Obama Going to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a Bow-Over -- An Advance Look

Now this is more like it! If the White House Advance Office were to "storyboard" POTUS events, this is what the do-over "grip and grin" might look like. See? President Barack Hussein Obama is standing up straight and tall, towering over the 80-something crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Take all the photos and video you want! Just be sure to layer this photo, and the gestalt of this photo, on top of that bow-down photo from April.

Just remember Mr. President, whatever you do, stand up straight! Not the slightest bow-down. Do what you wish, in your heart, in terms of paying obeisance, but make your body conform to what the American people expect of an American President.

The Photo That Obama Needs To Do Over

Everyone knows the photo of Barack Obama bowing down to the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah, on April 1 at the G-20 meeting in Paris. (There's no point in arguing this one, fellow bloggers--not only are there plenty of photos of this encounter, but video as well.)

As one polite observer, Clarice Feldman, put it to WorldNetDaily, "I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a president of the United States." Yes, that's putting it politely.

The Cable Gamer would go further, adding that if anyone suspected that Obama had an, uh, affection for Islam--the Saud family of Saudi Arabia is, of course, the official protector of the Muslim shrines in Mecca and Medina, and so represent about the closest thing Islam has to a central leadership group--then this picture should turn that suspicion into conviction.

Which is to say, while Obama might be popular in the Arab and Muslim world as a result, that picture poses a problem for him back home in the US--you know, among the people who voted for him last year, and who will have to vote for him again, or not, in 2012. That's one lesson of the Cable Game world--pictures are worth a million words. Nobody really cares anymore what The New York Times says, but if the video of an obviously obsequious Obama gets played over and over again on the air, and online, the Democrats have a problem in 2012.

So TCG figures that Obama is headed back to Saudi Arabia next Wednesday, June 3, for a do-over. Or, one might say, a photo-op do-over.

And so TCG further figures that if Obama can get a photo-op do-over, then TCG can do a PhotoShop do-over.

Obama: He Who Must Be Obeyed

With apologies to the great adventure novelist H. Rider Haggard.

Obama-Hoxha 2012?

The London Telegraph's James Delingpole zings the American MSM--and deservedly so:

Memo to US Press secretary Robert Gibbs

1. Congratulations. Your presidential regime has managed to secure the most supine, slobbering, spineless, unquestioning media coverage since Enver Hoxha's Albania. A report last month by the Center for Media and Public Affairs said Obama has received more coverage than his two predecessors combined. On ABC, CBS and NBC news the majority of evaluations - 58 per cent - have been favourable. (Compare GW Bush - 33 per cent; Bill Clinton 44 per cent - in first 50 days of office). More importantly, you have Pravda. Yes, no less than 73 per cent of all evaluative comments in your chief propaganda organ - aka The New York Times - have been favourable to Obama.

The whole spat would be a lot of fun, if it weren't for the fact that Delingpole makes such a good point, picking up on a point that The Cable Game has made in the past: The Obama White House's dominance of the press corps has turned into contempt.

And yet nothing is forever. And so the rest of Delingpole's blog is worth repeating, because TCG predicts that this will be the template for the future of American coverage:

2. Sure your congenitally libtard Mainstream Media were probably biased that way anyway, but you have played your part. Your combative style - which led you to dismiss the entire British print media just now in one glib, sneering phrase - has earned you the nickname "The Enforcer." You have a reputation for coming down hard on any media outlet which doesn't follow your approved version of reality. "I work the referee a little bit," as you once put it. (A reference, perhaps, to when you played goalkeeper for your college football team).

3. If you are going to make clever-sounding football references displaying your rich understanding of the British press, try to get your terminology right. We call it the "Champions League." Not the "Champions League cup."

