Letters to the Editor
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IT'S THE RIGHT WING NOISE MACHINE, STUPID!
It's the Right Wing Noise Machine, Stupid! (or should be the "Stupid Right Wing Noise Machine," which still runs the show as far as mainstream media is concerned.) With GMA yesterday having a "Bill O'Reilly" segment, etc. the RWNM is still as strong as ever, and even noiser than ever. I haven't yet checked to see if the Zogby poll is reality or not, but, if it is, we still have a very loud MSM-RWNM echo chamber to overcome. By the way, Glenn, you should not allow "Anonymous" posts on your blog. In response to your Hitler blog, there are a couple of "Anonymous" posts, one of which is quite offensive. If someone can't come up with a handle that identifies them, tough luck for them.
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Media Case Study
That segment on the NewsHour was a fascinating case study in modern media. An articulate, well-prepared and calm advocate for what might be called the "reality" position, Zakaria, was on against a founding neo-con, freely articulating his position. The contrast was stunning.
It was also sadly amusing to watch Judy Woodruff attempting to moderate. The non-stop tirade (raving?) of a Podhoretz doesn't conform well to the ever-so-polite 'we take turns' format of the NewsHour, which he uses to advantage. P. demonstrated a familiar right-wing tactic, continuing to talk after delivering an insane charge against his opponent, knowing that the moderator would prevent Zakaria from interrupting to respond immediately. Later, he repeatedly tried to launch into long readings, daring Woodruff to interrupt him, knowing that it would be against her instincts and the 'rules' of the NewsHour format.
Kudos to Zakaria for being prepared with a Mao quote just as crazy as the ones P. was throwing, so he could prove that we've survived loonies with nukes before. Zakaria did a fine job of remaining calm and slightly bemused, helping to gently set the frame as 'Podhoretz is a raving loon', which P. did his best to demonstrate to be true. I would have preferred Z. to spend a second laughing at the ways Iran is in no way like Germany in the 30s, which was a top world industrial, financial and scientific power, but one can't have everything.
Still, the 'objective' NewsHour format meant they ended the segment as equals. Arguments thrown, but no conclusion drawn, and in the end the calm, fact-based case and the wild, irrational one are given equal weight in the context of the program. (Though P. did make Woodruff stumble by throwing in one final raving during the 'quiet time' outro before the end of the segment. I don't think that helped his case.)
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Appeasers and tough guys
And you've gotta love those economic sanctions, dontcha? Iran wants to be European, wants to do bizness with the Germans and the French and join the EU someday. But Bush is jawboning the Euros to break up with Iran. Guess what Iran does? Starts doing bizness with China, who becomes their next best friend. That's gonna do us a lot of good fifty years from now, isn't it, Norm?
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Let's extend the Hitler metaphor
"Allah help us if we don't take on the Great Satan -- the USA/Israel. Like Hitler, Bush/Olmert makes up lies to invade our lands and establish permanent control over our resources."
Ignore any "news" program that would have on Podhoretz / Kristol / Krauthammer / etc. There is a difference between an opposing ideological view and deceptive propaganda based on lies.
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Question
Did News Hour have Podhoretz on to show what a buffoon he is and discredit the strike Iran faction or was it truly to provide two valid, opposite views?
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this Pod dude reminds me of The Residents second LP...
The Third Reich 'n' Roll, released in 1976:
Better realized and executed than their first album, it also generated controversy due to its cover art which featured television entertainer Dick Clark in a Nazi uniform holding a carrot while surrounded by swastikas and pictures of a dancing Adolf Hitler in both male and female dress. A version was marketed in the 1980s for German consumption which heavily censored much of the cover art.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Reich_%27n%27_Roll
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--Anonymous at 9:09
What a dumb ass. If we are going that far down the road, who's to say if Iran were to use the bomb they didn't bomb your half, which of course would mean your half probably would not be cheering, but chin up the other half will still certainly be astonished.
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RetiredMP
Question
Did News Hour have Podhoretz on to show what a buffoon he is and discredit the strike Iran faction or was it truly to provide two valid, opposite views?
-- Retired Military Patriot
Answer:
The News Hour has David Brooks on once a week. They don't know a shill from a rock.
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Love the News Hour, but...
You have to admit, they're VERY sympathetic to Israel. I don't know if that's because the Jewish community is more generous with its donations, or its more educated citizens tend to be viewers or what, but if something's going on in or about Israel, that's half the night's show for a week. Thus Nutjob Podhoretz plays to a significant part of PBS's base.
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--CarolynC
So the latest right wing propaganda has Americans not forgetting that Iran took Americans hostage in 1979, and are still so awesomely pissed 28 years later that they want America to unilaterally invade/bomb yet another sovereign state.
I am starting to be afraid these folks can reach such high levels of stupidity that they actually become transcendent. They transcend the earthly plane on the wings of ignorance and stupidity to land in the glowing frothy forests of ... I have no idea, some really fukked up place.
Moreover, I am still trying to understand what threat Iran would pose with a bomb. If they ever actually used the bomb, oops, where Iran used to be suddenly becomes a charred radioactive hole. The only purpose the A-bomb would have for Iran is defensive as in if they had one now, they would not have to worry as much about a-holes like Bush unilaterally bombing or invading their country.
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This is, like, just so 60ish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4yaaCFda8o
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Pardon men, fellow Saloners
...but since old Norm has now been the topic of several of Glenn's posts, can we now talk about the fact that the entire Bush presidency has followed the neoconservative's blueprint for it, as laid out by the Pods, Cheneys and Kristols at the PNAC?
They said "Our policy isn't favorable to the general American public, so it probably can't be implemented without another Pearl Harbor-like event."
We got 9/11.
They said "Wouldn't it be sweet if we could install favorable regimes in Middle Eastern oil states and guarantee our access to energy resources?"
We got Iraq and Afghanistan.
Time and again, people on this site refuse to achnowledge that the PNAC's plan for America has been carried out almost in its entirety by the Bush administration.
The PNAC are disgusting, imperialistic scumbags, and they know it. The only reason people haven't made the connection directly between Kristol, Kagan and Bush is because even left-leaning media outlets (read: like this one) refuse to articulate the fact that: a)Bush and Cheney are neoconservatives, b)politicians implement policy they favor when elected to office, c)Bush and Cheney did just that after the 2000 theft.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?