With 3 episodes up and available on iTunes and on the WAL-Radio site, The Shill Report is in full production. This past week we talked about the mainstream media pushing the Zimmerman trial 24/7 at the expense of real news and Chuck Todd’s sanity. Next up was former MSNBC staffer Jeff Cohen and his rant against his former employer for covering the Snowden scandal as if the station were state owned and operated like the Obama administration. We moved on to Chris Hayes and his rant against Rand Paul employing Jack Hunter. Finally, the civil war within the Washington Post was too much to pass up. The editorial board apparently wants the source of their papers published stories to go to jail. It’s a fun episode that you can listen too here.
However, that’s a lot of content for an hour long podcast. Naturally, some news stories had to get cut. It would be a shame to let the research and commentary go to waste, so each week I’ll share the pieces that were left on the cutting room floor, but are still fit for print.
The announcement that the employee mandate under Obamacare has been delayed until 2015 sparked quite the controversy within the GOP. Many conservatives are hammering away at the healthcare law, calling for a complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act. These renewed attacks have put the Democratic supporters on their heels…literally. GOP strategist Nicole Wallace ran in to a liberal buzz saw on the Morning Joe after being accused of politicizing the delay.
Later in the segment, former Obama advisor David Axelrod fielded softball questions from the panel and reaffirmed the good intentions and success of Obamacare. Nicole Wallace and Fortune editor asked if the decision to delay the mandate until after the midterm elections was politically motivated, however; Axelrod deflected the question and stuck to talking points.
Rachel Maddow and Freedom Coalition Chief Ralph Reed argued over DOMA on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Gay people exist,” Maddow said to Reed, “there’s nothing that we can do that make more or less of us exist…You just are arguing in favor of discrimination.”
Reed responded that by Maddow’s logic President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Former President Bill Clinton, Senator Harry Reid, and Senator Pat Leahy were all “bigots” for voting in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Raul Labrador (R-ID) and MSNBC host Alex Wagner went back and forth on how the Republican Party can best manage the immigration issue in the House of Representative. Labrador disagreed with the largely Democratic panels suggestion that the Republican’s “pander” to the Hispanic community by passing the flawed Senate immigration bill. Wagner too issue with being called out for using administration talking points and hilarity ensued.
These are the kind of videos that Ryan Ripley (me), Chris Spangle, and Joe Ruiz break down on #The Shill Report. We record weekly and can be heard on WAL Radio site and the online radio station – Indiana Talks. We strive to review journalism and dig in to the stories of the week. We expand and explain the narratives of the week and crack wise in the process. It’s a lesson in managing your media using the examples you are bombarded with every day. We like to say that the media breaks the news and we fix it. Give it a listen, we think you’ll like it.
