Mark D. Schwartz: Once journalists, now merely jackals

Once again Sen. John Fetterman uniquely spoke the plain truth, criticizing those elected phonies who knifed President Biden in the back one day from reelection and then lauded his legacy the next.

Deceitful politicians are nothing new. However, they were aided and abetted by what is falsely labeled as “cable news.” Ted Turner founded 24-hour cable news channel CNN in 1980, eventually spawning competition from MSNBC and Fox years later.

Fast forward, and broadcast “journalists” have been supplanted by empty talking heads. Fox is populated by bimbos and bozos. MSNBC starts our morning with ranting Joe Scarborough and wife Mika. Then at night we get sanctimonious Rachel “I’m the smartest guy in the room” Maddow. Then there is CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and the ever-flashing announcement of “Breaking News,” a term which in reality is neither.

Removing us totally from anything resembling “journalism” has been the networks’ reliance on a bunch of washed-up political gurus like David Axelrod, James Carville and Paul Begala, amongst others who have highjacked cable news, all with axes to grind, most recently axes that pressured Biden out of the race.

The worst offender is Axelrod, surely proud of being the first to put the knife into Biden. Let’s not forget, however, that he was a prominent part of the Obama administration and it was President Obama who goaded Donald Trump into running in the first place.

Then, Trump’s election was clearly a reaction to Obama’s “not ready for prime time” administration. Undoubtedly jealous of Biden’s myriad accomplishments, Axelrod and his former boss may well serve us up with the next Trump administration.

Of course Biden had a bad debate and is experiencing the frailty that comes with age. However, anyone remotely familiar with the presidency knows that a president is merely the face of a cabinet and team effort. I specifically recall meeting President Ronald Reagan in 1986 at the opening of the Carter Center. Clearly, dementia had set in, as an aide accompanied him playing puppeteer. I don’t remember the media hounding Reagan out of office . Moreover, no one has claimed that his administration was a failure. His administration and accomplishments, like Biden’s, were a function of those the president put in place.

Just imagine what Axelrod and 24-hour infotainment would have done to a physically infirm President Franklin Roosevelt or a stroke-inflicted President Woodrow Wilson. Thankfully neither were around, and civilization as we know it was saved.

As for me, I’m cutting the cable when it comes to 24-hour infotainment and its magicians who transform appearance into reality. In the hackneyed words of Wolf Blitzer, “may their memories be a blessing.” Not for me.

Mark D. Schwartz is a civil rights lawyer based in Bryn Mawr.