4. That's only the beginning of your problems, matey. Your treatment not just of the British media but of Britain generally smacks of a risible ineptitude. First, you let President Obama send back the Winston Churchill bust. Then, you insult our visiting prime minister with a dismally low-key reception (worthy of a minor African head of state, not your closest and most loyal ally) and shoddy gifts (those DVDs). Then you compound the insult by having one of your monkeys declare, Chicago-politics-style, ""There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." OK so we know Obama's not much interested in foreign affairs and has a special loathing for Britain because it roughed up his Kenyan granddad during the Mau Mau insurrection. But don't you realise, that one of your jobs as his press secretary is to make out like he loves us so much even his underpants have a union flag on them?

5. Insulting the British print media. Big mistake. We know we're not angels. We know we can go over the top sometimes. But unfortunately that's a much bigger problem for you than it is for us. You see, while a lot of your mainstream media will hold fire on stories which they think may reflect poorly on your wondrous Obamamessiah - what his half-brother has been up to, say - we have fewer qualms about telling it like it is. So far, you've had a pretty easy ride. The Obama Kool Aid has proved almost as popular beverage in Britain as it is in the US. But just you wait till we start showing our teeth.

6. A lot of Americans know this. They appreciate our irreverence. They enjoy our frank criticisms of all the myriad areas where Obama is getting it so badly wrong - everything from his disastrous cap and trade measures, to his brutal treatment of Chrysler dealerships which didn't support him, to his pork barrelling, to his failure to do anything that looks remotely like rescuing the US economy. That's why they come to read us online: because they can and there's nothing you can do to stop them.

7. We had a guy just like you over here once. Guy named Alastair Campbell. Did for our now heavily discredited prime minister Tony Blair what you do for Obama: a little light press bullying; professional turd polishing; that kind of thing. We hated Alastair Campbell, really loathed him. But he got away with bullying us because in those days we didn't know any better. We were still going through this sort of dumb-cattle phase where we still had some vestigial respect for politicians and trust that they knew what they were doing.

8. But we don't respect politicians any more. Not our politicians, and not yours either. Imagine how this new strain of irreverence bordering on utter contempt is going to affect our reporting of political affairs. Actually, you've no need to imagine. Just read some of our Telegraph blogs.

Photo illustration credit: Jim Hubbell.

MSNBC Stands for "Mostly Shilling for NBC"

Poor Tamron Hall. The MSNBC anchor seems pleasant enough, and she even has some spunk in her interview style. But she was obviously under orders from MSNBC management to shill for the dopey "reality" show, "I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!", and so she did, interviewing former NBA-er John Salley and Patti Blagojevich, wife of disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who is not allowed to leave the country on account of being indicted.

And MSNBC, of course, was under orders from an increasingly desperate NBC management to do everything it could to pump up NBC's 4th-place sked--news values be damned. And so MSNBC and Tamron did as they was told.

The result was an embarrassing five minutes of non-news news, live from Costa Rica, captured, of course, by TV Newser.

So now we know what MSNBC really stands for--Mostly Shilling for NBC.

PS: Patti, pictured above, is obviously something of a character--she has lots of attitude. If they ever do another version of "The Sopranos," she could play herself.

Judge Napolitano, For Freedom, on Fox

Web Newser serves up this illuminating glimpse at Andrew Napolitano's streaming show on Fox's "Strategy Room," called, simply and to the point, "Freedom Watch."

Interestingly, the show has created its own web ecosystem, including other sites, such as FreedomWatchonFox and BreakTheMatrix.

That's the way that the web works: People find their little niche--a common identity, a common agenda--and then they cluster there. And a new virtual water cooler is established.

"Watch Or Else"

"CNN Nation"? CNN Gets Schwarzenegger for User-Generated Questions

This is pretty cool:

CNN.com Live to Stream Interview on Wednesday, May 27th at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET
 
CNN's iReport.com, the network's unfiltered, user-generated community Web site, has again joined with Digg.com, the leading destination for people to discover and share the best content from anywhere on the Web, to pose questions from their respective communities to newsmakers at both conventions.
 
The interview series, called “Digg Dialogg,” invites key political and national leaders to tackle diverse topics including politics, technology, the environment, music and film. As part of the series, leaders directly address questions the users of iReport.com and Digg.com want answered most.
 
