The Desperate Left

While right-leaning opinions have always been available, the mass media has been predominately lefty for the past half century.  People on the right think it’s more lefty than it is, but that’s understandable – where you stand on the political wheel determines your perception of the other sides’ position.

But the ever efficient marketplace changed all that, and moved to fill the near vacuum of conservative viewpoints in the media.  It started when Reagan removed the fairness doctrine from talk radio.  The right moved in and took it over.  This incensed the left, who, for a long time, have pushed to reinstate the doctrine to silence the other side.  Much to their dismay L.M. Obama declared he has no intention of bringing it back.

Then came Fox news, which proceeded to suck away a huge percentage of the news watching public, people who were delighted that someone was finally catering to their political POV.

There’s a lot to dislike about Fox, of course, but not as much as the left would have you believe.   In my experience most of the lefties who continually bitch about it have never really watched it.  The rest of them watch it with the sole goal of discrediting it.  Which is fine, it beats working for a living, but you don’t see them focusing that kind of attention on the lefty media outlets, who are just as dishonest, biased, and hypocritical.  Of course, that would be a full time job.

The latest round of whining is just pathetic.  Any thinking person, even those who are “pro-life,” agrees that the murder of Dr. Tiller was evil.  Yet the left is now declaring that the right wing media, all of it, is indirectly (or even directly) responsible.  The dumbest diatribe I’ve seen so far (and the competition for that title is huge) comes from Paul Krugman’s latest column in the New York Times.

Using the Chomsky method of strongly implying things without actually saying them, he first acquits Bill O’Reily of being guilty of directly inciting murder, then blames the right wing media for the recent violent actions by right wing extremists.

He says: “And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.”

Let’s count the plethora of violent incidents that proves this point, shall we?

One: Someone murders an abortion doctor.

Two: A crazy old fart goes nuts in a holocaust museum.

Three:  There is no three.  Or four or five or six.  Hardly a plethora, is it?

Note the weasel words: “seems to have been virtually erased.”  Old Noam must be so proud.

But this paragraph really points out his extreme dishonesty:

“Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).”

Glen Beck reported the rumor, sparked by a viral video, specifically saying it was a rumor and that he’d look into it.  He didn’t just “eventually concede;” his reporters did a rather through report about the video making the claim. They tracked down the real buildings in the video, visited them, and proved it was bogus.  They thoroughly debunked the claim. That’s just a bit more extensive than “eventually conceding.”

He continues: “The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.”

We are now major stockholders in GM and most major banks.  Banks who want to pay back TARP money are being told they can’t.  How dare the RNC get it right?  (Technically, they’re off a bit.  Government ownership on this level isn’t socialist, it’s communist.  You might think Krugman, having won a Nobel prize for economics, would know the difference.  You would be wrong.  What does that tell us about the validity of the Nobel prize?)

The lefty mass media is getting increasingly pissed at any media that leans to the right, and is using these incidents to lump all conservatives – the slightly conservative, the moderately conservative, and the very conservative – in with the tin-foil-hat wing-nut crowd.  We can expect more and more of this desperation as they continue to lose their influence and market share.

But we should be delighted that Krugman and his ilk are going off like this.  While it will induce bobble headed nodding among some lefties, those with functioning brain cells may finally begin to see their spokesweasels are every bit as clueless and dishonest as many commentators on the right – maybe even more so.

9 Comment(s)

  1. Can’t really blame the democrats for the banks and GM that was because of the biggest pro government president ever.

    Don Venardos | Jun 13, 2009 | Reply

  2. I consider myself somewhere halfway between a liberal and conservative. I think health insurance would be cheaper if people could shop for it, but at the same time I don’t want the police force and fire departments run by private corporations.

    The repeal of the fairness doctrine IMO was one of the major events that I think will lead to the fall of the Republican Party as we know it. Before religion was injected into its agenda, it was the party of very smart and respectable intellectuals.

