Fox and right wing media are the reason why our congress is so ineffective now

[kimbutgar]

The network has radicalized a whole segment of our population to think and vote against their best interests. You can almost pinpoint a breakdown of our government as to when in October of 1996 the cable network launched and the partisan vitriol ratcheted up big. Newt and his republican congress used to network to smear President Clinton over the Lewinsky BJ he lied about (I mean what man wouldn't want his wife to find out he was dallying with a young intern) The other mainstream media outlets followed suit because they were accused of being "too liberal" and got scared. Before then we had cooperation and compromise among our elected officials. Then in 2000 when they called the election for bush they became even more emboldened in their right wing world. The mainstream scared to be called liberal followed their direction. And the election of a Democratic black man as President made their heads explode in hatred. They made being mean and hateful a badge of honor for a right winger.

So now we are in a situation that the republican lawmakers have Fox on their TV's all day long and are told that compromise is a bad word and the only direction this country should go is in their direction because they say so and Fox told them they are right and everyone else lies to them. It's tearing this country apart and destroying our democracy. No longer can we find solutions to problems and fix them if they are not approved by Fox and right wing media. It is a sad state we are in right now. Yesterday's Republican Plan B debacle is evidence that while destroying the republican party it's destroying America because working together and compromise is a bad idea. I don't know what will break America's spell of Fox and right wing media but I do remember when our elected officials worked together to help this country and now it is a foreign concept that in Fox world is a sin. And don't get me started about how Fox has made owning a gun a right of passage for right wingers. Because that scary black Muslim President will come and take away that 100 round assault rifle Fox told them they needed them to defend themselves against the poor hoards of illegal Mexicans, black panthers and poor people who only want to suck off the government and steal their hard earned money. Something has to be done about this otherwise we as a country are doomed by Fox and the right wing media. Rush/Beck/Savage/Levin/Coulter etc a pimple on the ass of democracy.

[Skittles]

1. to be fair, it was reagan who made greed and idiocy fashionable

the audience for rightwing propaganda was ripe for the picking by the time Fox News arrived on the scene

[winetourdriver]

2. corp. fascism

Its too late- its gone too far to stop.

[HeroBrand]

3. .

Newt and his republican congress used to network to smear President Clinton over the Lewinsky BJ he lied about (I mean what man wouldn't want his wife to find out he was dallying with a young intern)

Is that not smear worthy?

Are acts such as lying and adultery acceptable if you are the president?

Why are criticisms of the left so frowned upon?

[kimbutgar]

5. I didn't condone what Clinton did but to impeach him was going too far

Why wasn't bush impeached for lying us into war with Iraq? Cheney shot a man in the face and never had consequences. Can you imagine if Gore or Biden did that? They would have had to resign. I guess I wasn't artful enough in my words.

[merrily]

4. Yes and no.

On the one hand, I certainly see your point. The media has enormous influence and the right owns nearly all of it. And what little is not far right is pro-establishment. The left has almost no media voice.

On the other hand, Fox does not cast a single vote in the House or the Senate. The people whom we elect do. They have to take responsibility for their votes--and maybe we do as well.