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Tommy_Carcetti

(43,182 posts)
2. Perhaps Watergate with Woodward and Bernstein?
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 02:21 PM
Oct 2013

I don't know. I think it was just conservative's reflexive reactions to hearing any news story that didn't fit their narrative, regardless of veracity of said narrative.

 

1000words

(7,051 posts)
5. Yes, Watergate was the beginning
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 02:27 PM
Oct 2013

It's the reason why the monied conservative elite began buying up and creating media empires almost immediately after. They were going to make sure that kind of accountability was never going to happen again.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,182 posts)
6. Watergate also contributed to the Cult of Reagan.
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 02:33 PM
Oct 2013

I think Watergate was deeply embarrassing for the Republicans and they knew their image was badly tarnished.

So they needed a rehab, someone who could obscure the taint of Nixon, someone with a "bright and cheery" personality who was capable of throwing out quick soundbites without needing to say anything of substance.

So who did they pick? An actor, of course. Not a great one obviously, but one who was good enough to read their script.

 

immoderate

(20,885 posts)
4. I think answers to this will always be subjective. Mine: when I was in high school.
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 02:25 PM
Oct 2013

I associate the onset of this coincides with Walter Cronkite turning against the Vietnam War.

But I'll accept the "real answer."

--imm

JHB

(37,160 posts)
10. Depends on how you define "start", but...
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 03:15 PM
Oct 2013

...the current strain of it can be traced Buckley, Goldwater, and those who rallied around them.

For example, from McCarthy and His Enemies (1955) by William F. Buckley and L. Brent Bozell Jr. (father of the Media Research Center guy, naturally). Bozell was a speechwriter for Goldwater.

Perhaps McCarthy deliberately sensationalized the evidence he
possessed in order to draw attention to the gravity of the situation .
Perhaps, again, the complexities of the Communist problem were
lost on Joe McCarthy in the early days of his venture . After all, he
had seen alarming reports of various investigating agencies on certain
employees of the State Department . And who, McCarthy may
have asked himself, who but Communists would do and say such
things? That only Communists would so act is perhaps a logical
answer to the question ; but logic in our age, must be strained
through the woof of irrationality and the warp of ignorance . Many
non-Communists behave in a baffling manner, and McCarthy
should have taken this into account-all the more since he was prepared
to challenge the President of the United States, the political
party in control of Congress, and the vigilantes of Liberalism in the
press
and the classroom.



There's plenty of other things which would take too long to post right now, but suffice to say their view of the press was a liberal version of what FOX News actually is. Any setback (like Goldwater's loss) could be blamed on liberal media bias.

Guy Whitey Corngood

(26,501 posts)
14. I don't remember reading about Eisenhower's people using it. So I'd guess Nixon (after VP tenure).
Fri Oct 4, 2013, 03:55 PM
Oct 2013

Not really sure. On edit, post 10 above makes sense to me.

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