What Rush and NPR have in common

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The Idiot Pundit has been accused by her pals of having a bias towards particular media outlets- especially and particularly when it comes to covering politics.  This is true.  After years and years of following politics on the big mainstream cable news giants, your pundit was frustrated and angry over the bold and blatant bias towards a mainstream and liberal point of view, almost to a fault.  The idiot pundit sought out a new cable news experience and chose Fox for its refreshingly more balanced point of view.  Now, the idiot pundit surely is no idiot.  I am well aware that Fox News chooses to cover MANY news stories that simply never make it past Reuters or the AP to every other cable news channel.  I guess one might find it biased that Fox covers many political stories that other networks make the choice to ignore.  One might also have the opinion that Fox is biased because the pundits who represent the conservative POV on the Sunday morning punditry hour talk shows actually have brain cells and arguable opinions, as opposed to say most of the complicit tongue wagging idiots that are meant to bring balance to an otherwise official talking points convention of the DNC on cable news giants like MSNBC and CNN.  (The exception to the above rule is Alan Combs – seriously- does he feed on the brains of the living?!  He looks like a waxen Zombie who is propped up beside Sean Hannity every evening at 10PM to give the desk a better balance.  Fox would do well to hire a potted plant or, for that matter, the idiot pundit’s own dog to represent the liberal point of view on that show.  At least the aforementioned plant might be able to offer some witticisms.  Alan Combs- seriously.  Okay CNN/MSNBC viewers, you’ve got me on that one.)

John McCain Acceptance Speech

Ok, so back to my soap box.  So, taking the advice of one of the idiot pundit’s non idiotic friends, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and listen to Sen. McCain’s acceptance speech and post game on NPR to prove that my complaints about the liberal media are not just hot air.  Mr. idiot pundit watched the speech and post game on the TV in the living room with our old standard, Fox news.  Thankfully, NPR didn’t go so far as to air the speech on a delay and edit the actual content.  As far as the post game was concerned however, I was shocked.  The commentary on the same speech from two different rooms in my house was amazing.  If I didn’t know any better, I surely would have assumed I had listened to two different speeches.  SERIOUSLY!  I was encouraged to hear the voice of Matthew Continetti as an NPR analyst that night.  However, it seemed as though he had already taken his NPR elixir before the commentary started.  He seemed to follow merrily along with the opinions of the pottery making/ vegan cooking  NPR crowd as they talked in unimpressed monotone voices about what they had all just seen.  Meanwhile, folks like Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes (of the same magazine that employs Continetti) and Juan Williams (ironically, of NPR fame) were providing the post game for Fox on the idiot box in my living room.  While the NPR crew and the Fox crew were all in agreement that McCain’s strongest assets are not his oration skills nor his natural public speaking cadence, the disagreements over content were remarkable.

No wonder there is such a political divide in this country.  The snarkiness on NPR covered topics from convention floor music choice (the NPR crew seemed ticked over the choice of Heart’s Barracuda over, say, some college town jam band extolling the virtues of ethanol while screeching about the exploits of the evil Bush machine and his best friend, Big Oil) to the ridiculousness of the ideas McCain put forth in his speech.  It was almost as if the Obama folks provided a list of counterpoints to help the commentary along (the being said, I am going to go out on a limb  and assume that most of the NPR folks will be lining up at the polls for Nader or whoever the “Legalize Pot Now” party is putting up for consideration).  On the scale of liberalness (your pundit has decided that “liberalness” is a real word – if any one who is an official representative of the OED is reading this, please feel free to add it to your next edition), by NPR standards, even Obama should be considered a stodgy member of the old boys network( although, in Obama’s defense, at least the cable news pundits actually cheered and high fived after his sermon on the mount-esque speech at the DNC- let’s hear it for journalistic impartiality!!  GO TEAM!!) .  I mean seriously, he probably isn’t even endorsed by Mumia, and anyone who can’t get that endorsement is waaaay too establishment for the likes of most of the NPR crowd.  Sorry Oprah!  Meanwhile, on Fox, the commentary was critical, sharp and highlighted both the strong and weak points of McCain’s effort.  For lack of a better cliche- Fox news let ME decide.  While your idiot pundit was aware of the political leanings of the discussion panel that evening (mostly from knowing the publications they write for), there simply was not a polarized left and right so blatant and palpable that is made it impossible to disagree without looking like, well, an idiot.  (Please forgive your pundit’s verbosity- she was never known for her smooth and to-the-point delivery).

NPR is more than a “news” outlet.  It is almost a necessary accessory to the “I’m so refined, worldly and educated that I must type something important on my apple laptop inside a  Starbucks and display a ‘Bush’s last day’  bumper sticker on the back of my hybrid” crowd that to call it anything other than a propagandist tool of leftist politics is ludicrous.  To call Fox news biased is debatable (challenge yourself to one nightly news broadcast to make up your own mind).  To say that NPR is NOT biased is to say that Rush Limbaugh has no real political agenda and just likes to read his personal musings on current events to his equally unbiased audience of millions of listeners.  Sounds ridiculous, right.  People tune into Rush to hear the opinions of a like minded conservative in the same way that people tune into NPR to hear like minded liberals discuss the issues of the day.  Let’s call it what it is.  Let’s be honest.

The HUGE issue with this topic is that both Fox and Rush (even MSNBC and CNN for that matter) have one big thing in common.  Neither one is funded by YOUR TAX DOLLARS.   All cable news networks generate their incomes through advertising.  If you don’t like the content of the cable news you are currently watching, you can simply change the channel.  You are not compelled to support them financially, even if you disagree.  Therein lies the problem with National PUBLIC Radio: we ARE compelled to financially support it, regardless of whether or not we agree with content.  A Government subsidized medium, such as NPR, should be subjected to the same system of checks and balances that are required of all Government agencies.  While your pundit is happy to allow a few of her hard earned dollars to support “Candle making hour” or the “music of the Brazilian Rainforest ” performance, she is outraged at being forced to support such blatantly partisan nonsense cloaked under the umbrella of PUBLIC radio that is unaffiliated with a particular cause or agenda.  Are you kidding me?!  Placing such editorialized content in the category of “news” is questionable at best.  Aren’t all the idiots in the world smart enough to hear the facts, events and general goings on in the world and then make their OWN opinions?  Do we really need to fund an opinion making machine with our tax dollars?  The folks at NPR seem to think so, but aside from my continued involuntary donation to their cause, THIS pundit has chosen to change the channel.

The beauty of this country is that bow tie wearing oil company execs and dread-locked baristas can live in harmony on the same giant piece of earth.  Diversity makes the USA interesting.  No one is paraded out back to the firing squad for disliking the current administration, or hypothetically,  for  expressing concern and disgust over our do nothing congress.  Call me crazy, but this idiot has enough faith in Americans to think that they can make their own opinions, independently of what taxpayer funded media tells them they should think.

But what do I know, I’m an idiot.

Next time on the idiot pundit, your idiot discusses the real meat and potatoes of the upcoming election: Vice Presidential hair: plugs or circa 1985 librarian hair.  The power is in OUR hands!