Monday, October 17, 2016

Fundraiser Day Two: They Made a Desert and Called It Journalism*




In the grand tradition of Mr. David Brooks. ace professional journalist person, Ron Fournier, is busy, busy, busy rewriting history (again) to comport with how he wishes things to have been.  Sure he has blocked me on Twitter, but I'm clever that way:





In the grand tradition of Bloody Bill Kristol, noted Conservative Cabbage Patch Idiot, Erick Erickson is -- for no explicable reason -- suddnely respectable enough to be invited to the Serious People's Table.  In this case, we find Ewick Son of Ewick opining piously in the New York Times (about which much more later.)
Erick Erickson: The G.O.P. After Donald Trump
And in the grand tradition of Michael Gerson, Mr. Charlie Sykes of Milwaukee Conservative talk radio is quitting his job to spend more time with with hi family appearing on MSNBC panels saying things with Breathless Five-Alarm Shock which Liberals have been saying for 25 years:
Charlie Sykes on 'darker forces' and his own complicity in the GOP's unraveling

When Charlie Sykes announced that he was stepping down from conservative talk radio after 23 years, he said that his decision wasn’t driven by the bizarre political season that gave rise to Donald Trump.

But in an interview with Sean Illing published on Wednesday on Vox, the 62-year-old talk radio mainstay conceded that the “dark forces” unleashed by Trump’s candidacy had a lot to do with his departure.

“Well, it made it a lot easier,” Sykes said. “You basically feel the world kind of shifting under your feet and you look around and say, OK, I’m a conservative talk radio host in a world in which the conservative media is basically setting itself on fire. Do I really want to still be part of this?”

The mid-day host on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, Sykes was a leading voice in the #NeverTrump movement, which culminated in Ted Cruz’ victory over Trump in the Wisconsin primary. But now Sykes is questioning the support his more traditional brand of conservatism has from listeners.
...

In the Vox interview, Sykes admitted being surprised by Trump’s rise, something he thought unthinkable a year ago, even though conservative talk radio for years has been voicing many of the same views that have mobilized Trump’s base.

Illing noted, “Conservative media has been flirting with these darker forces for decades. Trump is the culmination of something, not the beginning.”
...

Sykes’ response: “If you and I had this conversation a year ago, I would’ve disagreed with you vigorously. I would’ve said, ‘There you go again with the darker forces garbage.’ Conservatives have been accused of this for years. But obviously there’s some truth to what you’ve just said.”

And he conceded his complicity in the conservative movement’s embrace of those darker forces.

“I’m different than Rush Limbaugh, but there’s no question that we got caught up in certain word salad, certain narratives that perhaps we did not fully understand how they were playing among our base"...
When you have been so flagrantly and toxically wrong for so long -- when your professional accomplishments amount to either setting the fire or shredding the fire-hoses and kneecapping people who have been trying to sound the alarm -- the only honorable thing for you to do now that the blaze has consumed everything you once claimed to care about is to go away.

Put down the microphone, back away from the keyboard, delete your Twitter account and go away,

But people like this are not going to go away are they?

In fact, after Trump, people like this -- the "Wrong All Along" caucus -- will be the future of political journalism.

Just you wait and see,


* (h/t Publius Tacitus, "To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.")

9 comments:

Jimbo said...

That's right. Sykes may now be embarrassed by the Orcs yapping around Trump but you can bet he's totally down with the ZEGS and his "agenda" to basically destroy the economy and screw the poor once and for all. For people like Sykes, it's about the tone, the manners not the policies actually being put forward by America's radical reactionaries and Christofacists.

dinthebeast said...

"...certain narratives that perhaps we did not fully understand how they were playing among our base"

Bullshit. Just because you have been caught and don't want to be punished too much for what you did, so fucking what? You still did it. We will not forget. Perhaps forgive you as a person if you earn it, but your crimes? You own them.
The Rude Pundit was saying something similar today also:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2016/10/yeah-sorry-but-fuck-donald-trumps.html

-Doug in Oakland

Neo Tuxedo said...

Put down the microphone, back away from the keyboard, delete your Twitter account and go away,

"Are you, right now, working on an [sic] piece explaining why London's bright young media elite prefer a particular brand of beer, or shoe, or historical figure or something, whereas what you should REALLY be doing is taking a solemn vow to never actually write anything ever again? [...] You could smash your computer, slice your fingers off and sew your lips together with wire and not one person would notice or care."

jim said...

"Certain word salad was tossed."

Pablo in the Gazebo said...

Hey, there's no donate suppository at the bottom of this post.

Pablo in the Gazebo said...

It's at the top you say?
Way up there?

mcfrank said...

I have to admit I misread the title as "They made a dessert..." and my subsequent thought was "it's also a floor wax!".

Glitterbug said...

the "Wrong All Along" caucus needs its own Twitter bomb.

A Hall of Shame, as it were, that can be easily updated.

Robt said...

@ equal sides, eh?

Where is my equal alternative to Sluch Limpaw, Drudge, Ingraham, FOX and all it's brought up and owned affiliates. All the Comcast right promotions. Right down to the print news.
Recent news paper titles this election,
"Paper endorses Hillary for first time since the Dinosaurs roamed the earth".

I recall the rights whining that they do not get to have a media place to go to and be heard. Oh, they got on the TV and they were heard.
What they meant was, being able to lie, mislead, etc. and not be challenged but to be praised for the deceit and to have it enabled and disseminated and presented long enough for it to be believed. Because no one not many were able to hear the end facts and surmise themselves as being suckered.

Using this approach,
This site is rigged against Trump. I have proof and will reveal it soon and it will blow all this election rigging against Trump out of the water. Trust me. Believe me. many people tell me. Many smart and rich people, believe me.
Breaking News;
Professional left rigs election against Trump.
Mysterious sources reporting left leaning commie sites on web are lying about Trump.
Trump promises to put them in prison (GITMO) and then follow up with a prosecutor to get goods on them. He will appoint a judge that will promise to convict.
hannity reports "Small unintrusive Government Trump being victimized by lies", That, Rounding up all the dirty fucking hippies will start on day one and their deportations as Mexicans will follow".
I know, a sad confused sarcastic view.
But really,
We have a political party that so politicizes the SCOTUS they spit on a 27 year Justice from the Fed Courts. If he was bad, why did they not remove him?
Not that they aren't using it as a campaign issue on tax dollars as Ben Gazzara and his emails.
All written, scripted, directed and produced by your do nothing majorities in Congress.
My moment of nonsense here was brought to you by, "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy".
paid for with tax dollars.