who speak their mind.
BOHICA! BOHICA! BOHICA!
If I could be at the DNC the ONE QUESTION I WOULD ASK….
Will you, find out if Hydrogen on Demand works? And if it does will you re-tool the Auto Manufactures to mass produce?
Brad, you’re my hero. Well, one of ’em. Keep searching for the Truth and challenging others to accept it and eventually America will be a better place.
Keep it up very long and you’ll get labeled ‘radical’!
Hello. I’m a newcomer to AZ, and Sen Kyl and Rep Franks vote mostly against humanity – like McCain when he decides to show up to vote. Yes, gotta get all three outta office, McCain’s up in 2010.
We have to get Barack elected! I’m preparing a letter to send to newspapers asking people to check out the claims in that Swiftboating book before they believe it. I suggest everyone do it. Obama has a website 40 pgs discounting all the distortions and lies. Please Check it out.
Yep, Kyl did not help himself by ignoring Brad.
Yes Barack is better that someone who voted 95% of the time with the bushit administration. But both are still serving the same new order masters. His foreign policy is almost identical to McSame’s and believe you me that the military bases are staying in Iraq. He want’s to put move US troops in Iraq to Afganistan.
Get a clue people. Obama wants to guard the damn Afgani pipeline using our #1 military to continue the US world imperalism, utilize nuclear power, and coal as an answer to global warming. Where do you think he got these ideas? These middle east wars are the main reason the Illuminati neo-cons did 9-11. Zelikow’s 9-11 report didn’t even include the 3rd World Trade Tower that collapsed in under 7 seconds although not hit by a plane. Think about that for 1 minute. In 570 pages of the so called independent non partison 9-11 story, there is nothing about the 3rd building in history standing 47 stories that collapsed into it’s footprint leaving nothing but dust particles and shredded and molten steel. And the excuse given is.. fire?
This is the biggest lie being lived in my life and the US zombie media has supported this coverup from day 1. Don’t ever expect anything from the US corporate mass media relating to political truth unless it is an accident or favors the powers that be in some way.
Anytime someone especially Americans want to look into the truth as to how the World Trade Towers were brought down can go look at information presented by 20 year architect Richard Gage at http://www.ae911.org. Accredited architects and engineers can sign a petition for a new legimate 9-11 investigation after performing their own personal investigation on the evidence.
While most at Bradblog probably know about World Trade Tower building #7, it was not even hit by a plane and fell 7 hours after the twins as a textbook controlled demolition unlike the non-traditional demolitions of the World Trade Towers I and II that exploded out of their roofs.
Screw the US corporate mass media. There interests are not yours.
Grizzly Bear Dancer – I’m with you on all of the 9-11 info, been following it myself since I saw Mike Ruppert’s Truth and Lies way back in early 2002. However, it’s either going to be McCain or Obama. With Obama, despite his corporate subservience, I still believe that there is some hope for a brighter future. I may lay beyond him and his presidency, but if it exists it at least starts with him. With McCain, all hope is lost beyond a classical revolution. I don’t know how prepared we are for that. And perhaps that is their leverage. But it is what it is.
Watch American Drug War when you get a chance.
Floridiot:
Very interesting videos. The guy who made this got a lot of important interviews. I am going to watch the whole thing when I get time. Too bad it will never be on television.
Here is one video from ABC that surprised me though. I haven’t seen anything that portrayed the tragedy of the drug war on as personal a level as this does on corporate TV before.
OK, ABC is not cooperating with me. You’re going to have to cut and paste this address into your browser:
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5454035
Larry, believe it or not I saw it first on Showtime!
No kidding? I’ve never had showtime, but that’s amazing. It’s important for people to know how intertwined the “drug war” is with the loss of our civil rights. It couldn’t have happened without it. They’ve been trying to connect terrorism with smoking marijuana in subtle and not so subtle ways. To place pot on the top tier of the list of dangerous drugs illustrates how wrongheaded this is.
One of the crazy things about it is that so many people would lose their jobs if it was legalized. It’s insanity, and it HAS to stop!