CNN.com Live's Anchor Nicole Lapin will be conducting the interview and it will be streamed on CNN.com Live, Wednesday, May 27 at 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET. iReport.com questions can be submitted for Governor Schwarzenegger at, http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=64334 or on Digg.com at, http://digg.com/dialogg/Arnold_Schwarzenegger_1?CR_TC=9KZUHND8BBNNNAO.
 

More on Government Media

The Cable Gamer is still preoccupied with the idea that the Obama White House is creating its own media outlet--the latest came today, when the Obama White House released this slide show on the life of Sonia Sotomayor, his new choice to be on the Supreme Court. TCG doesn't really have an opinion Sonia as a Supreme, but she does appreciate that Sonia hasn't gone blonde.

But in any case, why is it that the Obamans are using tax dollars to create media-friendly packages, such as slide shows? Isn't that what the media used to do?

Jim Hubbell, a Cable Gamer in Whitesboro, Texas, cooked up this illustration of Obama TV. And he used Corel! That's a great old blast from the past!

Thanks, Jim.

Sinking Actors at CNN

"SINKING ANCHORS ANDERSON COOPER AND ROLAND MARTIN HOBBLE CNN" --That's the headline in The New York Post today. Admittedly, the tab awkwardly mixes a metaphor, but it has the details of the decline and fall of La Anderson. And as for Roland Martin, well, who ever knew who he was, anyway? As it looks, the choice of Martin must be a plot by Campbell Brown to make her own meager ratings look good by comparison, while she is off on maternity leave. At the rate things are going for CNN at 8 pm, Jon Klein & Co. will be eager to have her back--so she can be a relatively close third, as opposed to a distant third, behind Fox and MSNBC.

Here's the NYP:

Since President Obama took office in January, CNN has seen its ratings drop. And one reason has to do with Campbell Brown. The host of "No Bias, No Bull" has been on maternity leave for the past month, and in her absence, the show with substitute host Roland Martin has nose-dived. Sources say he has complained the network doesn't promote him enough or book him high-profile guests.

But the biggest disappointment has been the cable channel's big, silver-haired hope, Anderson Cooper.

The former host of "Celebrity Mole" should be happy he signed a multimillion-dollar, multiyear contract with CNN last year during the presidential race, when ratings were at an all-time high. If his contract were up now, Cooper would probably have to settle for far less.

The ratings have plunged for his show, "Anderson Cooper 360," since Obama's inauguration, and the drop in May has been steeper, especially in the coveted 25-54 demographic, where he's down nearly 30 percent from the previous month, averaging less than 250,000 demo viewers.

Obey Government Funded Media

Remember those Shepard Fairey drawings--the usual word is "iconic"--that said, ominously, "Obey"? They were all very hip and ironic street art, which got Fairey arrested many times, but ultimately led to him becoming the unofficial court artist for the Obama campaign. No doubt Fairey thought he was scoring points against the dreaded Republicans, but now it seems that Obama & Co. have big designs on manufacturing consent, as reported here by TVNewser.

Uncle Sam Gets Into The Cable Game, But the Nieces and Nephews--That Is, The American People--Don't Like It

So the Obama White House has created its own in-house propaganda unit. Whatsamatta, the MSM was insufficiently worshipful? As The Cable Gamer has noted several times, the White House press corps' servility only encourages the arrogance of the Obama White House. So Robert Gibbs mocks Chuck Todd, Barack Obama mocks the entire White House Correspondents Association, and now the White House has set up a rival network.

According to this poll on PR Newser, folks don't like it--are against it, in fact, by a 4:1 margin--but of course, that won't stop the Obamans.

MSM Ideology Is Bad For Business--Here's Proof.

Newsbusters' Tim Graham takes MediaWeek's Mike Shields to taskfor criticizing Bill O'Reilly for pointing out the obvious.

What did O'Reilly do? He argued that MSM newspapers had dug their own grave, economically, because of their obvious political bias. And so Shields asked O'Reilly,

So what if The New York Times’ political coverage leans left? Point it out. Disagree with it. But root for its destruction?

