Kristol's belief about lying to "ordinary citizens" sounds remarkably like the views of the C street FAMILY who think that they have been "chosen" by god and that they are above average people and can do things that average people can not.

Sharlet: The Family began with this idea that God does not work through churches but rather through those whom The Family calls the “New Chosen.” They believe they’re chosen by God. They can’t be expected to pray with the rest of us. They need to pray in private with people of equal status.

When you join one of these prayer groups, you give these men veto power over your life, over every aspect of your life. Wives involved with The Family have said, “In my husband’s life, his brothers come first, I come second.”

snip

Doug Coe, David Coe’s father and leader of The Family fellowship going back to the mid ’60s, likes to call The Family “The Christian Mafia.” I knew Coe when I was part of The Family. He explained what it means to be a chosen politician.

Talking to another man, he said, “Let me explain to you the concept of ‘chosen.’ Suppose I hear you raped three little girls. What would I think of you?”

The man says, “You would think I was awful, a monster.”

And Doug Coe said, “No, I would not, because you’re chosen, and when you’re chosen, the normal rules don’t apply.”

link at sig

As for the comments Olbermann made tonight on Countdown -- in which he denied that GE barred him from mentioning O'Reilly and even mocked O'Reilly for working at a place (Fox) where corporate pressures restrict editorial freedom (claiming that such a thing would never, ever happen at MSNBC) -- for the moment, I will simply note what I wrote on Twitter: "Really surprised by the Olbermann denial -- there's lots and lots of evidence that the NYT's description about what GE did is 100% accurate."

In his Daily Kos post Keith never actually denied that GE barred him from mentioning O'Reilly. He only denied that MSNBC and NBC had. For all we know GE barred him until all hell broke loose on this story. After all of the reporting they may have backed off because of the pressure or maybe the execs at MSNBC and NBC finally pushed back because of the embarrassment factor?

Primarily, there is no “deal” between MSNBC and Fox over what we can and cannot cover.

But there is no “deal.” I would never consent, and, fortunately, MSNBC and NBC News would never ask me to.

The level of cowardice in government and the media is truly pathetic. I'm totally disgusted with all of them. I don't know how these phony "patriots" live with themselves. They all talk a good game but when it really counts they turn tail and run the other way. They deserve only our contempt.

For those who were already familiar with Klein's self-serving pettiness, I'm sure that his cowardly, back stabbing attacks against Glenn come as no surprise. What boggles the mind is that he actually thought that by writing that ridiculous blog post attacking Glenn again that he could somehow deflect attention away from his own snake like behavior.

Broder is SO ethically challenged. I'm not surprised to see that Brad DeLong caught him lying again. Remember when he lied to the ombudsman at the Post about his paid corporate speeches? I can't believe he is still employed.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/06/hbc-90003124

Keep up the good work, Glenn. At least we now know that merely pointing out the truth is enough to rattle people like Joe Klein, Johnathan Alter and other establishment media types who long ago gave up being real journalists. Who knew it was that simple. LOL

Hypocrisy Writ Large

I'm glad to see that Glenn is at least on the list of the Atlantic's supposedly most influential commentators. What a pity that there are so many above his ranking that shouldn't be included much less be ahead of Greenwald.

I look forward to the day when Glenn Greenwald is at #1 or #2 on their list. When that day happens maybe we will be at the point where we can finally take our country back. Until then my compliments to Glenn for his excellent work (great column today too!) and my congratulations to him for being recognized for that body of work. I hope the NYT takes note and hires Glenn as a columnist. No offense to Salon but I'd love for Glenn to reach and even wider audience so that he can influence many more people.

Great column, Glenn. I especially enjoyed reading the "update."

Good observation, Glenn. I've often thought that rank and file members of both political parties have far more in common with each other than they do with their leaders. The Party leaders of both the Republican Party and Democratic Party are like two peas in a pod when it comes to advancing corporate interests. I dare say without the dishonest left/right framing of issues by our corporate media this fact would be even more apparent to everyone.

I also think that Glenn Beck is laying the groundwork to help Mike Huckabee in his next run for President. Of all the Republican candidates I fear Huckabee the most because he knows how to play the populist game very well and he is especially adept at exploiting the unrest of the people in order to peel off traditional Democratic voters while at the same time holding onto the Republican base. He is certainly a Republican to watch.