What He Said

Okay, I lied, sort of. I said I wasn't going to mention that shrill right-wing harridan Ann Chupacabra here again for a while, but Peter Daou has written a guest post on Crooks and Liars concerning her appearance on the Tonight Show last night that absolutely needs to be read -- especially by folks like my pal Lanz, who insists that the Annorexic one is just a right-wing version of what he sees on the left. Daou's main thesis is not so much that the Coultergeist is a hate-filled, venomous, attention-craving attack machine (she is, but so are a lot of people who don't get the exposure she does), it's that the media in this country is complicit in spreading her bile and her fellow wingers' storylines by giving them air time and the credibility of appearing on shows like Larry King Live and Jay Leno's nightly chat-up.

Here's just a piece of the post:

Never mind that Jay Leno and George Carlin sat like trembling lambs while Coulter spewed gutter-level invective at millions of Americans - we've already seen the same obsequiousness from Larry King, Matt Lauer (who ended his faux-debate with Coulter by saying "always fun to have you") and others. The larger issue here is that despite an uproar from the progressive netroots, NBC saw fit to give Coulter a platform to continue her liberal-scapegoating and to slander women who lost their husbands on 9/11. (For the record, many rightwing bloggers denounced Coulter and several Democrats attacked her, but their focus was the substance of Coulter's words, not a criticism of the media outlets who continue to provide her a national forum.)

It's hard to deny that Coulter's words border on incitement. What she says is neither amusing nor smart nor humorous nor factual nor worthy of airing on a major media outlet. It treats a substantial segment of the population as sub-human, as creatures deserving of public scorn and worse (She said Jesus would say that "we are called upon to do battle" on liberalism). Careful not to violate Godwin's Law, I'll refrain from the obvious comparisons, but what we're dealing with here is a dangerous inflection point in American politics. When this kind of opprobrium is peddled by major media outlets, it's high time that the Democratic establishment and the larger progressive community understand that this is a make-or-break showdown with the media.

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and their ilk have made an industry out of liberal-bashing. Coulter fits in perfectly with those hate-traffickers. And contrary to the false Michael Moore comparisons made by Leno and others, there is no progressive counterpart to these people on the national stage. The basic thrust of the left's critique is that George W. Bush and his administration are bad for America. It is in our tradition for citizens to defend the Constitution and to question the actions of their elected leaders. Rightwingers may characterize it as Bush Derangement Syndrome, but the progressive community, by and large, is going after government corruption and lies, not vilifying an entire group of Americans as Bin Laden-loving traitors.

He has a lot more to say on the subject, and it's well worth a read. It's unfortunate, though, that the folks who could most benefit from his words will probably never see them. And the media continues with its courting of the Republican Noise Machine, and casual dissemination of their talking points. Witness, just as a for instance, the front page of today's SF Chronicle, with Preznit Midas In Reverse's steely-eyed visage staring out at the reader, and a story by compromised toadying hack political reporter Marc Sandalow playing up the surprise visit to Baghdad (or "'Mission Accomplished' in a business suit," as Sidney Blumenthal called it in today's Salon.com) on the heels of the conveniently fortuitous al Zarqawi kill. Sandalow -- and, indeed, most of the corporate media today -- would have us believe that this demonstrates the "strength" and "resolve" of this president, and that he can now expect a big bounce in the polls from the week's events, if not retention of both houses of Congress in November because of them. So far, that dog just won't hunt.

In any event, it's apparently up to those of us who aren't blindered by the corporate offerings of bread and circuses or drinkers of the right wing's Kool Aid to continue to point out that Americans are being sold a bill of goods by a powerful elite, with the completely willing help of the mainstream media. American Idle, anyone?