Eleanor Clift (1 Viewer)

[RJ in Lafayette]

I am usually a bit more supportive or respectful of the "mainstream media" than some of you. But every week, as a Newsweek subscriber, I am appalled at the way Eleanor Clift conducts herself on the McLaughlin Group.

She doesn't work for the Weekly Standard or the Nation or the New Republic or New Yorker. She's one of the top correspondents on national politics for Newsweek. And though Newsweek and Time have historically allowed more opinion in their news articles than do the nation's major newspapers, there is supposed to be some limit--some--to the amount of opinion that appears in the two main weekly newsmagazines.

On the McLaughlin Group, Clift is loud and rude, and shows little humor. Not good qualities, but not qualities that would disqualify her from working for Newsweek. However, she is stridently liberal and a stridently partisan Democrat. And yet she covers national politics for Newsweek--and Newsweek lets her week and week show how amazingly biased and partisan she is. She's a Rush Limbaugh stereotype of the partisan "mainstream media" journalist. I have no idea how Newsweek can allow this. And yes, I cringe whenever I see her yelling at and interrupting people on McLaughlin's show.

 

[SaintsFan11]

Yeah, she's my least favorite on that show. I do find the McLaughlin Group be somewhat entertaining except that 50% of it is people yelling over each other. Clift is the worst.

Her support for Hillary is rather transparent, and though I'm not a psychoanalyst I would imagine she views a Hillary Presidency as a victory for women more than a good thing for America.

(Of course, I've pretty much just admitted that I'm a political nerd. I can't help it, that stuff was blaring on TV throughout my childhood.)

 

[Pasty]

I don't watch the Sinatra group, but I actually did enjoy a Clift column I saw today, which in my opinion did not show a pro-Hillary or pro-Obama bias:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/96086

 

[SoonerJim]

Her material on Newsweek is done in collaboration and displays no obvious bias, tempered by the fact that all stories possess some amount of slanted coverage. On the McLaughlin group, her role is different, and she let's loose with her opinions.

I watch that program weekly, and the rude panelist there is Tony Blankley, who interrupts her with regularity. The only panelist guest who has a cogent opinion is Buchanan, like him or not. The only downside to him is a preference for authority and its perks.

The McLaughlin group is the earliest and still the best of so-called "opinion" adversarial journalism. The progrm markedly improved once Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke were sent to Fox, which increased the collective IQs of both the McLaughlin Group and Fox news..

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

(obligatory)

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.zippyvideos.com/embed.z?u=5171469584804106"></script>

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Blankley tops the scale for being foppish, but not for being rude. On McLaughlin's 1-10 scale, Clift at least for panelists gets a 9 for rudeness. Little humor, constantly interrupting, constantly shouting when interrupted. Buchanan's saving grace is his humor. He likes to fight--he is Irish--but he likes to laugh with much of his humor self-effacing.

McLaughlin is supposed to be a piece of work.

 

[HouDat]

I quit watching those types of shows years ago. It's the same old crap -- condescending liberal ***hole shouting down blinded-by-ideology Republican ideologue, vice versa, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. How many times can you watch Bill Maher make marginally funny jokes by exaggerating his opponent's assertions? Or listen to Limbaugh go to absurd lengths to demonstrate the absurdity of his opponent's viewpoints?

I've found that reading more and listening less gets me much closer to the core of the issues and, ultimately, to the truth.

 

[blackadder]

I am usually a bit more supportive or respectful of the "mainstream media" than some of you. But every week, as a Newsweek subscriber, I am appalled at the way Eleanor Clift conducts herself on the McLaughlin Group.

She doesn't work for the Weekly Standard or the Nation or the New Republic or New Yorker. She's one of the top correspondents on national politics for Newsweek. And though Newsweek and Time have historically allowed more opinion in their news articles than do the nation's major newspapers, there is supposed to be some limit--some--to the amount of opinion that appears in the two main weekly newsmagazines.

On the McLaughlin Group, Clift is loud and rude, and shows little humor. Not good qualities, but not qualities that would disqualify her from working for Newsweek. However, she is stridently liberal and a stridently partisan Democrat. And yet she covers national politics for Newsweek--and Newsweek lets her week and week show how amazingly biased and partisan she is. She's a Rush Limbaugh stereotype of the partisan "mainstream media" journalist. I have no idea how Newsweek can allow this. And yes, I cringe whenever I see her yelling at and interrupting people on McLaughlin's show.

The same way they allow the Krauthammer's and Kristol's to appear on these show's.

I haven't watched the show in a long time. Seems to me she got a lot angrier in the wake of the Iraq war and much more confrontational in regards to her fellow pundits that support it.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

But Krauthammer and Kristol do not claim to be conventional report-the-news journalists. Clift does, even though all recognize that the liberties taken by the weekly newsmagazines go beyond what daily newspapers are supposed to do.