What other American industries do you want to die because their politics are not to your liking, or that of your boss, Roger Ailes? Who else do you want to see tossed out on the street?

To which Graham retorts:

Shields doesn’t seem to realize that if a paper like The New York Times publishes our terror-fighting secrets, that might look "un-American" to many – and it’s certainly not so "un-American" to root for the "un-American" media outlet to struggle.

Media outlets certainly don’t root for the average workers in the industries they don’t consider in the "public interest" – everything from tobacco to oil to coal to the makers of SUVs. In their own mythology, they're supposed to report "without fear or favor." So why can't media critics tell newspapers what might be ailing them?

The Cable Gamer doesn't doubt that Shields, Graham, and, of course, Bill will continue to have their say. But what strikes TCG is the fundamental truth of what O'Reilly and Graham have said--of course the MSM antagonized Middle American right-of-center sensibilities. You know, the country that now rates itself as pro-life, according to Gallup.

And so I decided to illustrate it, using that same quadrant-chart, above. I put the liberal MSM--which is to say, the MSM--into that lefty quadrant. And as argued earlier, I put Glenn Beck in the libertarian sector. And Sean Hannity in the conservative sector. And Bill O'Reilly clearly straddles the populist/moderate sectors. (Yes, this map lists the red sector as "authoritarian," but most other versions of this chart call it "populist." And that's how I would characterize O'Reilly, as a moderate populist, ideologically--although admittedly, a populist with an unerring eye for the story and a sharp tongue and quick wit.

But back to Shields. So you see, Mike, all your MSM buddies have voluntarily crowded themselves into a little ghetto, and it has cost them. Badly.

More on MSM Ideology

Here's the original ideological quadrant chart, just for total clarity. I am going to adjust it again, in a subsequent post, just to illustrated some more points. So here it is, as a point of reference.

Glenn Beck For Freedom. No Exceptions.

Fox News' Glenn Beck has gotten a lot of attention of late for his meteroic rise into the cable news pantheon--as The Philadelphia Inquirer's John Timpane is the latest to note, GB current ranks third among all cable newsers, behind only Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. And yet Beck is clearly his own man, ideologically. He garnered a lot of attention during the Tea Party Day events (and watch that space, because the TP's are coming back), but as the Philly Ink profile makes clear, Beck isn't really a conservative, but rather, a right-leaning libertarian.

As he said so pithily to the Inky, "I was always a fiscal Republican, but socially, I don't give a flying crap. As the Founding Fathers said, as long as you're not hurting others, more freedom rather than less."

"More freedom rather than less"? Does that apply to gay marriage? To abortion? To gambling and lotteries? To drugs? Beck can speak for himself, of course, on all these questions, although TCG has certainly noticed that Beck routinely cites Ayn Rand, the Queen of Libertarians (OK, for purists, I'll say Objectivists.)

And so Beck actually is considerably different, ideologically, from either O'Reilly or Hannity. O'Reilly is more of a populist, while Hannity, more of an orthodox conservative. This chart here provides a useful grid for placing anyone, politico-ideologically. And yes, that was me--I put Beck's face in where the "Libertarian" quadrant should be. And so one could put Hannity over on the "Right Conservative" quadrant, and put O'Reilly on the straddle of "Centrist" and "Authoritarian"--which is usually rendered as "Populist."

What quickly becomes apparent, upon reflection, is just how much of the rest of the media is clustered in the left-libertarian quadrant--you know, the folks who want to legalize abortion and gay marriage, and tax or regulate everything else. Seen from this perspective, it's obvious why the MSM have had so much trouble: they mostly represent one particular perspective, at the expense of all the others.

Big mistake, leaving Fox the run of the rest of the quadrant-table.

History Channel Blames America First (But Only When It Thinks That Americans Aren't Paying Attention)

The History Channel is run by the worst kinds of weasels: They are anti-American, but only when they think Americans aren't paying attention.

Silicon Alley Insider has all the details.

CORRECTION: Now SAI takes it back, sez that they were only "internal" spots, for discussion. Oh, OK.

