Letters to the Editor
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You Rascal You
Sammy Davis Jr and WFB Jr were both born in 1925.
Here's Sammy singing "You Rascal You" back in 1932.
http://youtube.com?v=UswEDLPkVt4
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What triggers such Russert moments?
Two things must be disavowed by anyone seeking office (and the Russert police will always be on the spot to make sure it happens):
- Any suggestion that Israel is not always right (notice how Russert conflated Farrakhan's antisemitism with a candidate's stand on Israel).
- Any suggestion that there is merit to a leader leader who places the needs of the poor above the wants of multi-national corporations (in action, not rhetoric).
These are the only two things that are always off limits -- things for which you will get crucified by the media and all of your gutless peers. And while the way Russert enforced these loyalty oaths on Obama was racist (Belefante and Farrakhan), that was simply the means, not the ends.
Fact check my hypothesis: name just one person who is respected and given a platform by the media who is also openly critical of Israeli government policy, or actively takes the side of those who put the world's poor before trans-national corporations. President Carter comes the closest, and he is no longer respected by the media because of his views -- and he's a former president. That's powerful thought policing.
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Amplifying the message.
It's really depressing when I see the "you're saying nothing therefore you agree" lie actually gets results. It's a common tactic, but its not only dishonest but it can be seriously harmful.
Taken to the exreme, it can result in hundreds of American websites that seem to exist in order to post terrorist video propaganda so they can condemn it.
The fact that THEY are the ones spreading the message they pretend to hate is totally lost on them.
I have never in my life poined out that Rev. Phelps of the Westboro Babtist Church is one of the vilest people on the face of the planet.
Anyone who cares to conclude from this ommision that I DON"T think he's vile, is not only dishonest, but is probably harboring a little bit of "vile" himself.
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IRS and who they go after
The IRS is/was going after a conservative Baptist minister, Drake, in Orange County, CA who endorsed Huckabee. You can only support the establishment Republican candidate safely, I guess. I doubt this will continue though, now that some of the big gun evangelicals have since come out in favor for Huckabee...
Drake has caused commotion in the past with his disregard of zoning laws, he let homeless people sleep in his church without permits, etc.
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This is McCain acting rational in an irrational environment
If the beltway media acted rationally, this would be the kiss of death for McCain's campaign. In fact, McCain would run from Hagee.
But Russert et al. are not rational people. And, since McCain wants to gain support from a rightwing that is suspicious of him, he goes to a rightwing nut to show he's one of them.
As for the disparate treatment shown by Russert, I can't say what causes it. Is he a racist? Has he been cowed by the right and therefore holds them to a different and far easier standard? Or is Russert himself sympathetic to rightwing arguments and fearmongering?
It could be any or all of these. One thing is for sure. Russert is a horrid journalist.
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You answered your own question
Could it have to do with Israeli Militarism? Maybe Christians United for Israel has something to do with it? Or certain warmongering zionist elements inside of Israel? Or maybe Christian Zionists who are looking to bring on the rapture and see Israel as a useful tool in that regard?
Could it possibly have something to do with the American Taboo of criticizing Israeli Policy within the US for fear of being branded a Hilter loving Holocaust Denying anti-Semite by the rabid Zionists at AIPAC and paranoid ADL witch hunters?
Did I mention Israel?
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Obama
Needs to reject Snoop Dog and O.J. Simpson for damn sure.
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How Tim Russert gets to be where he is
Tim Russert is both a creature and acolyte of the anti-democratic identification of citizenship with property. The only effective exorcism of such creatures, and of the demiurge which created them, is free public education, which is why the leadership of the Republican Party takes every opportunity to cripple it. The rank-and-file of the party despises it for other reasons, none of which is actually in their own interest.
(Yes, I know full well that free means taxing the propertied to pay for it. I'm a liberal, after all.)
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Last Night
O'Reilly's extended lead segment was the Farrakhan-Obama thing..........And his take was that it's overblown and not important.
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"Fact check my hypothesis"
Fact check my hypothesis: name just one person who is respected and given a platform by the media who is also openly critical of Israeli government policy
Michael Schueur? But that is because he is Catholic and went to a Jesuit College, so he must be a Knight of Malta and part of the Pat Buchanan/Alex Jones Project Mockingbird NWO Vatican Conspiracy, secretly helping plan the American Inquisition.
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AnnieW
I guess the problem is, many of us know, and/or have grown up with hard core evangelicals and so it makes us not as "frightened" of their more extreme views.
I'm surrounded by hard core fundies.. Which is exactly *why* they terrify me. I know how they "think" and exactly how irrational they are.
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-- The Notorious W.E.S.
"Farrakhan has about 75 or 80 percent name recognition in America and Hagee about one."
Why do you think this is the case?
The answer is in Glenn's article, Wes. Read the black parts.
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Jebbie
Read mine. I said the media creates the Farrakhan bogeyman, then it's a "legitimate issue" for debate.
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Re This is McCain acting rational in an irrational environment
Omigod! An R.D.Laing resurgence! Can we stick pins in him?
Actually, Reality Kid, Russert and McCain share a lot in common. Both babble about and aspire to be fighters for the cause of independence and honesty, and both find it way too easy to compromise all independence and honesty to be well networked. Not sure if that's a white thing, it's certainly not a good thing. This white boy would personally rather be associated with Harry Belafonte.