Tag Archives: liberal media

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middle america hopes sandra bullock wins an oscar for blind side

Middle America Cheers For Sandra Bullock

Listening to National Public Radio handicap the Academy Award Best Actress Nominees, it’s clear that media and Hollywood elites think the movie The Blind Side has too much mass appeal and not enough edginess to win any serious awards. Within hours of the announcement of Oscar nominations, the Hollywood press had mostly condescending analysis of Sandra Bullock’s portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy, a real-life suburban woman who intervenes in a troubled teenager’s life. ABC News went so far to ask on February 3, “Does Sandra Bullock Deserve an Oscar for Blind Side?” For the super-cool Hollywood types, Leigh Anne is just too simple. For them, straight forward and inspiring is boring. They think church-attending Republicans from the South are not hip enough for an Academy Award. However, despite the fact that Bullock’s performance continues to inspire millions of moviegoers around the world, few filmmakers in Hollywood seem impressed enough to reward her an Oscar.

The divide between those who attend movies and those who make movies has never been wider. While serious Hollywood types spend most of their time, energy and money on movies that trivialize the experiences of middle America, middle America spends its time and money on movies that celebrate what it is to be an American. Capitalism is good for Hollywood executives, but it’s under assault in the scripts being written. American military men and women are celebrated as heroes on Main Street, but they are overwhelmingly portrayed as killers in the movies that Hollywood produces. And while Hollywood is tremendously liberal, the rest of America is not.

But middle America is fighting back. Millions of people have responded to The Blind Side and Sandra Bullock’s performance in such a way that many of the traditional Hollywood types have been forced to take notice. If there is one thing that Hollywood understands, it is money. Variety reported in early January that The Blind Side brought in $208.5 million in its 7th week of release, making it the first picture in history driven solely by a female star to break the $200 million domestic box office mark. Sandra Bullock is America’s star, not Hollywood’s. We have responded to her performances over the years because she is inspiring and talented. America loves Bullock’s real humility, fun personality and true generosity. Bullock gives generously to crisis’ like her $1 million dollar gift to the Tsunami Relief effort in Indonesia, more to Hurricane Katrina relief and recently the Haiti earthquake fund – all without seeking media attention for it. She is funny, beautiful and refreshingly normal. Bullock is not from a Hollywood dynasty or family, she is someone from your family.

For the millions of moviegoers who have seen The Blind Side, it’s more than a blockbuster movie. For them, Bullock is a hero who doesn’t wait for others to respond or a government program to kick in before she helps a young man in need. The Blind Side speaks to America’s sense of right and wrong, and Bullock’s portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy is a suburban anthem that continues to inspire and cajole men and women to help change someone’s life. For millions of Americans, The Blind Side is more accurately America than the highly celebrated movie Precious. The Blind Side is the conservative response to Hollywood’s fêted Precious. While Precious was gritty and edgy, Bullock’s performance in The Blind Side was just as real. Bullock could have easily given in to the usual Hollywood portrayal of a southern Christian woman by overdoing the sappiness and creating a condescending caricature of life in the suburbs when you have a southern accent. But Bullock knows real suburban America because that is where she came from. The brilliance of The Blind Side is that the characters weren’t over the top in the usual Hollywood way. The characters were real – real Americans struggling to change their world.

While many in Hollywood dismiss the life experiences of everyday Americans as trivial or unglamorous, Bullock’s performance in The Blind Side celebrates real Americans. America doesn’t need to be taught by Hollywood, Hollywood could use some lessons from real Americans. Sandra Bullock just may be the one person is Hollywood that could bridge the ever-growing gap between the two.

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obama’s popularity isn’t translating into progress

huffington post/front page

Obama’s Popularity Isn’t Translating Into Progress

The White House staff should never allow Barack Obama to go to Copenhagen again. The last time Obama went to Copenhagen the United States got thrown out of the 2016 Olympic bidding process in the first round. This last week, Obama went to Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference and he lost an international agreement on one of his priority issues. If Obama can’t convince the international community to go along with one of his signature issues then the President’s clout isn’t what some Americans claim it is. Other than healthcare reform, President Obama has talked about global warming and climate change issues more than almost any other issue during the campaign and since taking office. The Copenhagen disaster is a real sign of Obama’s shallow influence internationally.

The biggest news coming out of Copenhagen, but not covered by the American media, is that Obama hasn’t been able to convince other Countries to act even though he is the most popular Head of State. One year into Obama’s Presidency and the international community has yet to take action on any U.S. priority. You have to wonder why world leaders claim to love him but won’t follow him.

Obama’s popularity and charisma failed to convince the world to bring the Olympics to the U.S., to sign the Copenhagen agreement, to produce new additional NATO troops for Afghanistan or Iraq, to produce any additional action on confronting Iran’s continued uranium enrichment and even to convince his own Democratic party to support some of his priority issues.