The MSNBC Mutiny

Yes, Captain Keith, aka Keith Olbermann, crazy, but who's going to do anything about it? Not Lt. Maddow, or Ensign Griffin, to say nothing of ex-First Mate Abrams, who has evidently been ordered off the ship.

"MSNBC in Disarray"

"MSNBC in Disarray"--that's the headline in Poligazette, a non-Cable Gamer that nonetheless seems to have its finger on the pulse of the still unfolding story:

It is extremely entertaining to see an arrogant blowhard like Olbermann twist and spin in order to cover up his own flaws. It is also interesting to once again see that these self proclaimed pundits are so convinced of their own importance, that they believe they can bully everybody else around. It does not work that way in the real world, Keith.

The proximate cause of the fuss seems to be a booking tiff over Ben Affleck, who hardly seems worth it, in TCG's view. (Affleck is the glaring weak spot in the otherwise excellent film "State of Play). Olbermann has a much different story, of course, having to do with his delayed reaction to the death of his mother. The stories are so at variance that some truth-reckoning is inevitable. And frankly, TCG thinks that the tiff-theory better squares with the available set. So let the investigation continue!

TVNewser, which has been covering this story exhaustively, caught this gratuitous but still significant dig at Dan Abrams in Olby's rant:

Olbermann also mentioned former MSNBC anchor and GM Dan Abrams, brought up in the CityFile story as an example of a previous Olbermann grudge. "Considering Mr. Abrams' irrelevance to the rest of the story, and indeed now to MSNBC.

The Cable Gamer got curious--had something happened to Abrams? I mean, it's been obvious for sometime that Olbermann doesn't like him (and TCG still considers his outside corporate interests to be a scandalously blatant conflict of interest)--but since when did a former MSNBC anchor and host, and still a NBC employee, a "Chief Legal Correspondent," in fact, become simply dismissable as "irrelevant"? I mean, that's harsh. And probably just guarantees that what Olbermann decried as the "small group that could be the 'sources' of this sad, and sadly out-of-touch, gossip" will be heard from, again and again.

Olbermann Melts Down

Wonkette, among many other sources, reports that Keith Olbermann walked off his own show because onetime protege--and soon-to-be mortal enemy?--Rachel Maddow booked Ben Affleck.

I report, you, go figure.

Hey GE Shareholders! See Your Shareholder Value Being Used for Corporate Suck-Upping!! Bob Wright's Not Done Yet, Wasting Your Money!!!

Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke--a thorn to pompous bigshots, a rose to the rest of us--nails NBC-Universal for shamelessly (but also pathetic) self-congratulation. Under the headline, "Another Opportunity To Mock NBC Uni," Finke wrote this mocking graf about the #4 broadcast network:

Seriously, these guys make it much too easy. Especially when NBC will end these sweeps mired in 4th place among networks. Nevertheless, NBC Universal thinks it has reason to celebrate the company's 5th anniversary. So today it will launch a new :30 promotional spot "designed to showcase all of the diverse assets within the company's portfolio to business and consumer audiences". The on-air spot will debut as a special "roadblock" premiere on Tuesday, May 12 in the 8 p.m. ET/PT hour on all of the channels of NBC Universal and their accompanying websites, on NBC Universal's video billboard in Times Square (at 42nd and 7th), at the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando and Los Angeles as well as in taxicabs in New York City. This is the first of a series of brand awareness spots that will air across the platforms of NBCU during the course of the year.

Finke nails it, as she always does.

But it's actually worse than that. The Cable Gamer took the time to click through the "Milestones" of this corporate puff-package, and found this dubious-achievement gem of a milestone: the 20th anniversary of Bob Wright. (Note: This is an unretouched screen-grab--no PhotoShopping here!)

