Obama 'Grabbed Center,' Jindal 'Far Right,' 'Micro-Cosmic' Chat?

I probably just should have posted the entire Media Research Center email update, there's only two more articles left to read! I strongly urge everyone to visit and sign up for these updates. Good stuff.

Obama 'Grabbed Center,' Jindal 'Far Right,' 'Micro-Cosmic' Chat?

Some of the odd and/or noteworthy takes in television coverage following President Barack Obama's Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress:

- On MSNBC, Chris Matthews predicted "we're going to hear a fairly right-wing speech tonight," from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in response to Obama, because "the only position left in America right now politically that he's left open is on the far right, and Bobby Jindal is headed for it," along with Sarah Palin, since "Barack has grabbed the center with the charm he showed tonight in his excellent rhetoric."

- ABC's Charles Gibson, who like his broadcast network colleagues refrained from labeling Obama or his speech as liberal, introduced Jindal with an ideological tag: "He is a very conservative Republican and you'll hear that reflected, I think, in his remarks tonight."

- On CBS, Katie Couric reacted to Obama's speech with some strange "cosmic" analogies, touting how Obama had succeeded in his effort to "really connect the dots, in a way, to explain to people that micro-cosmically this will help them, this is just not a national macro-cosmic plan for the economy."

- Couric's colleague Jeff Greenfield hailed how "this was actually a fireside chat. This is what I found so fascinating" as "it reminded me, in some sense, of the radio speeches FDR gave where he talked about complicated issues in simple ways."

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted late Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Matthews did at least acknowledge that in his speech Obama was saying "I'm a left of center President" and Olbermann echoed how Obama plans to fix things "in a left-wing, in a liberal fashion."

The closest anyone on ABC, CBS or NBC got to labeling Obama came when Couric, following Jindal, observed that the two speeches displayed the "ideological fault line" in today's politics.

Gibson noted, the MRC's Rich Noyes alerted me about the Obama speech, that "this is an expensive speech when you look at it line by line in what he wants to spend."

MSNBC at about 10:15 PM EST, as provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth:

KEITH OLBERMANN: There is still the partisanship that Washington will never get rid of. What can the Republican response be, however, to one in which there seemed to be so many themes? How do you come out against recovering the nation's sense of self and its optimism? How do you come out against words like "boldly," "wisely," "swiftly," and "aggressively"?

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Keith, my friend, I think we're going to hear that in a few minutes. I think we're going to hear a very negative speech in terms of what we just heard from Bobby Jindal. Bobby Jindal -- I'll say it as I said before the speech tonight by the President -- is running for the outside rail of the Republican Party, the right-wing rail. He is going to try to offer up a sort of Reaganite government-is-bad, big-spending-is-bad, taxes-are-bad, we got to go spend more money on defense, and we have to keep fighting as many wars on as many fronts as possible. I think we're going to hear a fairly right-wing speech tonight in response to this. I think, although I'll say the spine of his speech was left of center, it was done with such charm and good politics, and, as Rachel and yourself have pointed out, it won a hearty response tonight.

The only position left in America right now politically that he's left open is on the far right, and Bobby Jindal is headed for it. So I think there's a confluence of purpose here. The people running for President on the Republican side already are headed to the right â€" and that includes Governor Palin and Huckabee and this fellow speaking tonight â€" and that's all the room that's left on that side because Barack has grabbed the center with the charm he showed tonight in his excellent rhetoric.

Jeff Greenfield on CBS, shortly after Couric's remarks about the "micro-cosmically" and "macro-cosmic" aspects of Obama's address: "This was actually a fireside chat. This is what I found so fascinating. From the very first sentence he basically said to the Congress 'I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the people who sent us here.' And it reminded me, in some sense, of the radio speeches FDR gave where he talked about complicated issues in simple ways. Obama tried to explain how he got into this mess, why will my program make it better. Very intensely personal in the sense of talking to people at home watching one or two at a time in front of their TVs."

Time Mag Trashes Goldberg's Bias Book as One to 'Toss' Not Read

I'm going to have to find the book by Bernard Goldberg, "A Slobbering Love Affair". I missed hearing about this book. It's a book exposing media-bias, so it has to be worth a read. Here's the info from www.mrc.org or www.mediaresearch.org:

Last year, Time magazine created a little mini-book review featured called "The Skimmer," to quickly determine for readers whether a new book is something they should either Read, Skim, or Toss. In the March 2 edition, Time took up Bernard Goldberg's media-bias expose, A Slobbering Love Affair. Unsurprisingly, they trashed it as a book to "Toss."

A look back over the feature quickly demonstrates that Time has used the feature to offer raves and "Read" recommendations for fellow members of the liberal media, especially when they're bashing President Bush or his war on terror. The list begins with former Wall Street Journal reporter Jane Mayer (July 28, 2008 issue), Washington Post bias legend Bob Woodward (September 22), Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru (November 24), New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (December 22), and New York Times reporter David Sanger (February 2).
[This item, by the MRC's Tim Graham, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Time's Gilbert Cruz bashed Goldberg throughout his mini-review:

As a conservative media critic writing for a conservative publishing house addressing a conservative audience, Bernard Goldberg, a former CBS journalist and the author of the media-bashing memoir Bias, doesn't have to do much to notch a best seller.

Step 1: sarcastically criticize the "mainstream media" as hopelessly liberal. Step 2: repeat for 20 or so abbreviated chapters. Goldberg's objections to "mainstream media" coverage of Barack Obama are fairly well worn. Among the many complaints, he notes that Obama's associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and former Weatherman Bill Ayers didn't get enough press scrutiny during last year's election campaign, while Sarah Palin's clothing and Joe the Plumber's personal life got too much.

Because of their fawning over Obama, the "mainstream media" â€" if the author removed that modifier, this book would be a pamphlet â€" have left their credibility "in tatters," Goldberg writes. Of course, just saying something doesn't make it so. But that won't matter to Goldberg's readers, who will devour his latest with gusto.

END of Review

That's online at: www.time.com

Cruz could easily look at his first sentence and realize he is a liberal book critic writing for a liberal magazine addressing a liberal audience. But perhaps that's too much to ask.