Candidate Obama received the media’s overt support throughout the primary and general elections and became an international super star. Today, Barack or Michelle Obama continue to appear on large and medium sized magazine covers from health and fitness publications to news periodicals to cooking and sports magazines and in nearly every language.

But Copenhagen has shown that we shouldn’t confuse Obama’s popularity with progress. He is clearly popular in other countries but it is because he isn’t asking them to act. Or if he is, he isn’t strong enough to convince them. They love the easy ride.

Iran’s illegal enrichment of uranium is a perfect example of Obama’s weakness. During the Bush Administration, President Bush and his team were able to isolate Iran and organize the international community to produce Security Council sanctions and a total of 3 UN resolutions. Although forcing the Security Council to negotiate and ultimately vote on tough resolutions is never easy and always unpopular, it is an important leadership test. China, Russia and others weren’t happy to be forced to confront Iran – but ultimately Iran sanctions were passed with unanimous support.
The Obama team has chosen to take the easy and popular path. There has been no increase in sanctions or additional UN resolutions on Iran since the Bush Administration ended. In fact, multiple deadlines have passed without repercussions for the Government of Iran. Enrichment continues at multiple sites in Iran even though the UN Security Council has demanded the Government suspend enrichment with verification.

Obama’s popularity may produce large crowds and warm compliments, but one thing I learned while serving 8 years at the United Nations is to be suspicious when you are the most popular guy in a room full of international negotiators.

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usc annenberg school of communications, grenell in the news

USC.AnnenbergSchool/grenell

CNN ran an op-ed by Richard Grenell of the USC Annenberg School about the challenges President Obama faces. “President Obama is in a unique position these days. As a Democratic president of the United States, he has a House of Representatives with 258 Democrats and only 177 Republicans and a Senate with 58 Democrats and only 40 Republicans,” Grenell wrote. “Obama is laying out a new Afghanistan policy and will be able to count on the Republicans to make sure it is funded. While members of the president’s own party were working to delay and stop his decision, the minority party is giving the president the support he needs.”

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i hope they won’t be sore winners – washington times op/ed

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/25/not-another-sore-loser/

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

GRENELL: Not another sore loser
Richard Grenell

COMMENTARY:
Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. Even though I was one of the 57 million people who voted for John McCain, I am an American first and I will give my support to President-elect Barack Obama. John McCain showed us he isn’t a sore loser and so his supporters shouldn’t be either.

In fact, Hillary Clinton led the way in showing us why America’s political process is the best in the world, as did Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee when they lost their party’s nomination.
After working as the Spokesman for the United States at the United Nations for eight years, I learned that America is not Zimbabwe and when we have hard-fought elections we don’t show our disappointment with the outcome by rioting or starting a war.

I want to give the newly elected Democratic president my support because I know what it is like to win an election and have the other side try and undercut you every step of the way immediately after the oath of office is administered. I know what it is like to feel the pain of friends who say that my guy is “ruining America” or “making the economy tank” or that I “hate black people” because of whom I voted for.

I know what it is like to see sore losers work to ensure defeat. I know what it is like when people complain and gossip instead of work to make our Union better. We are all Americans and regardless of who wins the White House, he is everyone’s president.
Of course we will face challenges ahead, but if only 52 percent of us work on solving those problems then we won’t accomplish much.

One of the reasons I voted for Mr. McCain is that I didn’t recognize Barack Obama’s America. Mr. Obama seems to see an America full of people dying in the streets with no place to go – where no one owns homes and everyone is bankrupt because the government is out to get them. His America is not the one I live in or see today.

I see an America where a black man has every opportunity to be president of the United States on Nov. 3, 2008, not just on Nov. 4, 2008. America did not go from terrible to great in one day of voting. I see an America that is and will always be the greatest place to live and work in the world. I am not just an optimist when I win elections.

Mr. Obama spoke of hope but described nonstop despair; he spoke of Red and Blue States as one, but worked to divide us economically; he says he will be everyone’s president but relentlessly ridiculed the current president.

I won’t act the way the partisan Democrats did toward President Bush. The way the liberals treated the 43rd president of the United States was sickening. The ugly comments, ridiculous innuendos and rumors that President Bush had to deal with during his two terms in office may have scored political points but it tore America apart. The all-accepting “liberal” party showed us they weren’t really all accepting and tolerant after all.

The last eight years were incredibly tough for this country: Sept. 11, 2001, two wars, natural disasters and a stock market crash. But there was President Bush in front of the White House after the election to welcome Barack Obama and promise a smooth transition.

As the current President stood in front of the cameras and committed to do everything he can to prepare Mr. Obama’s team, I wondered if Mr. Obama regretted spending $100 million in television commercials to ridicule and second-guess the current commander in chief. And I wonder how Rahm Emmanuel would react if the current White House staff stole the “o’s” from the computer keyboards the way his team stole the “w’s” from ours in 2000.