    Reagan changed all that. Now it’s the party of irrational religious fervor and reactionism. The 2008 campaign where Sarah Palin began to outshine John McCain (who is more of an “old school” republican) is a great allegory.

    The Republicans are making the mistake of trying to force feed viewpoints on too moderate of a population, and it shows. 9/11 was the best thing that ever happened to the neocons, and they got to temporarily increase their popularity, but simply letting them speak and giving them a chance to run things has done far more damage to their credibility than any fairness doctrine ever could.

    Brian | Jun 13, 2009 | Reply

  3. I agree with both of you. Bush created more Big Government than any president since FDR.

    McCain and Obama were neck and neck until McCain picked Palin. We can’t know if he would have won if he had picked differently, but Sarah cost him the election.

    Most of us are fed up with the religious right running the country. It cumulated with Bush, who presidency will go down in history as the worst ever. The GOP can continue catering to the RR, and they will remain a minority forever.

    But there is a thirst for a real liberty oriented candidate and party among so many of us that if they return to Goldwater style conservatism they can take the government back in a big way, and keep it for a long time. The GOP is facing a choice, and at the moment it doesn’t look like they’re going to make the right one. Let’s hope they wise up, because if they don’t we’re going to be a socialist country, and that’s a pit we won’t get out of in our lifetime.

    Dave Hitt | Jun 13, 2009 | Reply

  4. I have a few acquaintances who could easily be labeled part of the desperate left, some of them desperate FAR left even. It’s always a kick to see how quickly they throw labels on things while preaching tolerance and diversity.

    I was not a big fan of W and his spending. But any time I ever said anything good about W I was immediately labeled a neocon and an agent of the state by these far left loonies.

    These same people would preach against bigotry and stereotyping and in the same breath tell you that all Republicans are evil. One of them even told me once that she had never met a Republican who was not a racist.

    Thanks for your blog. It’s always interesting to read.

    Chicken Hammer | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply

  5. I get irritated as shit when people want to “censor” any type of opinion. Of course, those that wish to never consider what they do censorship. We should want EVERY opinion spoken, nay -broadcast freely -especially if we don’t necessarily agree with them.

    Chip Bridges | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply

  6. I was going to say Bush was the biggest pro government president since FDR, but I have been listening to econtalk.org podcast (I have a degree in Econ so I find it interesting, but most people wouldn’t) and although what FDR did was unprecedented, the scale of it was actually miniscule compared to the scope of government today and he cut back on spending rather quickly.

    Don Venardos | Jun 15, 2009 | Reply

  7. Dave: Right you are,I fear.

    proud kuffar | Aug 2, 2009 | Reply

  8. Sparky, I’ve got to disagree with you on this one.

    Public/shared transportation, is the cat’s meow and can very well be carried out on a large scale across vast distances and work. It has been done, and been done well–by the commies.

    You can get off a boat in St. Petersburg, Russia, get on a bus or subway, transfer to a train, and end up ten time zones away in Vladivastok without ever hitting the ground. And you can do all of this for an affordable price (and smoke on the train!), far more affordably than the expense of driving the same 8,000 or 10,000 miles in your own car, or flying.

    About the only residential real estate in America that has held its value in the current market, are homes in major job centers that are within walking distance of public transit. The farther from public transit, the farther the fall in value of the homes. This same phenomena can be seen all over the world.

    Public transit works. It makes cities work–London, Paris, Moscow, New York, Tokyo, Chicago–would never have achieved the success they enjoy without comprehensive usable public transportation moving their millions and millions of people where they need to go.

    I really think you need to re-evaluate your dismissal of ground public transportation in America as infeasible and unworkable. Go out into the world to see countries, l_a_r_g_e countries, like India and Russia and China where public transportation is widespread, to see how well it really can and does work.

    The American public transit hellhole myth seems to be one you bought. Think about returning it for a refund.

    M. Harrison | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply

  9. Arrgggh, did I attach this comment to the wrong thread?

    My bad. :(

    M. Harrison | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply

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