Before we build any statues or name any grand public squares after Carl Bernstein, take a moment to really listen to what he is really doing here.
Because to my tired ears this sounds a whole lot less like Mario Savio and whole lot more like Beltway Damage Control.
Sure Carl bravely took a few, free shots at the biggest, fattest, batshit-leakingest pinata in the media today -- namely the lunacy of this guy
being allowed to single-handedly shut down the United States government and credibly threaten to trigger a global "Dump The Dollar!" economic pandemic and the corollary lunacy of the media trying to hang the blame for it all around the necks of "Both Sides".
But the astute listener will also note that Carl makes it abundantly clear that while he believes the charge of Media False Equivalency is correct, it is correct this one-time-only. It is a remarkably stupid point he drives home repeatedly and emphatically in an almost almost Friedmanesque manner -- as if his invitation to the homes of Very Important People was riding on him making Very Clear that for pretty much every other issue on pretty much any other day of the week, the Dirty Hippies really are just as bad and just as much to blame as the Wingnuts.
What with their Cable Teevees and their ideological inflexibility and their Loud Rock and Roll Music and such!
6 comments:
What if both parties want a war with Afghanistan?
What if one only party wants to restrict abortion?
What if both parties want to drone Sudan?
What if only one party wants to prevent blacks from voting?
What if both parties want to codify illegal search and seizure?
What if only one party is homophobic?
What if both parties want to ignore torture and war crimes?
What if only one party wants to cut food stamps?
What if both parties want to reduce Social Security benefits by using a chained consumer price index?
What if nobody, Anywhere, wants to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour?
What if Barack Obama is slightly to the right of Richard "tricky Dick" Nixon?
What if America was a country where sometimes it was the the fault of "both sides" and at other times it wasn't? What if America was a country where, on occasion, both parties collude to enact legislation on behalf of the 1% or the military industrial complex, and at other times only the Republicans wanted to screw me?
So, Democrats have more thoughtful views on civil rights, certain areas of the social safety net and the environment and this has consequences.
I'm reading This Town, and I highly recommend it. One of the recurring themes is how insecure and needy these people are (politicos and journos). There is also an excellent history about the rise of the Political/Entertainment Complex. I'm trying to get some insight into The Villagers' collective Achilles Heel.
Remember that the Morans guy was a plant (one of ours, that is). Not that nobody is that stupid--plenty of them are that stupid, and more--but he wasn't.
ice9
I was heartened by the mere fact that, on my very TeeVee, two people were talking about how people who get paid piles of money to talk ON THE TEEVEE engage in this 'both sides are the same kinda bad' bullshit, and specifically said that it IS bullshit. I did notice Carl's pulling his punches by claiming this is a recent development. Yelled something like "it's been 30 years, Carl!" at the television at that point. But still heartened, even if it was only on MSNBC. (You listening, Chuck?)
What if both parties want to reduce Social Security benefits by using a chained consumer price index?
Not exactly true.
Some members of one party are open to using the CPI. The other party views Social Security as illegitimate, and wants to destroy it.
What if Barack Obama is slightly to the right of Richard "tricky Dick" Nixon?
I think this is wrong, but it's meaningless, because not only is Nixon not running, he's kind of dead. It's kind of like arguing that Obama is much further left than Mussolini.
Well, it's pretty obvious what's going on. The BSDI Magick isn't working this time, because in this instance, it's so clearly obvious that it's not both sides. So some damage control is necessary in order to save the efficacy BDSI Magick. This damage control consists of saying, "Okay, it's the right-wing Republicans losing their minds this time, but all the other times, Both Sides Do It."
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