May 9, 2012

Bloomberg's ridiculous photographic bias.

Reporting on yesterday's Wisconsin recall primary, Bloomberg runs this photograph of Tom Barrett...



... which comes straight from Barrett's mayoral office. That is, it's Barrett's own propaganda.

And this picture of Scott Walker...



... taken by a photographer who has a job in the Bloomberg organization either in spite of his inability to shoot a decently lit image or because of his ability to make selected targets look as bad as possible.

The text of the article is equally slanted, largely a collection of quotes from Barrett said from UW-Milwaukee professor Mordecai Lee. Lee is the guy who told us 95% of Republicans would cross over and vote in the Democratic primary, but Walker got 626,538 votes even though he had only nominal opposition in the Republican primary, and the 4 Democrats combined only got  665,436 votes. How many of those 665,436 were Republicans? Anyway, now Lee is feeding Bloomberg crapola like:
“In the 1950s there was a saying, ‘He’s a nice Catholic boy... That’s Tom Barrett. He believes the world is good... He believes in doing good. He believes that in a moral universe, right always wins out.”
And:
“In his view, the November 2010 election was simply an error and he welcomes the opportunity to right the wrong."
It's a moral universe thing. Walker beat Barrett in the regular election, a fair election, a democratic election. But somehow that was a wrong, and the nice Catholic boy is all about righting wrongs in the moral universe. Holy lord, what nonsense. That's the Milwaukee professor's assertion about the candidate's quest to get his hands on power: For the world to be good, I must rule.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many want power to do good, but few are good enough to trust with power.

Paddy O said...

That's the Milwaukee professor's assertion about the candidate's quest to get his hands on power: For the world to be good, I must rule.

Loki!!

Barrett is actually a trickster! Don't trust him!

I'm Full of Soup said...

I have noticed Bloomberg news and cable station are almost as librul as MSNBC. I guess Nanny Mike Bloomberg is still pulling the strings there.

Kevin said...

Points for the Bloomberg reporter for mentioning that Mordecai Lee was also a Milwaukee West Side state legislator.

Of course, he loses them by not mentioning it was Barrett who succeeded Lee in the very same state Senate seat in the late 80s.

edutcher said...
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edutcher said...

I think this kind of bias is so endemic in the Establishment Media, they may not always be conscious of it.

Which is why more and more people are going to the Internet for their news.

AJ Lynch said...

I have noticed Bloomberg news and cable station are almost as librul as MSNBC. I guess Nanny Mike Bloomberg is still pulling the strings there.

You had any doubt?

Peter said...

Is it just me, or is that one of the more arrogant things a politician has ever said??

Elections are not "simply an error." Elections are how the People determine who shall govern.

Peter said...

"In his [Barrett's] view, the November 2010 election was simply an error and he welcomes the opportunity to right the wrong."

dreams said...

I know people who I know to be conservative but occasionally I will hear them parroting liberal crap that they've got from the liberal media.

ndspinelli said...

Was it a Catholic priest who called Barrett a "good Catholic boy." That could have a much different context.

garage mahal said...

Looks like a pretty typical empty vessel pose by Walker to me.

The Crack Emcee said...

I actually like that photo of Walker. He looks like a good, honest man.

"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and all that,...

CWJ said...

point taken, Crack.

I like the fact that Walker is wearing a blue striped(?) tie. Barrett OTOH is in full uniform. Dark blue(?)suit, check. Solid red power tie, check. Flag backdrop, check. Now if only Walker would take off his flag lapel pin and pin it on Barrett, then the tableau would be complete.

But bottom line this is dog bites man stuff as far as media propaganda goes.

James Wigderson said...

Mordecai Lee was wildly off, but there was a shocking amount of crossover voting. Isaac Weix, the protest candidate for Lt. Governor, got 197,052 votes. The Lt. Governor vote total in the Democratic Primary was higher than the Democratic Governor vote total. However, looking at the numbers I'm estimating a shocking 109,000 Republicans voted in the Democratic primary for governor. http://www.wigderson.com/index.php/2012/05/09/lets-run-through-some-numbers-from-tuesday/

holdfast said...

Elections are always an error until my guy wins.

Typical lefty totalitarianism. Vote as many times as needed until the voters give the correct answer.

Sort of like all those EU treaties.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

There's an old saying often applied to politicians:

He went to Washington to do good, and ended up doing well.

m stone said...

