Dems, media need to call out, narrow the GOP "hack gap". Or else GOPs will keep lying

This is a tremendous segment by Carlos Maza at Vox talking about the "hack gap" in most political news these days. This is where Fox News and other GOPperganda throw out garbage into the atmosphere and then "work the refs" at other, more legitimate media to make them cover and repeat BS that isn't that newsworthy or worse, deceptive if not outright false.



It is a GOP strategy to stir up fauxtrage and try to intimidate other media into following them, because so much of our media is trapped into not wanting to seem "biased" by whiny righties. So they'll give a more legitimate voice to these (non)stories by saying "People are asking questions", and by "both sidesing" discussions when one side is clearly dishonest and/or wrong.

For example, look at this guest list for the alleged benchmark Sunday morning political talk show.

THIS SUNDAY: @RepJeffries , @RashidaTlaib and @PressSec Sarah Sanders will join @chucktodd on Meet the Press #MTP #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/PJszC0Zl2Q

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 24, 2019

2 members of the House of Representatives (who would actually vote on impeachment proceedings) who are likely expected to explain themselves and a PAID LIAR in Shuckabee-Sanders who probably has her questions pre-arranged and won't be challenged when she says something verifiably false.

There is no legitimate value in having Sarah Sanders or Kellyanne Conjob on TV, as they are not playing by the same rules of fairness and honesty that the rest of us are. But if they're not offered access because of their history of lying, they complain about "bias" and so they get airtime to poison the atmosphere with BS, which media then megaphones into the public discourse with "Well, Kellyanne/Slanders said (line of bullshit). Isn't there something to that?"

With this game in mind, is it any wonder that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos tried this line on Thursday?

Heard from one of the troops that you made those that landed first wait hours for the second plane after being gone almost a year so you could greet them all together and save you time.. https://t.co/0URxGtHs2O

— Robin Vos (@repvos) May 24, 2019

Who was "one of the troops" that made this claim? Robbin' didn't say, but it was probably somebody who called into Icki McKenna or some of the other hate radio shows on AM 1130 (if it was anyone at all). And it was clearly Robbin's hope that Wisconsin media would run with this meme and try to land a hit on Governor Evers.

However, Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel performed a rare act of journalistic judgment, and he and the Journal-Sentinel editors actually called out Vos's statement, in an article titled "GOP leader Robin Vos falsely claims Gov. Tony Evers made troops wait for greeting."

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos kicked off the Memorial Day weekend by falsely accusing Gov. Tony Evers of forcing troops to wait hours to greet him.

The allegation is not true, according to the Wisconsin National Guard and those who attended the event at the 128th Air Refueling Wing at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

The Republican leader on Friday acknowledged he had his facts wrong but didn't delete a tweet making the false accusation...

"Everything went well and on schedule," said Rep. Ken Skowronski, a Republican from Franklin who attended the event. "Everything was great."
Skowronski said Friday he was not aware of Vos' tweet and didn't know what he meant by it.

"They weren't waiting around," Skowronski said.

Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes noted that Vos's attempted smear was par for the course with that guy.

My grandmother would say, he's a liar and the truth ain't in him. https://t.co/PB3XSCsrtC

— Mandela Barnes (@TheOtherMandela) May 24, 2019

But was Robbin' Vos really being any different than most Republicans, where they and their spokespeople on Faux News TV and AM radio amplify non-issues to distract from legitimate ones? It's what GOPs do to allow the distortion/lie to get halfway around the world before the typical person can figure out what really is going on. And it amazes me that more media and more Dems still don't seem to have caught on to the fact that these lowlifes aren't going to follow the rules of debate and fair play that decent people would.

Instead of answering the questions "others are asking", just call it out when GOPs act in bad faith to poison the discussion. Turn the spotlight back on the GOPs, saying "They're making up this garbage because Republicans lie and don't want to talk about real issues." It has the added benefit of being true.