mledbetter wrote:Again, it looks worse and worse the more information comes out about this. It shows a weak administration who panicked when this attack went down. There's nothing schizophrenic about my making that observation. When the left-wing spin-meisters who control most of our media (80 percent vote democrat after all) are doing everything in their power to cover up for this President, then yes, it can be a little difficult to come to the truth on these matters. It wouldn't be made as big a deal as it has been if this President wasn't going around pinning all of this reelection hopes on his foreign policy record. This set of circumstances doesn't help his argument.
Or it could be that the Right Wing media freaks invented a scandal that has no merit and the only way they can keep it afloat is by complaining about another perceived boogeyman, the "Liberal Media"? After all, what are you going to do when Conservatives suggest this thing is being blown way out of proportion? Are they wolves in sheep's clothing or something?
The fact is the Right Wingers, especially Romney, jumped to conclusions from the beginning in a desperate attempt to politicize this tragic event, and as more information comes out, the dumber they look. And the more their initial conspiratorial speculations are shown to be just that. I mean now you're left with complaining about yet another conspiracy about a perceived influential power in the "Liberal media." You haven't really addressed most of the facts that have been outlined above. I mean are you going to say FOX News' own
military analyst and
Condoleeza Rice are part of the "Liberal media"?
Like many of the conspiracies fabricated by the Right, this one simply has no wind behind it. Once you get past all the emotionally charged rhetoric provided by
FOX and Friends and the litany of Right Wing blogs, the dust settles and the facts become clearer. This thing never had legs outside the Right Wing media to begin with. They have a history of inventing scandals that turn out to be much ado about nothing. For me, this thing was dead in the water from the moment Romney went on TV and accused the President of "apologizing for American values," when he did no such thing. And then Romney's classic blunder in the debate where Romney proved he runs an incompetent campaign as it was too lazy to fact check an easily verifiable accusation; that he never called it a terrorist attack, which was immediately interpreted to mean the White House "painstakingly avoided" calling it that "for weeks." Turns out he did call it that. Case closed. Credibility for these speculation-based attacks have been shot out of the water, so why do we need to keep entertaining them?
From that point on, the Right has desperately been trying to take focus off of Romney's idiotic remarks by telling everyone, with bombastic certitude, that Obama was in some way responsible for these attacks and that he was too lazy or uncaring to do anything about them. You see this crap on FOX News every day and every morning I listen to Neil Boortz spew the same BS, blaming Obama for literally KILLING those people. So I don't see how anyone can complain about the myth of the "liberal media" and all its supposed power, when the tyrants of propaganda clearly hail from the Right. The Left has stuck to the facts and left the opinion-based speculation on the back-burner, while the Right Wing media has been trying to spin this thing to benefit Romney, anyway they can.
I just don't buy this myth of the liberal media influencing people in any meaningful way, at least not to the degree you suggest. The Right Wing media indoctrinates people to such an unprecedented degree that it is ironic when I hear these folks complain about such a thing. They have back to back to back radio talk shows that last all damn day on AM (750) and now FM (95.5) stations, and most people I know in Atlanta listen to these shows religiously. In the car or at work, they can always find a way to listen. My parents DVR FOX NEWS when they aren't home and then watch it later while eating popcorn. I'm crap you not! This is what their entire lives are based around. It defines them. They are proud about their status as Republicans who they envision to be honorable, hard working, self-responsible people, as opposed to thei mythical perception of the "other" (Liberal), who is a loathed moocher who wants others to pay for his/her lifestyle. They represent anti-American parasites who must be eradicated. That's how simplified they see things, and it is all thanks to the Right Wing media.
It has allowed them to justify their hatred and bigotry, because misery loves company. My step Day refers to Hannity as simply "Sean", as if he were best buds with him or something. It is really pretty damn scary, especially for me, because they've allowed this religion of Right Wing politics to consume them, justifying their hatred of minorities, like my wife, and as a result they have literally no relationship with their first born son anymore, or their grandchildren. They were never like this before until they engaged in the worship of George Bush and Right Wing media.
And I was there from the beginning when their indoctrination began. I saw how it unfolded and what the results have become. Ten years ago they only watched FOX on occasion and my Mom was an avowed Democrat. My Step Dad was a moderate of sorts; he was registered Republican but voted for Gov Zell Miller (Democrat). Gradually, I noticed a trend as they started watching more and more of FOX. Eight years ago when FOX kept telling people they were being brainwashed by a liberal media, my parents decided they'd stop getting the
Atlanta Journal and Constitution because they said it was "too liberal." Before that time they read it regularly on a daily basis.
It all came to a head when Obama was elected, and my step father screamed at the top of his lungs, "NIGGER" when FOX News announced Obama had won the 2008 election. Their contempt for minorities is obvious to anyone remotely familiar with them. You can't take them anywhere without them going on long winded political rants about how the country is on the edge of communism because of Obama. Not that either of them could name a single example of communism anywhere in the world. Thanks to FOX, to their minds all Latin minorities are disgusting humans who should just stay in their own countries. Thanks to FOX, they believe they are the cause for everything bad in our country, from rising health care costs to the housing bubble. My Mom suddenly pretends to be an expert on all things related to the economy and politics, and she spends all day and night posting Obama slurs on Facebook. Relaying photoshopped racist images of Obama and his family. She deleted me from her friends's list a year ago simply because I posted something that indicated I supported Obama. That's the power of Right Wing media! That's the difference! It doesn't just shower us with baseless spin and opinion, it convinces people that we must accept that opinion as well, even if it means distancing yourself from family members who disagree. It divides the country in half, just as Romney did in his 47% speech. You're either part of the solution or you're the problem.
You see, for them, it is personal. You're either a Republican or you're not a real American. It isn't just a coincidence that Hannity rewards all of his supporting callers with "you're a great American" and refuses to say that to those who disagree with him. This has an indoctrinating effect. FOX tells them you can't reason or even speak to Liberals because it is almost as if they are less than human. Just listen to Ann Coulter rail on and on about this crap, psychoanalyzing the "Liberal Mind." You're just supposed to take what they say on blind faith, and people gladly do it. My Step Dad has never fact-checked a single thing in his life, but he gladly accepts their indoctrination because they play to the desires of bigots and racists who naturally want to believe many of the things they preach. Blaming minorities for all our woes, in some form or another. A classic example was the way FOX blamed the housing crisis on minorities, saying the big bad government "forced" banks to give loans to minorities who were too lazy to pay their bills. To this day my Mom and Step dad tell people this as if it were an article of faith. Of course this myth was blown out of the water years ago, but they aren't interested in facts that disrupt their alternate reality, and creating an alternate reality or parallel universe for the deluded, is precisely what FOX News and the Right Wing media does for people. Whenever we had Brazilain family visit us my parents would tell them things like "The primary difference between Republican and Democrat is that Democrats are lazy people who want others to work for them whereas Republicans want to work for themselves and earn their keep." And virtually every Facebook friend I have on my list is constantly spewing the same kind of simplistic, reductionist dichotomy as if it were an established law of the Universe.
So when their BS is refuted, oftentimes the only response we see is a complaint about how the evil Liberal media has spun everything so that no one can see the "truth." This is just another religion, very much like Mormonism, where facts are just a nuisance and loyalty to the tribe and the tribal doctrines are paramount.