Who are these pundits, anyway?

If you have no idea about any of the pundits I mention, the CBC has an excellent documentary introduction to political discourse in the US. It explains who is who, gives both sides, etc. I started out being displeased with it because it said that liberals were engaged in hysterical attacks as well as conservatives and then played clips of liberals trying to get a word in edgewise on Fox News. On the other hand, it's true that Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is a somewhat inflamatory title . . .. But a funny book. They talk about Richard Mellon Scaife without talking about how he was directly involved in digging up dirt on Clinton to give to the Starr investigation. However, they come to conclusions that seem correct and the many of the clips they use of pundits in action are all from the anti-Canada day that ran on Fox News when there was talk of blue staters migrating north en-masse after the election. They didn't play the full clips, but I'm pretty certain I recognized them. (heh heh heh) There is also a very wonderful exchange with Ann Coulter there, in a separate short file. I've never seen her speechless before. She had her ass handed to her on a platter, but very subtly. It was great.

Also, I am under the impression (possibly incorrect) that Canadians think labeling homelessness a "liberal" issue is insane. As opposed to a social issue or a moral issue or a problem-that-needs-to-be-solved issue, but I could be projecting here. Watching foreign documentaries on the US is useful because they don't make unspoken US assumptions, but confusing because they make their own unspoken assumptions.

It would have been nice if they had some expert talking about the difference between the media serving power and the media serving people and how "liberal" issues are often connected to the people, like universal healthcare and poverty, vs corporate handouts, but, you know, I could make my own documentary . . ..

So, if you want to know what's going on on the most popular TV News show (the O'Reilly Factory) and what sort of political news plays away from The Daily Show, check out this documentary.

Tags: Pundits, Ann Coulter, Canada, Media