I would probably make some flack comment about a pose when my candidate with no record to speak of is given his third do-over for no reason other than "cause, we can".

Patrick said...

Barrett sent that out? I think it's a terrible picture. Reminds me of the David Byrne thing from way back when - that big suit.

Yeah, this one: http://people.artcenter.edu/~aguzman1/background.html

wyo sis said...

Walker still looks better than Barrett. No crazy eyes.
It's standard that a liberal hatchet job gives any Christian religion good press. Doesn't happen all that often, but to serve a particular purpose they "bravely" go there.

Patrick said...

"Many want power to do good, but few are good enough to trust with power."

No one is good enough to trust with power. That is why we have checks and balances with separate but equal branches of government.

I've no doubt that Barrett wants to do good. His problem is that he doesn't know that he has no idea how to achieve it.

bgates said...

He’s a nice Catholic boy... That’s Tom Barrett. He believes the world is good

It's not Catholic doctrine to believe the world is intrinsically good. On the other hand, it's a pretty muddled political philosophy to believe the world is good *and* it's important for someone with power to make significant changes to how the world operates.

Nothing wrong with Barrett rooting his justification for the use of political power in his religious faith, of course, he's a Democrat.

wildswan said...

When Cardinal Dolan, former Archbishop of Milwaukee came back for a visit several weeks ago Governor Walker attended the Cardinal's Mass at Holy Hill. The Cardinal mentioned his presence and Walker got a gigantic storm of applause - bigger than anyone else including many former altar boys. The "Catholic vote" in Wisconsin is not what reporters raised on Boston/ Kennedy stories imagine it to be.

KCFleming said...
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KCFleming said...

Milwaukee just lost over 250 jobs at Frontier airlines today, including 140 flight crew.

Moving to Chicago

For Mayor Barrett, this election is about jobs.
Strong work, Tom!

Carnifex said...

I want a guy that doesn't want the job, like George Washington. Since we haven't seen his like since...I'll vote for the one that sucks less.

Does anyone remember the '72 Olympic basketball game between the USSR and the USA. The USA won, until a Russian Olympic leader came out of the stands and made them play the last 20 seconds over again, allowing the Soviets to take a last second shot, that they missed. So the Russian guy made them do it again, same results. So he made them play the last 20 seconds a third time, the Soviets hit their last second shot, and win the gold medal. Amazing what you can do with enough do overs.

Wince said...
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Wince said...

"That's the Milwaukee professor's assertion about the candidate's quest to get his hands on power: For the world to be good, I must rule."

"I'm not a runt anymore."

I'm the sheriff.

And I'm the mayor.

I'm the mayor.
I'm the sheriff.

No more, "Mordecai, bring the water. Mordecai, take the laundry. Clean up the mess."

Hot damn!

I'm gonna declare a holiday.

Hot damn!

Brennan said...

I think this kind of bias is so endemic in the Establishment Media, they may not always be conscious of it.

Heh. Too cute. Oh yes they do. They know exactly what they are doing. Their work is reviewed by editors as well.

Known Unknown said...

Walker looks like an older, dark-haired Chris Evans.

You know, Captain America.

Unknown said...

The internet allows us to have a better memory for this behind the scenes attempt to influence the political process.

Even photographers want to change the world..by making Republicans look evil in photographs.


+++++++++++++++

"Greenberg also crowed that she had tricked McCain into standing over a strobe light placed on the floor - turning the septuagenarian's face into a horror show of shadows.

Asking McCain to 'please come over here' for a final shot, Greenberg pretended to be using a standard modeling light.

The resulting photos depict McCain as devilish, with bulging brows and washed-out skin.

'He had no idea he was being lit from below," Greenberg said, adding that none of his entourage picked up on the light switch either. 'I guess they're not very sophisticated,' she said.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/09/about-that-mccain-photo/8825/

Krumhorn said...

The Walker photo is redolent of the images you most often see of another WI pol, Sen. McCarthy. The dark hair features, the late-in-the-day beard, tapioca skin texture cast by harsh light angles.

There are no holds barred when it comes to the oh so well-meaning librul media. Or libruls in general, for that matter.

Krumhorn said...

The Walker photo is redolent of the images you most often see of another WI pol, Sen. McCarthy. The dark hair features, the late-in-the-day beard, tapioca skin texture cast by harsh light angles.

There are no holds barred when it comes to the oh so well-meaning librul media. Or libruls in general, for that matter.