republicans like to cling to the idea that they are the party of Lincoln. Back when when they actually were a decent party.

Most of my Republican friends are like this. They're decent, rational people, but they just continue to this hopeless romantic idea that the Party now is the same as it was in Lincoln's time. Heck, even in the 80's you might disagree with a Republican, but you could still have a rational discussion with them and agree on the same basic facts.

Even with Obama's first debate loss, most people know that Obama's probably going to win this election. The news media have a vested interest in pretending everything is super close, but if you actually take a look at the people who really understand this stuff. Lots of people, republicans included, think Obama's going to win this.

So...be prepared for a fresh round of conspiracy theories.

Be prepared for another frivolous impeachment attempt

and quite frankly, be prepared for an assassination attempt.

2016 is going to be the real election to watch. Now of course, democrats could fuck it up by putting forth another weak candidate like John Kerry again, but if Republicans can't win again, even with Obama out of the picture, yeah, I would agree that Republicans are done as a serious party.

The problem is, the Republicans have become the party of fear. And fear generally never goes away. You just change what you're afraid of.

1) 7 points is a fairly big margin of victory in a presidential race. Look back at previous debate numbers for comparison.
2) An individual opinion of who won a debate is somewhat subjective (there must be criteria, or the term "win" would be meaningless). A scientific poll of who the population at large thinks won the debate is an objective statistic. If we agree that the winner, de facto, is the person ahead on that statistic, then it's objective. Everybody agrees that Romney won the first debate based on that metric. Obama won this one.

>> ^schlub:

#1) 7 points is hardly a landslide victory
#2) Deciding who "won" an argument is totally subjective.
Though, I find it difficult to trust any news media. Especially those as big as CNN, Fox, NBC, etc.. the only reason any of them show results of polls is to influence viewers (i.e. voters). PERIOD. It's not to be informative. It's not to be honest. It's not to be helpful. It's because people blindly follow the lead of others.
"Oh, 75% think X is good? I also think X is good because, well I simply can't form an objective opinion of my own."

#1) 7 points is hardly a landslide victory
#2) Deciding who "won" an argument is totally subjective.

Though, I find it difficult to trust any news media. Especially those as big as CNN, Fox, NBC, etc.. the only reason any of them show results of polls is to influence viewers (i.e. voters). PERIOD. It's not to be informative. It's not to be honest. It's not to be helpful. It's because people blindly follow the lead of others.

"Oh, 75% think X is good? I also think X is good because, well I simply can't form an objective opinion of my own."

a little over 30 years ago news used to be not-for profit but rather a badge of honor and integrity.journalists and newsrooms prided themselves on actually reporting and while there were still problems,america had a fourth estate that (for the most part) still reported actual news.

where we find ourselves today is corporate opinion news that (since the late 70's) is FOR-profit).gone are the days of actual news and what is placed in its stead is entertainment dressed up like a dolled-up whore which the zombified american public has been hypnotized to believe is "news" when in actuality it is just entertainment.opinion generated conflict in order to create a dramatic soap opera where americans can enjoy their mac-n-cheese on tv trays and nod their heads in drooling supplication to their corporate (insert name here) god.

how do you control a population of supposed "free society"?
you cant have the midnight knock.
nor can you black bag every dissenting voice.
no no...
you control how they think.
you control their opinion.

let us consider a few points:
1.the media is the NUMBER ONE lobbyist.
not big oil.
not big pharma.
but the media.
2.with almost 3000 media outlets in the USA yet only FIVE owners.(thank you cuntface michael powell!)
that is one mighty powerful megaphone to influence the opinions of a population.
and its works....brilliantly.just look at some of the comments here.

@chingalera has pointed this out in his usual colorful manner and is spot on.

independent news media is the only way to go if you are looking for actual journalism.

@shinyblurry do not get caught in the trap my friend.do not rely on corporate "news" to enlighten you concerning the situation in the middle east nor the origins of the anymosity towards america.truth does not suit their purposes in controlling your opinion.
might i recommend this most excellent documentary:
http://videosift.com/video/The-Power-of-Nightmares-part-1

and @quantumushroom i will let chomsky address your false equivalency argument:

I think the news media business has evolved with the times. Not every mundane piece of event coverage is politically slanted, although it's pretty obvious when it is. And clearly by what's details are discussed or not, you can provide slant without flat out lying. Take CNN coverage of the AARP conference in New Orleans:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/21/paul-ryan-booed-during-aarp-remarks/

The fact is Paul Ryan was booed during his speech. He addressed the boos with this:

"Inaction today will mean sharp cuts tomorrow. Time and again this President has ducked the tough issues, he has put his own job security over your retirement security," continued Ryan, despite a smattering of boos coming from the audience. "Of course, he said he would be willing to work with Republicans but he has not moved an inch closer to common ground."

In addition to repealing The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, Ryan said the Republican team is proposing a plan that "empowers future seniors to choose the coverage that works best for them from a list of plans that are required to offer at least the same level of benefits as traditional Medicare."



