When "Morning in Amerika" dawned, "Liberals" were on the breakfast menu.

Except for a few stubborn scraps of proto-Green tree-huggers, and pools of the drying yolk of identity politics, Liberals (such as they are) were effectively scraped from the Sphere of Consensus and dumped into the Sphere of Deviance.

Consider that clueless pissants like Joe Klein and Richard Cohen remain as token liberals to give the corporate media commentariat the illusion of breadth and balance. Mark Shields, although relatively inoffensive, also comes to mind as a Beltway centrist ostensibly skeptical and cynical of politicians.

The purpose of programs like "Meet the Press" has nothing to do with their ostensive purpose of providing accurate and salient reporting, and insightful analysis of current events for the altruistic purpose of keeping the masses informed and competent.

MTP exists to manufacture consent-- in this context, to define the Spheres of Consensus and Legitimate Debate, and ensure that the boundaries are maintained. Über-Gatekeeper Jack Welch assembled a cadre of Irish-Amerikan Catholics for this purpose, including the depraved Brian Williams, Tweety Matthews, and the late Tim Russert.

The process is circular, or iterative, insofar as the producers choose topics, background reports, and panelists in accordance with predetermined biases or "scripts", and ensure that the panelists are reputable in conventional, orthodox spheres of discourse.

That is, the panelist must not only appear to be conversant on the specific topic; the panelist must also ratify and reinforce the legitimacy of the reporting and discussion with personal authority.

Because MTP ostensibly exists in the Sphere of Legitimate Debate, it can't very well simply provide a blow-haired, BB-brained text reader leading a chorus of opinionators flatly declaring what is orthodox (patriotic) and what is deviant. So of course these programs disseminate their world-view in an ostensibly open, rational discussion format-- and occasionally let a Ralph Nader or other Known Deviant in to function as a foil and preserve the abovementioned appearance of breadth and balance.

And don't be fooled by teevee's occasional willingness to display occasional respect and affection for old-school, die-hard liberalism, whether in posthumous hagiography or stories of maverick politicians going against the grain.

To sum up, whatever decent and redeeming elements of "liberalism" survived the Sixties were banished to the corporate media-fenced Amerikan gulag of the Sphere of Deviance long ago. They were replaced permanently by a motley Rogues Gallery of Faux-Liberal Media Zombies.

Any "liberal" welcomed to Amerikan weekly infotainwhore bonfires is part of the "special effects", on the order of Jar-Jar Binks.

PS: And now that the word is out that Glenn is simply a degenerate self-important blogger-- and moreover, a snake who would call his own mother a liar if she dared to piss him off by flooding the airwaves, blogosphere, and print media with narcissistic prattle, putrescent piety, incessant inaccuracies, ignorance, and disinformation-- I don't think he'll be getting any calls from the networks.

God knows, bernbart warned him!

James Wilkes Booth?

I started to read my Jones comment-- then I noticed that it wasn't my Jones comment!

What are the freaking odds?

This terse AP wire report caught my eye:

Obama adviser Van Jones resigns amid controversy

Sep 5th, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- The White House says President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones is resigning amid controversy over past inflammatory statements.

Van Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs," is linked to efforts suggesting a governmental role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.

Jones issued an apology on Thursday. When asked the next day whether Obama still had confidence in him, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said only that Jones "continues to work in the administration."

The White House issued a statement early Sunday saying Jones had quit the administration.
__________________________________________

According to a more detailed report-- Obama Adviser on Green Jobs Under Attack by Joe Garofoli September 5, 2009 [link@sig], Jones is being denounced by Republicans because:

1.) He signed a 2004 petition by 911Truth.org, which wants attention paid to "unanswered questions that suggest that people within the (Bush) Administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."

2.) He called Republicans "assholes"-- but not "major-league assholes" during a February, 2009 speech, in which he used the same term to describe himself and the political resolve needed to move legislation.

By all indications, Obama wasn't sorry to see him go. The last thing Obama needs hung around his neck is the accusation that he's Soft on Backwards-Looking Tinfoil-Hatted Potty-Mouthed Subversives.

Following in the footsteps of the "Don't tase me, bro!" kid, who recanted in courts and begged to be forgiven for inciting a justifiable tasing, Jones tried to renounce his seditious impulse and restore his bona-fides as a decent, respectable 9/11 Falsie.

But it was too little, too late.

• If you're referring to the "very significant decision" link, it just worked for me on Firefox 3.5.2

• I abandoned the "Atlantic Monthly" when it jolted rightwards in the aftermath of 9/11, aka the Michael Kelly Interlude.

But for some reason I always felt that James Fallows had an inner Broder who would assert itself in due course.