Posted on 09/14/2009 9:09:02 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
How many people still listen to NPR (National “People’s” Radio) and take it seriously? Apparently that list doesn’t include the editors and reporters for NPR. Two cases in point, both having to do with numbers.
As I was driving up to D.C. for the Rally on the Mall on Saturday, I heard NPR gushing over (excuse me, reporting on) the President Obama’s speech to a Joint Meeting of Congress. In that speech, the President said that “there are 30 million uninsured Americans.” Notice that the number dropped from 45 million because that part of the uninsured are not Americans. They are mostly citizens of Mexico.
The polling of the American people on health care reform has made it crystal clear they do not want American tax dollars paying premiums for foreign citizens. Remember that Cong. Joe Wilson called out, “You lie,” when President Obama was claiming that health care “reform” did not include the illegal aliens. Joe should certainly apologize for interrupting the President, with a true statement.
Interestingly, Obama indirectly acknowledged his prior lies on this subject by saying last week that there were “30 million uninsured American citizens” who needed coverage. Remember that the magic number used to be 47 million uninsured? The new number means that in future, Obama intends to throw 15 million Mexicans under the bus because the issue is to hot to stay with.
Right after NPR ran the coverage of Obama’s speech, they had an hourly news break in which they announced that “the Census Bureau has announced that the number of uninsured Americans remained the same last year, at 47 million.” No, they are not all Americans. But the reporter obviously wasn’t listening to NPR. The Mexicans are now out, apparently.
A similar numerical error occurred the morning after the Rally. NPR spent ten minutes covering President Obama’s appearing before “15,000 enthusiastic people” in Minneapolis. They quoted the Administration as saying that “tickets were handed out on a first-come, first serve basis.” Given the past experience of the Administration in stacking the deck of both attendees and questioners at town hall meetings, perhaps NPR should have checked that out.
Have all journalists forgotten the motto of the late, great Chicago News Bureau, which was, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” NPR claimed that the lack of any opposition in the hall, and the sparse opposition outside, meant that there was general approval of Obama’s health plan.
Well, what was going on at the same time as Obama’s speech in Minneapolis? Why, there was a gathering of 1.2 to 1.6 million Americans on the Mall in Washington, who oppose Obama policies, including his health care proposals. What did NPR say about those people?
Nothing, Zilch. Zero. The real news was that 15,000 people supported Obama. The fact that one hundred times that amount of people opposed him in a D.C. Rally that was on TV and everything, was not news.
This was not an accident. The NPR reporters and editors had to know about the D.C. Rally. Now, I would defend to the death the right of any private network to report the news falsely and incompetently. That’s a matter of the First Amendment. But NPR is a public outfit. They are paid for, in large part, with tax dollars. We the people pay for that, and they lie to us, on purpose.
The Park Service has an office which estimates the size of crowds by looking at aerial photographs and comparing those to prior events. That office says it was 1,2 to 1.6 million.
See for yourself. Photos on the Net show the Mall full, plus several blocks of its feeder streets. So, where do some news media get the figure of 70,000? Anyone who wants to use the Mall fills out an application long in advance with a minimum estimate, which was 70,000 here.
Any news media who use that number are either lazy or incompetent. They also think that you are too stupid to catch them at it. NPR has done that, but so have many other news media, including the New York Times. The leading symbol at the Rally was the yellow flag that shows a rattlesnake and the words “Don’t tread on me.” That revolutionary flag applies not just to politicians, but to the press as well.
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About the Author: John Armor practiced in the US Supreme Court for 33 years. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu His latest book, on Thomas Paine, is available here: www.TheseAreTheTimes.us (Note the suffix, .us)
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Competent? Honest? Yes, I know I've just excluded 90% of the press.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "A Million People Prove that NPR Doesn't Count"
Probably 92%.
I think there are a few sports and weather people who try hard to get it right.
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