The MSM/DNC Cabal

I've been using the term MSM/DNC Cabal to describe the "mainstream media" off and on for a few years now.  It started back in 2005 on The Cassandra Page where MSM and DNC were merged into a singular noun since their cooperation was blatantly obvious, then I felt the need to add the cabal descriptor, since they try to keep their coordination secret in order to appear impartial and responsible.

Now today we have this news from The Politico:

For the past two years, several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics have talked stories and compared notes in an off-the-record online meeting space called JournoList.

The story goes on to cite members of this secret list saying it's not a conspiracy, just a conversation.  Yeah right... a conversation about what you will teach, write, and broadcast and how it all fits together, hosted on a private invitaion-only network, with all conversations kept secret.  NO, THAT'S NOTHING AT ALL LIKE A CONSPIRACY.

We also recently learned about the DAILY conference calls between Obama's Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel, ABC's George Stephonopolous, and CNN commentators James Carville and Paul Begala.  It's just coffee talk, I'm sure!  There's NO coordination or plotting to advance a political agenda going on between these old Democratic colleagues.

The incestuous ties between Democrats and the media go on and on.  Here's just a few that come to mind:

• MSNBC's Chris Matthews worked for many Democratic Senators and has campaigned for office as a Democrat.
• ABC's Charlie Gibson's daughter worked in the Clinton White House.
• CBS News and Dan Rather tried to smear President George W. Bush with fake documents supplied to them by a Democratic operative, all the while Rather's producer Mary Mapes keeps senior Kerry campaign officials in the loop. 
• ABC's Chris Cuomo's father is long time New York Democrat Mario Cuomo, and his brother served in the Clinton White House.
• Clinton staffer George Stephonopolous found a home at ABC News after his stint in the White House.
• ABC News correspondent Linda Douglas became Director of Communications for the Obama White House Office of Health Reform. 
• Time Magazine's Washington Bureau Chief went to work as Director Of Communications for Vice President Biden.
• Los Angeles Times Washington correspondent Peter Gosslein became Tim Geithner's speechwriter.
• Chicago Tribune Washington correspondent Jill zuckman became Director of Public Affairs for the Obama Dept. of Transportation.
• ABC News's Justice Department correspondent Beverly Lumpkin became Press Secretary for... you guessed it, Obama's Justice Department.

And the list goes on and on and on.  To pretend that this is all some kind of coincidence is just ridiculous. 

You may (or may not) recall that during the last Presidential election Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit got an e-mail from someone in the news business that made the bias of the media clear as day (emphasis added):

"Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into Obama is derided or flat out ignored. THE FIX IS IN, AND IT'S WORKING."

As I recall this was swept under the rug pretty quickly.  The media were quick to relay unsubstantiated rumours about Sarah Palin's family life, but ingored the skeletons in their own closet.

So, I guess there's no better time than the present for me to revive my use of the term, and to use this post to explain it to readers here on my new blog.

MSM: Mainstream media.  CNN, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, MSNBC, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Early Show, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times etc. etc. 

DNC: Democratic National Committee, but here it's just a reference to the Democrat party in general.

CABAL: A group plotting in secret to advance a hidden agenda.

Hence we have the MSM/DNC Cabal.  I will be using it frequently, and will link back to this post for clarity's sake.  I encourage my readers to adopt it as well.  We cannot trust the media to be impartial, and we need to constantly remind ourselves and those around us of this fact, lest we fall back into a trance and accept the media's distortions at face value. 

Comments

[salt1907]

Good post. I believe there is a hidden aspect to the MSM/DNC cooperation, and an open aspect - like a submarine with a periscope above the water and the rest of the ship below the water. Decades ago, H.G. Wells wrote a book entitled, "The Open Conspiracy," which served as a how-to manual for leftists to advance their agenda worldwide. Wells has been a hero to leftists and academics for generations.

Leftists seem to be able to "intuit" the official opinion on any issue the way bees find their way back to the hive. While I agree that much of the cooperation is hidden, much of it is hidden in plain sight.