"Flanders: Will the media now focus on what OWS is really about?" (with video)

Andrew Jones (RAW STORY) with video (01:39) from MSNBC:

In the opinion of Gritt TV host Laura Flanders, the next step in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement needs to come not from the protesters but, instead, the media.

Responding to a question posed by Chris Hayes on his MSNBC show Saturday morning, Flanders placed responsibility on her colleagues with larger platforms to focus on the core elements of the movement instead of mass arrests and police brutality.

“This is why the media are so important, and why I worked in independent media for so long,” Flanders said. “Are we going to allow this story to become what you have describe, which is the image taken away by a lot of people this week? Or are we going to take our cameras where the movement actually has been? MORE...

"Sarah Palin is the gift who keeps on giving."

Eric Alterman:

Obviously, many in the media share the blame, not only for ignorant and exploitative comments made above, but for paying so much attention to a figure whose views are decidedly marginal to those of the vast majority of Americans, and whose approval ratings bespeak little more than devoted cult. But any car crash is likely to attract attention and this last orgy of victimization by Palin and company serves not only to change the topic from the wisdom of their own violent rhetoric but gives their minions a chance to rally ‘round their leaders however illogical their complaints. I don’t expect this to happen, however. Palin is far more a symbol of the degradation of our political culture than its cause. MORE...

GOP leader: "we can’t pass laws unless the president agrees to.”

Washington Wire (Wall Street Journal):

“We as Republicans do not control this federal government—the other party does,” Mr. Cantor said Friday.

Many Republicans believe then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R., Ga.), after taking over the House in 1995, suggested, intentionally or not, he had more power than he did. That helped President Bill Clinton rebound politically, giving Democrats good results in the 1996 and 1998 elections.

“There was a time in 1995 when a lot of people in America seemed to think that we were running the government,” said Mississippi Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who was attending the House GOP retreat. “In fact, there were some Republicans in Congress who seemed to think we were running the government. I can remember a statement somebody made that Bill Clinton was irrelevant.”

Mr. Barbour made it clear that Republicans did not want to make that mistake this time. He pointedly lowered expectations for the GOP-led House, indirectly laying any blame for the government’s failures over the next two years primarily at the Democrats’ feet.

That could be an important bit of positioning when the 2012 campaign begins.

“The Democrats control the Senate. They control the presidency,” Mr. Barbour said. “House Republicans can try to stop bad things from going through, to limit or eliminate the funding of bad policies. But we can’t pass laws unless the president agrees to.”MORE...