Here is a classic example of how the mainstream media, in this case CNN, perpetuates lies made up by the right-wing.  This is just one example of something that happens all of the time, but goes by so fast you don't have time to catch it and keep track.  I guess that's why we have The Daily Show. 

The mainstream media's role in the right's war against President Obama and progressivism is every bit as despicable and harmful as what Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or Jan Mickelson does.  To illustrate this point, check out this introduction by Larry King to his show tonight (Monday). 

Larry's booming voice-over:  “The president says he's a Christian…why do some refuse to believe him?”

What?  It's  not as if we have only Obama's word for it.  It is a provable, documentable F.A.C.T.  It's not  just a matter of “he said-she said.”  If you heard only Larry's introduction, you would draw the conclusion that it is not certain that the President is a Christian, only that he is claiming to be one.  And it's all just a matter of whether you believe him or not! Like you can just pick a side and argue about it.

But here's the truly absurd part:  How is it that tens of millions of people and the entire media – right, left, and middle, have seemingly forgotten the first attempted swift-boating of Obama in the form of Reverend Wright, Obama's Christian pastor?   Get it?   If Obama was a Christian then, during the Reverend Wright years, and during the campaign, obviously, the wrong kind of Christian, but a Christian nonetheless, how does it work that he is not a Christian now? 

So, now we're talking about Obama's religion as if we've never even had the previous conversation that nearly toppled Obama's presidential campaign!  It's a new day, and the media have moved on!  No looking back, no following the thread, no one even pausing to wonder aloud, or ask the question, “If Obama was so tight with Reverend Wright, for all those years, how is it that you all think he's a Muslim now?”

Who knows what tomorrow's narrative will be.   

This country has a real media problem.  And it's not just Fox, Limbaugh, WHO and Glenn Beck.  At least Fox et al, you know what they're about, they're right-wing propaganda machines and not well disguised.  But Larry King carries the weight and the appearance of objectivity – so when he perpetuates the falsehoods by pretending he doesn't know what the truth is,  and when David Gregory does it, and Brian Williams, and everybody else in the mainstream corporate media, and no one points out the absurdity of it and no one refers to Obama's Christian religion as a simple F.A.C.T., this greatly compounds the problem, because the result is a huge number – tens of millions – including people you and I know personally – Iowans – friends and family, who are horribly misinformed, make life miserable for themselves and everyone else, vote against their interests, and make it impossible for the country to function as one nation.  

Check out Rachel Maddow's regular bit lately, “It Doesn't Fit The Narrative.”  It's about how the mainstream (corporate) media passes on story lines that they like, but that are not true.   And then do something to join the media reform movement.