Being a bitch can be powerful and liberating. Reclaiming the word and grasping that you're only called that if you're making waves and making a difference can be very awesome.
But there's being a bitch and then there's being a dumb bitch.
Someone may need to explain the difference to Melissa Block.
NPR has gotten way to lax with rules and regulations. The would-be Tiffany network of public broadcasting continues to play on air like a Woolworth's five-and-dime. (Those in need of a contemporary reference, feel free to substitute "like a Dollar General store.")
It's created many problems.
Friday's embarrassment has its roots in the fact that (a) people think they're funny. We've noted multiple times that being 'funny' isn't something everyone can do and that it harms public discourse. We're glad to see that NPR took to reporting on that (even if they did pass it off as their own discovery) last week. We're not really happy that they couldn't realize it applied to them as well.
If Melissa Block were trying less hard to be funny and less hard to be 'cute,' she might not have looked like such an ass -- such a dumb ass.
Of, if you prefer, dumb bitch. Now, ourselves, when we want to be bitchy, we'll go after a target. We'll go after many targets. These targets? They're politicians, they're actors, they're writers, they're . . . They're not the public. And it was especially sad that Melissa Block thought she could go after the public on National Public Radio. Sad but a sign of how lax the rules and regulations are now treated at the network.
Friday morning, the Labor Dept. released the latest jobs report. For Melissa and fellow goons David Brooks and E.J. Dionne, it was time to laugh at the 'kooks' who disputed the numbers. Excerpt.
BLOCK: It's not just those Mitt Romney voters that we just heard in Ari Shapiro's piece who are claiming the job numbers are bogus. We also heard today from Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, and he tweeted this: "Unbelievable jobs number. These Chicago guys," meaning the Obama campaign presumably, "will do anything. Can't debate so change numbers."
And a lot of conservatives weighing in on that as well. The labor secretary, Hilda Solis, said she was insulted. She called that ludicrous. David Brooks, have we reached a new level of conspiracy theories here?
BROOKS: Don't tweet. Too much tweeting going on. You know, people who don't know much about Washington may think that everyone around here is hyper-politicized, but if you actually go into the bowels of the federal government, there are a lot people who don't care that much about politics.
They're numbers geeks. They do their jobs. They go home. They're not that political. And I guarantee you the people in the BLS are totally committed to the numbers. If somebody tried to introduce politics in their work, there would be mass resignations and there would be a lot of calls to reporters at various institutions saying this is happening. So I guarantee you, I feel very strongly it's not happening.
BLOCK: The numbers are not tweaked. E.J. Dionne, what do you make of this new conspiracy theory?
DIONNE: My colleague Ezra Kline wrote this morning, we've hit that moment in the election when people begin to lose their minds. And this is...
BLOCK: I thought we reached that point a long time ago.
First off, notice that they didn't call out Chris Cuomo. He disputed the numbers publicly on his Twitter feed. But the first rule of faux journalism is never call out a journalist.
The excerpt doesn't do justice to what listeners had to suffer through nor can you really read the scorn-based amusement Block spoke with.
Was it so wild that the Labor Dept.'s figures could be wrong?
They were wrong with the July figures and with the August figures. In each case, they later -- quietly -- published updated numbers that reflected less job growth than what they'd trumpeted originally.
So there is that. There's also this:
"Numbers can be manipulated,” says Paul Conway, who was chief of staff to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao under President George W. Bush. Conway now runs a conservative advocacy group, Generation Opportunity, trying to galvanize the youth vote. “They [BLS staff] produce a product, that is then subject to the review, and approval and processing of political appointees in the department. That’s a fact -- that’s exactly how it works before anything goes public.”
Conway says political appointees didn’t change the numbers when he was at the Department of Labor. But he says of today’s report: “I find it at best incredible, and at worst suspicious."
So they can be fixed.
Repeating, so they can be fixed.
Guess what makes Melissa Block even dumber than just a dumb ass or a dumb bitch?
Throughout most of the country on Friday, what we just quoted aired on NPR. In fact, many listeners heard that MarketPlace report during All Things Considered before they heard Melissa make an ass of herself.
Let's explain it slowly. They heard a MarketPlace report that explained the numbers could be fudged. They heard a reporter do an actual report speaking to someone who had been in that department who could attest that the numbers could be manipulated.
And then they heard dumb ass Melissa gabbing away with columnists -- not reporters -- and laughing at how 'stupid' people were. No, stupid were Melissa and her two gas bags. Stupid were idiots who honestly thought they could weigh in without knowing what they were talking about.
One more thing about that Mitchell Hartman MarketPlace report, for years gas bags on NPR have told us that the president never knows the numbers until the Labor Dept. releases the report. Gas bags on NPR have sworn the president finds out at the same time. Hartman exposed that lie as well. The president gets the numbers a day in advance.
NPR owes listeners not one but two corrections. First, Melissa Block needs to apologize for ridiculing the public. Second, Melissa Block needs to apologize for weighing in on a topic she -- and her guests -- clearly knew nothing about. In other words, the saddest of all know-it-alls is a dumb ass.