As we decide to not be sore losers, I hope the 65 million people who voted for Mr. Obama will not be sore winners.

Richard Grenell has just left the Bush administration after serving eight years as the spokesman for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

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where is the national media outrage on this story?

imagine what would have happened had the mccain campaign tossed off the plane the new york times reporter or the cnn reporter? (see story below). conservatives know how to deal with bias media because we have been up against the liberal media machine for years.

the obama campaign should point out the hypocrisies of the media when they don’t feel like they are getting a fair shake – but they shouldn’t exclude them.

all media is bias in some way, so we must give equal accesss to everyone but hold them accountable when they are not fair.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashopp.htm

PURGE: SKEPTICAL REPORTERS TOSSED OFF OBAMA PLANE

Fri Oct 31 2008 08:39:55 ET
**Exclusive**

The Obama campaign has decided to heave out three newspapers from its plane for the final days of its blitz across battleground states — and all three endorsed Sen. John McCain for president! The NY POST, WASHINGTON TIMES and DALLAS MORNING NEWS have all been told to move out by Sunday to make room for network bigwigs — and possibly for the inclusion of reporters from two black magazines, ESSENCE and JET, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Despite pleas from top editors of the three newspapers that have covered the campaign for months at extraordinary cost, the Obama campaign says their reporters — and possibly others — will have to vacate their coveted seats so more power players can document the final days of Sen. Barack Obama’s historic campaign to become the first black American president. MORE Some told the DRUDGE REPORT that the reporters are being ousted to bring on documentary film-makers to record the final days; others expect to see on board more sympathetic members of the media, including the NY TIMES’ Maureen Dowd, who once complained that she was barred from McCain’s Straight Talk Express airplane. After a week of quiet but desperate behind-the-scenes negotiations, the reporters of the three papers heard last night that they were definitely off for the final swing. They are already planning how to cover the final days by flying commercial or driving from event to event.

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why are the liberals acting like their hair is on fire…..?

i can’t keep up with the facebook messages, text mesages and emails that i keep receiving from my liberal friends. their messages aren’t the typical partisan banter that i usually get….their screaming and indignation has reached a level that i haven’t seen in my lifetime.

my journalists friends have also reached a new high with their inability to keep their outrage from showing. i’ve exchanged phone calls or emails over the last 24 hours with reporters from cnn, abc, cbs, ap, the new york times, the la times, the washington post, politico and several bloggers and in every instance the reporter is annoyed with the selection of palin for vice president.

the liberal and media frenzy that i am experiencing comforts me. my political experience tells me that we are on to something. we aren’t there yet but we have totally struck a powerful nerve. liberals and their media friends can’t believe we did what we just did. palin has completely overturned the east coast expectation game. it is a typical move by the maverick mccain of 2000 and it has given great excitement to the convention.

the messages from the liberals prove that they are really upset with the selection of palin mainly because they weren’t the ones to actually put a woman on the ticket this year. their outrage stems from their belief that they “own women” and they are the only heir to female issues….their screams echo forth as if to say “women aren’t republicans”. it is the same miscalculation and elitist attitude the liberals have about black people and gays. but while the liberals play their same-game with women, palin has the opportunity to shift the democratic paradigm the same way that reagan did with blue collar voters.

in 2008, women can’t be taken for granted. palin has a chance to show american women that conservatives can CHOOSE to run a family and a state. she is a sitting governor that upset the political crowd in alaska just 2 years ago. she is an experienced reformer – you just haven’t heard of her. but that says more about you than her.

the media hyperventilating continues as well. their outrage is not only based in their hope for an obama presidency but in the fact that mccain didn’t play their game. the one word that i hear from all reporters about the mccain selection is “vetting”. journalists’ egos prohibit them from seeing that they aren’t part of the vetting process – we don’t think that you have to sit down with tom brokaw several times before you are ready….you don’t have to go toe to toe with the new york times to be prepared. journalists have an important role to communicate candidates’ positions and ask tough questions about those positions but we don’t need their collective sign off. besides, doesn’t “change” mean new?

i am amazed with the number of cnn commentators that have actually pointed to obama’s “vetting” as his 20 month campaign with them. this is more about the media’s lack of connections to palin than her qualifications. the group think that the media is doing on palin’s selection is sad. the smear attacks and lazy reporting has turned gossip media into cnn specials. joy behar on the view was barley able to speak she was so flustered that there was a female politician that wasn’t a democrat that she hadn’t heard of….and the US Weekly stories are so outrageous that someone should start a boycott of janice minn and jann wenner’s rag. palin isn’t the wife of a former president (i.e. hillary) or the daughter of a politician (i.e. pelosi), she arrived on this stage because of her own hard work.

the backlash against the media for their treatment of palin will come. i am already getting messages from independents and apolitical female friends outraged at how she is being treated. i can’t wait to hear her speech tonight……

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