NPR's disgraceful coverage of "darn good" and "bring 'em on"

[gulliver]

For a second I thought NPR's All Things Considered was going to talk about Bush lying yesterday and saying that Saddam wouldn't allow the inspectors in. I had my hopes up.

But no, today NPR turned my stomach for the first time in recent memory. Some bozo reporter did a puff piece on how wink-wink funny it is that foreign reporters have a hard time translating Bush's fake, common-man-camo phrases like "darn good" and "bring 'em on." It was so darned clever and original. :eyes:

Bush lies like a rug and says stupid, reckless things like "bring 'em on," but at least one deep soul can help us see the humor in it. So "darned funny!"

[Avalux]

1. Heard It

Disgraceful and Irresponsible.

[Sushi_lover]

2. I enjoyed the piece

I hope I'm not coming off as too contentious about this, but I detected a tone of sarcasm in the piece.

True, they were playing for chuckles. But you repeat "darn good intelligence" enough times, it gets the point across: it wasn't "darn good intelligence".

They gigged him about "bring it on" too.

I liked it. It made him sound like an idiot.

[veganwitch]

3. "darn good"

sweet jebus christ in a handbasket!!

i almost spit out my lunch when i saw that. ya know, i think my mom's cooking is "darn good" but when given the chance, i would rather eat out.

[jagguy]

4. they have big money problems

can't risk anything. They could lose their fed money which would shut them down and the private/corporate money is shakey as well so they can ill afford to be edgy.

[TheBigGuy]

6. NPR hasn't been edgy in years.

Since the Reagan administration, at least.

I think its OK for "headline" news but their in-depth stuff is pretty worthless/boring. I dont want to fall asleep on the interstate so I usually tune them out after I get the headlines.

I prefer "Newshour". Yes It is middle of the road, but at least they have two sides to the story and the reporters try to be somewhat evenhanded. Plus they have Mark Shields and, now, Brooks, for some good inside-baseball political talk.

[Pikku]

17. NPR has become irrelevant.

Sad to say- they try so hard to straddle the fence that nobody cares what they have to say anymore.

There are exceptions- Daniel Schorr's commentary comes to mind.

[blondeatlast]

5. Cripes! I was in my car and my jaw just about hit the floor!

I remember the Al-Jazeera reporter giggling about how they dealt with "bring 'em on."

Sick.

[Skittles]

7. the subjects of talk radio here in Texas

are the Dixie Chicks and Jerry Springer. I kid you not.

[wellstone_democrat]

11. and Jesus

the 19th Cong district just had a race where the candidates competed for who was most Christian...and, who loved Bush* more.

But, Jesus, the Dixie Chicks and the "outrage" of Jerry Springer's run is the preoccupation of west Texas talk radio. Yikes.

[clar]

8. Sorry

I thought it was fairly amusing and interesting. That doesn't make me any the less horrified by shrub's idiotic pronouncements.

[gulliver]

9. To each their own, I guess.

I found it conventionally amusing and "tidbit interesting." I was not horrified near as much by "shrub's pronouncements" as by the thought that they could be made to seem funny. What's so funny about it? I mean, you can only see a monkey spill coconut milk on his head so many times and still chuckle.

Bush's Bushisms don't make him seem more human to me. He's not like Huckleberry Finn whose goodness and essential deepness is expressed "in the vernacular." Bush's "funny talk" is nearly always unfunny and nearly always revealing of weakness and venality, but we still just laugh and laugh...

Yes, I need many beers. Maybe I'm being too serious.

[Cheesehead]

10. Morning/Weekend Edition is the same shit!

Daniel Schorr is the only one worth listening to. The others have nothing interesting or controversial to say.

[graphixtech]

12. NPR = trivial drivel

This type of "reporting" caused me to completely stop listening to NPR. With so many critically important issues that need our attention, their many puff pieces are disgraceful, wasteful, near complicity.

This story should be PLASTERED on all the headline news, but does not seem to be garnering that critical priority.

Guess I need a beer too.

Excellent posts gulliver.

[leftyandproud]

13. this is why

I stopped sending them annual donations

[leanings]

14. It's National Public Radio

Not National Polemics. It was an entertaining piece. All discussion in every public forum doesn't have to revolve around the evils of the Bush regime. Lighten up.

[LearnedHand]

15. I respectfully disagree! We hold NPR to a higher standard...

...because they ARE publically funded (at least, in part). If I wanted to hear entertaining pieces, I could listen the the approximately six thousand ClearChannel stations in my area.

I'm extremely disappointed with NPR, also. I waited anxiously for them to analyze the you-ranium lies, and they didn't even talk about it.

And furthermore, this is NOT the time to lighten up; it's time to TIGHTEN up and light fires under all these lying bastards. They've gotten away with all their shit by telling us over and over to "lighten up."

[graphixtech]

18. "lighten up"

sounds simillar to
"get over it".

At least NPR is consistant.
I am dissappointed with their overall, softball coverage
every single time I listen to them.

Well said nm3.

[BevHarris]

16. Oh, NPR is sometimes pretty good. And doing Black Box tomorrow

They've hit the voting machine story at least 10 times, and doing it again tomorrow, though I doubt that piece will go national.

They seem to avoid criticizing the white house or congress, though, and that makes them weaker than they should be. They do a lot of the other issues -- environment, women's, middle east political dynamics.

Bev Harris