Dr. Vox makes an ominous discovery:
How conservative media helped the far-right take over the Republican PartyOne of these days before I vanish from blogging entirely, I hope I can snag me one a' them there job at one a' them there magazine.
Most people who follow politics are aware that something unusual is going on in the Republican party — unusual relative to major conservative parties in other developed democracies and unusual relative to American history. GOP leaders no longer appear in control of their own agenda. Instead, they are being dragged from crisis to failure to embarrassment and back to crisis by the most extreme elements of their coalition. The far right has captured the party.
Over at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, where she was a fellow this spring, longtime New York Times political reporter Jackie Calmes has released a long, fascinating discussion paper on the role of the conservative media in this state of affairs: "'They Don’t Give a Damn about Governing': Conservative Media’s Influence on the Republican Party."
...
And when that happens, my plan is to set up an algorithm to go through my archives, pick out old posts, touch them up with a few modern accessories ("I was just reading a study...on InstaGram!") and reprint them as edgy and new.
And then I will retire to a hammock in some sylvan glade with my brood, there to watch the money pour in on autopilot and laugh and laugh and laugh. I figure if I tweak it right, I can still be making bank well after I'm dead.
14 comments:
I don't know how many times when commenting elsewhere I've said "I'm paraphrasing Driftglass now, but you should really go read him yourself..."
-Doug in Oakland
If you succeed in your endeavor (and I wish you well in it no doubt) you'll need to get a dog for photo-op purposes like Brooks has. I suggest the names "Both Sides" or "Whig Fan Fiction" (Whiggy for short?) or Shucky (ie Chuck Todd)?
Off topic:
I installed Windows 10 on one of my laptops yesterday.
I went back to Windows 7 about an hour ago. Microsoft gets one good grade for making the return easy.
You deserve it. You and Gilly.
Who wants to bet she will not be invited to Meet The Press?
Actually, she could be as some kind of "Ground breaking researcher, shining a light into a world we never knew existed!™". The podcast interview linked to her is a somewhat interesting listen for it's utter lack of a clue. Sprinkled, of course, with a dash of both sides. ("There isn't anything out there that compares to Limbaugh or Fox? Why I had no idea!")
Grown adults, trained in journalism, making a living/covering this for a living, and they have no idea what is going on in the city they live in every day. The Twilight of Our Elites to steal a phrase.
Question
Using your own definition of a liberal. Who would you name as the last republican liberal? Before the purity onslaught inquisition.
Also too, mr jon stewart went more than full Driftglass and went "stealing directly from Driftglass" with one of his punchlines last night: "the calls are coming from inside the house".
ok, I suppose it could just be a case of great minds think alike.
@Don Paul
I didn't click on the article or the podcast, but the piece DG quoted was enough to convey the breathless bewilderment and I'm shocked, shocked vibe of the story. I hope you are right about it being the Twilight of the Elite. The sun can't sink fast enough for me.
I have another rant about media moral bankruptcy in a different context but it's really OT here.
Point of clarification - my description related to the NYT piece, not Dr. Vox.
OT for this post, but in a memo to MSNBC staffers, Phil Griffith confirmed that Chuckles is part of the new afternoon lineup at M-ESSN-BullCrap:
http://deadline.com/2015/07/msnbc-confirms-change-is-hard-chuck-todd-in-the-cycle-now-with-alex-wagner-the-ed-show-out-1201488040/
Please note Mr. Griffith's astute observation of Mr. Toddler's talents:
"Beginning in a few weeks, Chuck Todd will bring his unmatched brand of political insight and analysis back to MSNBC with a daily one-hour program. That show will air weekdays at 5pm."
"...unmatched brand of political insight and analysis.."
We don't make the same quality radical right wing here in America that they do in Europe.
At least the fascists, brutal and aggressive as they were, knew how to govern a country. The Italian fascists managed to make the trains run on time. Our radical right wing nutjobs can only make their mouths run. All they can do is sabotage and shut down.
And then there's the way they dress. What's with the dunce-caps (pointy hats)? Who thought that would look cool as part of the uniform? Really? And the long flowing robes that they wear while they play with fire? *Fooooom* *Aaaaaaahhhhh* "Uh oh, looks like Bubba just burned to death" "Yeah, I wonder why that keeps happening, Billy Bob".
Yes, I know. They're scary people but they also scream to be made fun of. Sure the Nazis were evil but at least they knew how to dress. And when they burned books and played with fire, they wore tight uniforms (safety first) and you have to know they had "stop, drop and roll" down to military precision.
We just do not make good quality ignorant wackjob right-wing bigots here in America.
Yeah, studly he-man totalitarians are more efficient than the soft, effete Lockean Anglophones.
That's why the Axis won WW2.
What? That didn't happen? Oh, right, the Allies had their own totalitarian powerhouse, led by studly Uncle Joe.
Well then, the totalitarian USSR must have turned around and mopped the floor with those soft Anglophones and won the Cold War!
Oh, that didn't happen, either?
Holy Haruhi, could it be that the superior efficinecy of totalitarianism is a myth? ;)
*sigh* I meant "efficiency".
I wish the user-hostile system known as Blogger had an "edit" feature like the anime forum where I also post comments has--or that I could afford to buy Drifty a deluxe forum. :P
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