When he is not preening in the reflected prestige of the accomplishments of other, actual journalists --
Trust in press over last 50 years hit its highest point in midst/aftermath of Watergate. We are at our best when we hold power accountable
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) August 23, 2017
-- these days Mr. Dowd keeps busy doing what he always does: scolding Both Sides because nobody has any business criticizing anyone for anything until their own back yard is fucking pristine.
Oh sure, Nazis are bad --
Yes, we need to push back strongly when groups such as white supremacists and neo-Nazis advocate a hate-based ideology and members intimidate with violence or the threat of violence. Absolutely that must be clearly and unequivocally denounced, with no moral equivalence.-- but other than Nazis, it's Both Sides Do It all the way down:
OPINION: To stop extremist hate and violence, we have to look within ourselves
The problem today is that many people claim one tribe and point to the other tribes as the "really bad ones." ...
The real solution to this moral crisis is to step up in our own circles and clean our own houses before we point the finger across the street...
However, I have noticed that the "right" often says that the real problem in America is leftist radicals or radical Islamic terrorists. The "left" often points the finger at radicals on the right or extremist Christians as the underlying issue...
Until we move away from the "yes we have problems, but look how bad the other side is" mentality, we will never heal this country...
In fact, this time Mr. Dowd goes even further, promising that from now on he will lock his ideological deflectors on maximum and answer every question about everything with a fusillade of "Whatabouts":
So when somebody on the right tells me we need to focus on the left or on Islam, I am going to ask “What are you doing about right wing extremists?” And I will do the same to those on the left.Yes, Mr. Dowd really is ABC News' chief political analyst.
Yes, he actually gets paid an big pile of American money for this.
And yes, Mr. Dowd really, really dislikes it when anyone presumes to call him on his ridiculous claptrap.
Behold, a Tip Jar!
9 comments:
What a putz.
The confounding thing here is that there's any remuneration in it.
It's like paying a dog to shit.
It requires no intellectual effort on the dog's part and the product is dog shit.
Actually, I would imagine it required enormous effort to maintain this level of willful ignorance and to keep oneself deliberately walled off from a whole universe of inconvenient facts.
"The "left" often points the finger at radicals on the right or extremist Christians as the underlying issue..."
No, Le Mat, Republicans. Can you say Republicans? Didn't think so. Why don't you take a cookie and go practice until you can say it.
-Doug in Oakland
driftglass, I know all attention is currently focused on the Orange Abomination From Beyond The Nameless Void...
That which is shameless can never die, and with strange aeons can make a new lie...
But I think we need to consider the future that Dowd and Kristol and Frum and Wilson and Nichols and everyone who's dabbled in the "Never Trumper" camp are setting us up for.
Random white "moderate" pundit in 2020:
"YES, we know the traitorous criminal Trump was a racist Know-Nothing who hurt the middle class and poor of America out of spiteful hatred! But look at the NEW Republican candidate! He doesn't shit on the floor! He doesn't vomit out meaningless babble on Twitter! He doesn't praise Nazis! He wants to exploit immigrant labor like a true leader, not drive them overseas! He bombs Afghanistan for all the RIGHT reasons! HOW PRESIDENTIAL!---Oh god, Oh god, Oahhh!--AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!.........I'm done."
This is the future Both Siders want.
Let us repeat now the latest Bothsides mantra:
Donald Trump is bad, but left-wing Donald Trump - who surely exists because I can imagine him - is equally bad, and it's telling that the Left refuses to condemn him.
Questions such as "Which left-wing extremists, exactly?" and "What precisely have these left-wing extremists done that's as bad as the shit that Republicans are pulling?" are, of course, heresies that have been stricken from the canon.
Well, a brief list of "left wing extremism" in the last 8 years includes a depression avoiding stimulus, healthcare reform, more workers rights, more consumer rights, more individual rights, more environmental protections, massive leaps in revamping our energy infrastructure, education investments, and criminal code reforms.
We, like good liberals, can debate the details of these efforts, BUT the fact of the matter is our tribe's "extremist agenda" has been about creating a more just and fair society for all regardless of which "extremist tribe" a person belongs to.
The Right wants it all for them, only them, and they demand people not of their tribe visibly suffer for not agreeing with them. This is how they can cheer school lunch programs being cut so billionaires can have another $200 back on their taxes.
For Mr. Dowd's Senior Political Analyst argument to work to all, society has to be a zero sum game. He needs to be able to conclusively prove that, for example, homosexuals being free to marry does in fact harm someone who claims homosexuality is an abhorrent sin to the extent that dehumanizing other humans is not only ok, but a God given commandment.
Dowd breaks bread with the same mobsters, pimps and assholes who act as fawning fluffers for guys like Trump. These people all deserve and have earned each others' misery.
One can't help be reminded of the fact that, in the run-up to US entry into WWII, one line of argument being peddled by the America First Committee and their ilk was that FDR and/or Stalin were just as bad or worse than Hitler. The'Both Siderist' virus has a long history and mutates and adapts as circumstances require.
How, exactly, did "the left" and "radical Islam" get lumped together? Unwavering belief in the infallibility of 2000 year of stories is a hallmark of a conservative....
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