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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill Moyers blisters Obama for abandoning his net neutrality promises
Bill Moyers criticized President Barack Obama on Friday for his decision to seemingly leave the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the hands of the anti-net neutrality forces he opposed as a candidate.
They believed he would keep his word, would see to it that when private interests set upon the Internet like sharks to blood in the water, its fate would be in the hands of honest brokers who would listen politely to the pleas of the greedy, and then show them the door, Moyers said of the supporters Obama won when he promised to keep the internet free from corporate influence. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the infamous revolving door.
Moyers explained that Obamas choice to head the commission, Tom Wheeler, not only bundled more than $500,000 for Obamas successful re-election campaign, but also a top gun for the cable and telecommunications industries. Whats more, Wheeler has staffed the FCCs legal team with a coterie of former telecom attorneys, some of whom had actually lobbied against net neutrality before joining its ranks.
However we might try to imagine that [Wheeler] could quickly abandon old habits of service to his employers, thats simply not how Washington works, Moyers said. Business and government are so intertwined there that public officials and corporate retainers are interchangeable parts of what Chief Justice John Roberts might call the gratitude machine. Round and round they go, and where they stop. Actually they never stop.
MORE:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/02/bill-moyers-blisters-obama-for-abandoning-his-net-neutrality-promises/
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)This Message posted from the Bog
Skittles
(153,169 posts)oh wait
U4ikLefty
(4,012 posts)QC
(26,371 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)According Dr. BOG.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)not happy to read this. particularly hard, being very pro-PBO myself.
but, Bill Moyers is one of the few good ones out there. read I must.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)WalterCronk
(2 posts)I saw a blerb about Bill Moyers a few years back that really surprised me. I always thought he did pretty good work, but then I found out how he was getting funding and then all kinds of special deals to the rights and royalties to things he didn't really fund or own, or shouldn't anyway. I lost a lot of respect for him.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)Right?
djean111
(14,255 posts)Whatever it is you read, what Moyers SAYS here is the important thing.
Like Snowden, what Moyers says cannot be swept under the rug with attacks against him.
Welcome to DU.
Got some links?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)vanlassie
(5,675 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)A blerb!
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)of proof from them. Maybe you can provide provide proof of something even the Right Wing Noise Machine finally gave up on?
Didn't take long for the 'toss yet another great Journalist under the bus' to appear. Lol!
defacto7
(13,485 posts)when you can make up all kinds of bull shit and post it thinking people will be dumb enough to accept it without reasonable logical foundation? You are definitely on the wrong website. Make a hard right and head toward the neon "F".
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Divernan
(15,480 posts)I knew Walter Cronkite, and you are no WalterCronk(ite). Your uncited, vague attempt to smear Bill Moyers is the antithesis of Walter Cronkite's reporting. Walter Cronkite dealt in cold hard facts. He was as honorable a reporter as this country has ever known - right up there with Edward R. Murrow! And here you are, having joined DU less than 24 hours ago, posting "I saw a blerb about Bill Moyers a few years back". And this from someone who joined DU 45 minutes before posting this smear?
Pray, do enlighten us all with facts which are documented. How much funding, what years, what special deals, what rights and royalties. And how do on earth does someone "fund or own rights and royalties which they shouldn't own?" That's pure garble-garble.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)See? It doesn't work.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)It's not team sports.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)I am commenting to the FCC and to the White House.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)is on the wrong side on some issues.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)That's why I asked for more substance. Snarky piling on doesn't help me understand the issue.
Edit to add, there are some intelligent critiques in this thread that I appreciate.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)BlindTiresias
(1,563 posts)Very many leading progressives care for Obama anymore. Will this deter the apologia crew? Nope.
WalterCronk
(2 posts)You know, I lost a lot of faith in the system too. I don't know who to trust anymore. We the peoples kno we can't trust the repubs, but I don't think POTUS has been as truthful and open as they told us they were going to be.
gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)It's like Wall Street has their finger on the financial nuke and Obama MUST do what they say. Oh wait, there is always the money!
He sold out to BP and their non-existent 20 billion dollar fund. No prosecutions of anyone in the Financial Sector, the shit just goes on and on. The Progressives in the media (there are a few), at least the honest ones, are getting more and more critical of Obama. He understands the Wall Street guys hold the real power.
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)Thank you.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...that candidate Obama was a very different person than President Obama...hell I remember candidate Obama saying he would walk the picket lines to defend workers rights...never quite happened that way though...
WillyT
(72,631 posts)QC
(26,371 posts)I never really loved Obama either,
but I DO love Bill Moyers!
QuestForSense
(653 posts)It's a legitimate criticism. Believe me, HE can take it. He's not Jesus, he's not Kim Jong-un, he's not even Hillary Rodham Clinton! He's a real person doing the hardest job in the world.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)promise means? The point is that he isnt trying to keep the promise. He appointed someone that doesnt share our goals for net neutrality. He isnt trying.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)and the FCC have been swayed before by public opinion.
snot
(10,530 posts)the FCC's history going back at least as far as Bush is one of ignoring the largest public outcries in history, in favor of allowing further concentration of power over media in the hands of big corporations.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)But, I still have hope, and it's the free internet that's given it to me. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I hope people will really jump into it over this issue.
Cha
(297,304 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)Or something like that.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Remember what a 'scandal' it was to the 'left' when Bush Bundlers were exposed?
Are we now okay with what we once knew was the reason for all that has gone wrong with this country?
And shouldn't THIS be a huge issue now for any Presidential Candidate, 'WHO WILL YOU APPOINT TO YOUR CABINET'? We elected Democrats, and got Republicans back in power in key positions, in Security, Defense etc anyhow.
How many Progressive Dems are in key positions in this President's cabinet??
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)"We elected Democrats, and got Republicans back in power in key positions, in Security, Defense etc anyhow."
This should be a WTF moment for ALL DEMOCRATS but apparently even this move cannot get through.
Failing to criticize the President isn't helping the cause. This should be receiving universal condemnation. Unless, of course, we want a strictly controlled cable TV-like internet.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)of those in power, who DO. And yes, this should cause the same outrage it did whenever Bush and his cronies in Corporate America were exposed trying to do the same kind of thing.
On the good side, DU is not the place to gauge the outrage regarding these issues which seem to be piling up day by day, anymore. There IS outrage, my email is inundated by calls to try to stop this from Liberal Organizations, some even now joining with normally political foes, since this will affect everyone. So while we no longer see much outrage on DU over eg, proposals to cut SS benefits, even defenses of these policies shamefully, there is incredible reaction and organizing out there to try to save the Internet, once again, from these predatory capitalists. So I am hopeful that they will be pushed back once again, at least temporarily since we are in an election year, from continuing down this path.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...and ex Wall Street wolves in the Treasury...the list goes on and on...the game is rigged and we are all going to get screwed...
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)staring them in the face, there are still a few who are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to tell us we are not seeing what we are seeing. THEY are complicit in the rigged game continuing because if all of the people ever united against these policies, we might have a chance to stop them.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)And par for the course from this corporate administration.
Thank you.
navarth
(5,927 posts)and I really get pissed at him when he does stuff like this.
I cannot imagine ANY rationale for him to let stuff like this happen unless he is indeed a corporatist.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)has boxes in his garage!
I am surprised that someone as experienced as Moyers stills believes the president will keep his word on anything.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)powerful forces will see to it the whims of the plutocrats are met.
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)instead of talking about lesser evils, rationalizing, making excuses, waiting and seeing, and spinning.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)myrna minx
(22,772 posts)Jemon
(49 posts)But let's stay vigilant.