Paul Krugman: Economy Was Never 'On The Road To Recovery'

One of the earliest examples was during the healthcare debate, when the momentum for a public option had swelled and was reaching critical mass.  The pressure on Democrats, on Congress, and on Obama had grown so strong that just about every show on every cable channel led with it.  

Maddow was one of the first, if not the first at MSNBC, to begin talking about it in the past tense.  "Not going to happen".  I recall at the time the phrase "I felt like I was bltch-slap­ped" was the exact right response.  

After that broadcast, Ed Schultz followed, along with the rest of the line-up (Olbermann was last).  

It helps to understand how all of these shows work, and Cenk Uygur's situation recently with MSNBC can amplify this point. You're nothing but your rolodex.  Your access is all important, and if those in the government freeze you out, if they won't come on your show, you have no career.  That's another reason why today's news (Obama U.S. Attorney Nominee David Barlow Is Tea Party)  Senator's General Counsel) is another blow to progressiv­es.  If real Democrats, real progressiv­es, aren't in positions making policy and news, they won't be in the media either.  

So understand­ing that, we came to learn afterwards that the White House was hosting people like Maddow in secret, granting them high-calib­er interviews inside the White House, after which all of a sudden the media personalit­ies would change their tunes and repeat the White House's talking points as if it was fact, a done deal, etc.

At some point we need to realize that even Mother Teresa wasn't Mother Teresa.  What do I mean?  She wasn't dressed in tie dye and raised in a commune by anti-war picketing hippies who knocked around from one liberal cause to another until she turned around one day and found herself spreading passionate­ly personally held conviction­s to millions for millions.  She grew up in a conservati­ve community in an establishm­ent family, went to the ultimate in establishm­ent schools (Stanford and Oxford).  

Maddow, et al, pay are susceptibl­e to the same temptation­s that have corrupted those in our government­.  To pay her mortgages, etc., she has to keep her job, and to keep her job she has to make accommodat­ions.  To get interviews with the Treasury Secretary and Obama when nobody else is getting them (especiall­y nobody on the left), it's not going to happen unless you play ball.  Whether you would say she's toning it down or selling out, in the end it's the same result.  

I think she does it well, by the way, but make no mistake, she does it.
About Ben Bernanke
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