I call this responsible reporting. The controversy is brought up without any rebuttal or qualifying statements that would influence the reader one way or the other. What did Fox do with this story? They provided a transcript of Ryan's speech but otherwise ignored the story. Go look for yourself.

Riiiight... because regular news media would never do anything like that!
>> ^Hybrid:

...Some documents leaked named key people in hot spots around the world, and put them and their families in immediate danger...

...He doesn't care what's the documents, he just feeds off the controversy. He's not an activist or journalist...

"The following collection of 25 flyers produced by the FBI and the Department of Justice are distributed to local businesses in a variety of industries to promote suspicious activity reporting. The flyers are not released publicly, though several have been published in the past by news media and various law enforcement agencies around the country."

http://publicintelligence.net/fbi-suspicious-activity-reporting-flyers

Threat Areas
Airport Service Providers
Beauty/Drug Suppliers
Bulk Fuel Distributors
Construction Sites
Dive/Boat Shops
Electronics Stores
Farm Supply Stores
Financial Institutions
General Aviation
General Public
Hobby Shops
Home Improvement
Hotels/Motels
Internet Cafes
Shopping Malls
Martial Arts/Paintball
Mass Transportation
Military Surplus
Peroxide Explosives
Recognizing Sleepers
Rental Cars
Rental Properties
Rental Trucks
Storage Facilities
Tattoo Shops

This segment seems funny because it reeks epitomicol of the manner in which corporate news media disseminates all information pumped into the minds of the masses; News coverage and reporting in our so-called modern, civilized, society has become a machine that Joe Goebbels himself would be proud to call his baby.

A spoof of the news here in the form of a sad, ironic parody.

How would voting for Romney provide a 'solution' to the reality that the American news media has surrendered all thier integrity, professionalism, and objectivity in favor of biased, agenda-based activism?

Proving my original point and showing this Sift to be a complete pile of bologna...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57408577-504083/enhanced-video-shows-apparent-injury-on-george-zimmermans-head-police-say/

CBS video suddenly, miraculously, AMAZINGLY "discovers" the injuries. Hmmm - well, the 911 tape proves there was racism...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/2/inside-politics-nbc-news-to-probe-misleading-edit-/

Cue up the Price is Right "Loser Horn"...

But again - I'm not saying anything about what Zimmerman or Martin were or weren't doing. I repeat - again - let the investigation take place at its own pace. Stop letting the obvious efforts of the professional race industry turn you into brainless parrots. Stop being sheeple for the blatant agendas of different groups trying to advance thier 'version' of events into the public. Ignore the whole mess and let the courts take care of things - the way its supposed to be.

Last word - the news media has proven itself to be wholly untrustworthy on this story. CBS omitting video detail that they KNEW they had? NBC deliberately editing the tape to make it sound like it was Zimmerman doing profiling? I hope the so-called "intellectual" left is starting to realize just how mentally bankrupt thier media is.

As an aside, most of the food you consume is radioactive in some way, cool huh?! Hell, most of everything you interactive with has some level of radioactive decay. There is rising evidence of the benefits of small doses of radiation. The current Linear no-threshold model in many interesting cases has failed to show direct epidemiological evidence of increased cancer rates where background radiation levels are higher than other levels. It is all very interesting stuff, a far cry from the fear factor news media make radiation out to me. Turns out, the whole world is radioactive, and it might be the energy which fuels plate tectonics . Just an interesting aside from the whole radioactive carbon element of this

Truth stranger than fiction.

These people are relatively poor speakers/presenters. It's like independent news media that missed the point and still wants to copy the flailing and pathetic mainstream formula.

I'm not usually a fan of his stuff either, he usually plays it like the GOP are the bad guys and overlooks the fact that while Democrats say better things, they continue (and escalate) the wars, the lobbying, the wealth extraction, the environmental destruction etc. He occasionally picks up on this, but pretty rarely it seems, which leads me to believe there's some agenda there. Also I'm against this 'fair and balanced' type of news/media, where for some reason, every debate must involve someone with their head buried so far in the corporate think tank they may as well just be a Frank Luntz manikin that repeats talking points on request.

Also, I don't really know why people feel the need to debate the motives of the Tea Party, they only came out with their signs because they were organised and funded by think tank GOP groups (tax exempt 501(c)(4)'s)/billionaire individuals/Fox News. So their motivations are irrelevant as they were literally coached and coerced into doing what they did.

Adam is great...and like Cenk I agree with him on many issues....but it's not hard to believe that Adam doesn't really understand what OWS is really about. He doesn't study this stuff...he is a casual observer of the news and uses that to spin off on rants and stories. What he know about OWS is the general information the news media feeds us which is OWS is about rich vs poor, bums and slackers wanting everything for nothing, etc...>> ^ghark:

It's not above Adam Carolla's head unfortunately, people like this know exactly what they are doing, trying to make the people who are robbing entrepreneuring you look awesome.

Congratulations! Your video, Media Reacts To Conan's Same-Sex Wedding News, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 2 Badge!