As many of you may know, I have retired from discussing politics until after the general election. This post may look like I'm reversing that position but I can guarantee you I am not. This post is about CNN and news coverage in general.
In recent years, people are increasingly getting their news from the internet. And for good reason: It's been a lot easier to find actual, unbiased news and to form one's own opinion. Television news—for decades the dominant way people got information—has become nothing more than agenda-laden video tabloids. It should come as a surprise to no one that the same thing is happening to the internet news sites.
The Internet has been lousy with stories of how the Clintons don't want Barack Obama to win. The stories are fabricated at best since there's no real way to substantiate them. All the stories have been based on conjecture and some even include quotes from Democratic figures…but none of the quotes state any actual facts. It's pathetic
With so much news in the world to cover, the media will not let go of this ridiculous notion that the Clintons want to sabotage the Democrat's chances of winning back the White House and fixing this country.
Last night, Hillary Clinton gave an amazing speech during the second night of the Democratic National Convention and she did exactly what Obama and the Democrats needed her to do. She made glowing comments about Obama and Biden (and about Michelle Obama). She explained why she supports Obama and that she believes we need to elect him. And perhaps most importantly, she explained to her supporters that they were involved in her campaign not for Hillary Clinton but for the shared Democratic ideals. She told the crowd that she is not the nominee and that the only possible way to further the fight they were sharing is to elect Barack Obama President of the United States of America.
Hillary has already done more for Barack Obama than could ever be expected from someone who was locked with him in a historic nomination battle. And last night, she left no doubt that she's on board with the Obama/Biden campaign.
So today, in an obviously desperate bid to somehow keep the story alive despite Hillary's speech, CNN went with a story asking "What did Hillary Clinton's body language give away at the Democratic National Convention?"
Yep. Her body language. This is doesn't sound like something suitable for CNN. In fact it doesn't even sound like something suitable for FOX News. (And almost anything is suitable for FOX News!) No, this story looked more like something out of an old Maury or Montell Williams show.
They actually had a "body language expert" (is there some sort of organization that gives out such credentials) who said that her body language was less than an unequivocal endorsement of Barack Obama. He admits that the words did offer that…but just, you know, not her body language. He actually mentioned that her cheeks weren't lifting very much. Well dude, she's sixty years old. Maybe that's just the way things work.
The so-called-expert is quoted as saying "I don't think that helped move the 30 percent of her supporters who say they won't vote for Obama." Who the fuck cares what a body language expert thinks about politics? CNN has done some questionable stories in the past but this, in my opinion, is for them a new journalistic low.
I have never written an e-mail to CNN before but I couldn't stop myself today…
Are you guys kidding? I mean, really? I am embarrassed for you. You should take the item down. Hillary finally showed you that she is on board so you scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel—a body language analyst—to try to keep this media-made Obama vs. Clinton non-story alive. There's another news story you might want to consider covering instead: Obama vs. McCain. Or maybe spend some time updating your electoral college map instead of skimming the bottom of a cess pool for "articles" I doubt even FOX would run. If you can't tell, I am getting pretty disgusted and wondering where I should be turning for news.
