(h/t Heather)
Jon Karl's childlike wonder at the mayhem media has wrought on Obamacare is precious, isn't it? At the beginning of Sunday's This Fantasy Week with George Stephanopoulis Roundtable segment, Maureen Dowd and Karl indulged themselves in a round of self-congratulation, ending with this from Karl, who should go stand in the corner for it:
And the turnaround has been astounding. Think of where we were just a few weeks ago, the Republicans were blamed for a government shutdown that went on and on. And it was all this, you know, are the Republicans doomed to, you know, extinction? Poll numbers as low as you've ever seen. And now it's all -- that's over. The focus is on the president.
Why didn't he just make his glee plain, and ask Republicans for a raise at the same time? This wondrous bout of self-adulation is like a kid stealing candy from the corner store and when his parents question him about the candy in his pocket, raising his arms in wonder and saying "How did that get there?"
Seriously? Let's just review. We have every single media channel reporting and/or echoing false stories about how people are losing their plans and/or paying three times the price with zero fact-checking to drop a few cluster bombs into the debate, and Jon Karl marvels at the miraculous change in the narrative as if he and his pals and the editorial staffs and their bookers haven't had one damned thing to do with it? It was just...magic.
On this site alone, there are well over 100 posts on Obamacare published in the past month. I'm sick of writing about it. Every time I think maybe I can write about something else, the whacked mole pops up in a different place. We push back on the new lies, and more pop up until we have well over 100 posts in the past month pushing back on the lies being told in the media about the ACA. And Jon Karl says "Yay! Obamacare is bleeding all over Republican idiocy in the government shutdown! Isn't it amaaaaaazing?"
Is it any wonder the turnaround has been astounding? Do they have Frank Luntz on ABC's editorial staff now?
It's beyond shameful to see anyone calling themselves a journalist congratulating themselves for changing the narrative from Republicans' shameful and cynical government shutdown to the ACA. It's enough to make baby Jesus weep.
Where are the stories about what happens to people with pre-existing conditions without Obamacare?
Where are the stories about people getting access to affordable health insurance because of Obamacare?
Where are the stories about the people who died before they could get affordable health insurance?
Where are those stories, ABC? Who really gives a damn about Jonathan Karl bragging that he's as much of a right-wing shill as Rush Limbaugh and the rest of them? Not me. I want to know about the stories they're not telling.
If media told those stories, the turnaround would be astounding, and opinions would more closely resemble reality. Until they start telling them, I'm going to shame every damn one of them for behaving like little candy thieves instead of grownup journalists.