Of course, no ordinary American cares about Bob Wright, or even knows who he is, so casual websurfer will care that Wright celebrated 20 years of NBC mismanagement on September 1, 2006. On the other hand, GE shareholders might know who he is, mostly because he is the fellow whose personal desire to go Hollywood was translated into GE deciding to become a media conglomerate--at horrendous loss of shareholder value. Instead of sticking to its knitting in industrial things, GE all of a sudden became an entertainment company. Wright loved it, of course, even if he didn't know what he was doing. And yet even now, Wright gets paid $13 million or so a year to do nothing. Word has it that he is not allowed anywhere near GE HQ, but for reasons unknown--a juicy dossier on Jeff Immelt or Jeff Zucker, perhaps?--he is kept on the payroll to do nothing worthwhile. And on top of his salary, he still has the muscle to use up resources for his own further aggrandizement.

"Viewers doing a 180 on Anderson Cooper's '360'"

That's the searing headline atop Joe Flint's blog post in the LA Times yesterday: "Viewers doing a 180 on Anderson Cooper's '360.'" And this despite the enormous hype that CNN put into La Anderson. As Flint puts it, "CNN has invested heavily into marketing Cooper as the face of the network." Well, as we have all learned over the last year or so, just because you invest heavily in something, doesn't mean that you will have much to show for it! And that seems to be the case with CNN's investment in what might be called "AC 180."

Here's more from our man Flint:

Cooper's ratings have been in a sharp decline all year, and so far the month of May is no exception. According to Nielsen, the audience for the 10-11 p.m. hour of his show so far this month is 933,000 viewers. This is the first time he's fallen below the one-million mark since the dog days of last August. Anderson is losing almost 20% of his lead-in from Larry King and is in danger of being passed in the ratings by MSNBC's 10 p.m. repeat of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Since the start of 2009, Cooper has lost one-third of his audience.

Robert Gibbs Reminds Chuck Todd Who's Boss

"Robert Gibbs gets testy with NBC's Chuck Todd' -- that's the headline that the always-alert Alexander Burns put on his Politico story about the smackdown that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs administered on Thursday to NBC reporter Chuck Todd. Here's the transcript:

In a briefing-room clash over the president’s budget with NBC reporter Chuck Todd, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs mocked NBC and its parent company, General Electric, for suffering in the down economy.

The exchange began when Todd challenged Gibbs on the relatively small size of Obama’s spending cuts, which constitute a tiny fraction of the federal budget.

“One half of one percent — how is this truly a tough decision?” Todd asked Gibbs, referring to Obama’s $17 billion in planned program reductions.

“I’ll resist the temptation —,” Gibbs began, but Todd cut him off.

“You want to have a money argument, but the percentage does matter,” Todd said. “People are cutting back their spending by 10 percent. Companies are cutting back by 5 percent.”

“NBC!” Gibbs interjected with a laugh. “The stock of GE!”

It's ironic, of course, that Gibbs would be so tough on NBC, since the Peacock Network, and its sidekicks, CNBC and MSNBC, have been so slavishly devoted to the cause of Obamalotry. You might think that the White House would just sit back and enjoy the, uh, ring-kissing. But evidently not; Gibbs couldn't resist jabbing Todd. And so there's a lesson there: If you are someone's slave, the slavemaster won't always be nice, instead, the slavemaster might be cruel, out of contempt for his servile peon. That's what seems to be happening in the Gibbs-Todd relationship: Gibbs expects total subservience from the "National Bailout Corporation," and if he doesn't get such subservience, he won't hesitate to jerk Todd's chain.

Or to pull Todd's string.

The MSNBC Koolaid

MSNBC Hearts Obama. Now It's All But Official--Obamalotry Is The Cornerstone of MSNBC's Branding Campaign

Cable Gamer Felix Gillette nails MSNBC the hard way--by using abundant quotes from MSNBCers and NBCers, in which they are all too proud to declare their devotion to Obama, declare that Obama is the future of the channel, etc.

Such corporate sucking up is a great way to get more federal bailouts, and maybe it will help Jeff Immelt get some big job in the Obama administration, and it will certainly make Jeff Zucker a hero to his trendoid Manhattan friends.

But in merely recording his words, and those of his MSNBC colleagues, Gillette makes the likes of John Kelly, a NBC/MSNBC ad-sales exec, look more like a Koolaid drinker than a sober-minded suit.