Great Op-Ed piece by Brooks about the illusion of the right wing scaremongers

[Happyhippychick]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/opinion/02brooks.html?_r=2&em

Let us take a trip back into history. Not ancient history. Recent history. It is the winter of 2007. The presidential primaries are approaching. The talk jocks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and the rest are over the moon about Fred Thompson. They’re weak at the knees at the thought of Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, they are hurling torrents of abuse at the unreliable deviationists: John McCain and Mike Huckabee.

Yet somehow, despite the fervor of the great microphone giants, the Thompson campaign flops like a fish. Despite the schoolgirl delight from the radio studios, the Romney campaign underperforms. Meanwhile, Huckabee surges. Limbaugh attacks him, but social conservatives flock.

snip

So what is the theme of our history lesson? It is a story of remarkable volume and utter weakness. It is the story of media mavens who claim to represent a hidden majority but who in fact represent a mere niche — even in the Republican Party. It is a story as old as “The Wizard of Oz,” of grand illusions and small men behind the curtain.

snip

But this is not merely a story of weakness. It is a story of resilience. For no matter how often their hollowness is exposed, the jocks still reweave the myth of their own power. They still ride the airwaves claiming to speak for millions. They still confuse listeners with voters. And they are aided in this endeavor by their enablers. They are enabled by cynical Democrats, who love to claim that Rush Limbaugh controls the G.O.P. They are enabled by lazy pundits who find it easier to argue with showmen than with people whose opinions are based on knowledge. They are enabled by the slightly educated snobs who believe that Glenn Beck really is the voice of Middle America.

[Burma Jones]

1. We need to remember that Sponge Bob and the WWE draw nearly twice FOX news' biggest audience

As ballyhooed as Cable news seems to be sometimes, it's a drop in the media bucket.

[leftstreet]

5. Good point

:thumbsup:

[SpiralHawk]

2. Republions = story of weakness and FAIL

Why do Republicons HATE America and want it to FAIL the way they failed so miserably for 8 agonizing years under their Champion Chickenhawks: Commander AWOL Bush and Dickie 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney?

[emulatorloo]

3. Excellent OP ED - This link worked a little better for me

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/opinion/02brooks.html?em

Anyway when Brooks is good he is good. Very interesting history lesson and analysis.

[Cosmocat]

4. Eh - Brooks is douchebag ...

For all the railing over the years about democratic "intellectual elites" it is psuedo intellectual twits like him and Kristol that manage to put some prettied up words to right wing BS.

Sorry, the biggest indication that Rush does in deed "run" the party is that there has never been a major R elected official who has stood up to him - and any time someone even vaguely challenges him, they are kissing his pock marked rear end within 24 hours.

Further, Rush and company DID help to drive the republicans to power in the last 90s and early 2000s, they were the apparatous that pulled it all together. Where things are right now does not change that, there are MUCH larger system issues that have the Rs where they are today.

20 million people listen to rush. 60 million people were retarded enough to vote for McCain. You can say that not ALL of rush's listeners are "voters" but for the most part, you don't listen to a political show unless you are into politics - people don't listen to ESPN radio and not watch sports. Bottom line, 1/3 of the people who voted for McCain were ditto heads.

Look, the repeated pattern is clear - the jagoffs like Rush can stir people up to allow for the Rs to take control when things are going good and people get complacent. Their who schict (sp) is creating BS where there is none, and it does not work as well when there are a real big issue at hand.

If BO can turn things around in the next 5-6 years, then these morons will find some simple A stuff to grab hold of and get people to be retarded in mass again. Maybe sooner ...