Heavy Handed Media

Here is an excellent example of heavy-handed media. When the moderator, Lou Dobbs, is not getting the answer he wants to hear he jumps in. He even goes so far as to over-ride the opinion he has solicited and make fun of the opinions put forth. Hardly the example of "moderator" that you would expect:



I've got nothing against partisan politics, but it should be labeled as such and not pretend to be a "discussion with opposing views" if the moderator himself won't let those views come forward.

What is interesting is that both the conservative journalist, Reihan Salam, and the liberal-ish academic, Justin Wolfers, come across as mostly in agreement. The odd man out was Lou Dobbs!

I nearly dropped out of my chair when Lou Dobbs asked the idiotic question: "Name an economic stimulus package that has ever worked!" Reihan tried to give a contemporary example, but Dobbs nixed that. So he then talked about FDR. The two "debaters" were in agreement. It was Dobbs who didn't want to hear that government can do anything useful in an economic crisis. What an idiot!

I presume Dobbs would argue just as vigorously that he didn't want a public fire department. When his house catches on fire he would rather run up and down the street using private enterprise incentives -- waving fistfulls of money -- to try to gather up a posse to come and save his house. No government for Lou Dobbs. Just the beauty of hard cash to solve all our problems. Yep... Bill Gates, Rockerfeller, and other billionaires stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Dobbs on this. Let money speak. Keep public action, government institutions, at bay. Let us all negotiate with dollar bills for everything.

I wonder... did Lou Dobbs pay his mother a weekly allowance for the care, nurturing, and love she gave him? He obviously doesn't think that anybody does anything for any reason other than mercenary advanatage. So just how did the toddler Dobbs "negotiate" an appropriate wage for his mother? And just where did Dobbs get the dollar bills to pay her for her tender care?