The Fox News Tribe

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_fox_news_tribe

The Fox News Tribe
More than ever, conservatives are working to cast liberals as the other.

Paul Waldman | April 13, 2010 | web only


If you watch cable news, you probably know the story of Jack Cassell, the Florida doctor who demonstrated his displeasure with the recently passed health-care reform by posting a sign on his office door reading, "If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere." Never mind that Cassell knew nothing of what was in the bill: This was a policy so abominable that he could no longer associate in a professional capacity with anyone who had voted for a politician he didn't like.

I doubt that very many doctors will begin partisan practices. Yet if there is a common strain running through the unusually vituperative debates of the Obama presidency, it's that the opposition becomes intensely tribal in short order. We could be talking about health care, economic policy, or a Supreme Court nomination, and before long, conservatives will be arguing not just that the administration and its supporters are wrong but that they are the Other -- an alien group with whom there can be no compromise.

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The figure currently defining the Republican ethos -- Sarah Palin -- is the ultimate tribal politician. The media, the elites, the liberals, the urbanites -- the Other is all around us in Palin's world, and she is eager to spin the cycle of resentment. She may hail from the northernmost American state, but her party has become increasingly of, by, and for angry Southern whites. No other region is so invested in the idea that it is different than, and aggrieved by, the rest of the country -- and so consumed with its own victimhood. We got another reminder of that when Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia declared April "Confederate History Month" without mentioning slavery. McDonnell's initial defense of the omission was that he was focusing on the aspects of the Confederacy that he "thought were most significant for Virginia." Or some Virginians, anyway. (Within a few days, McDonnell reversed himself.)

Tribalism comes in many flavors, some uglier than others. This has been the dilemma of the Tea Party movement, which for all its talk about taxes and the size of government, is nothing if not a tribal uprising. When its face gets screwed into a snarl -- as it did on the day health reform passed, with protestors spewing racial epithets at black members of Congress, and one Republican congressman telling protesters, "Let's beat that other side to a pulp! Let's take them out! Let's chase them down!" -- conservatives with cooler heads get nervous. They insist that what we see is an aberration, that most participants in this unruly movement are simply concerned Americans who love all their fellow citizens and hate only taxes and government -- all as influential conservative voices continue stoking the fire.

It would be naive to think that one day our politics will resemble some sort of Athenian fantasy in which every citizen deliberates carefully and respectfully about public issues before rendering well-considered decisions. But is it too much to ask that we stop short of concluding that those who disagree with us must be our enemies, so alien and threatening that we wouldn't even want to admit that they too are Americans? (Or, in the case of Dr. Cassell, give them a prostate exam?)

It may well be. Congress could be taking up immigration reform soon. And if you think the tribalism has been ugly up until now, just you wait.

OxyRush hasn't told them what it means yet, so they just get confused and wander off looking for someone else to harass.

since the media circus has begun we need to counter it with factual information.
I posted this yesterday in another forum; today when I lofgged in here and several other forums I found I was an unknown! I had to re-register then I was told I did not have enough posts to start a thread so would have to piggy back :
well here goes:
sarha who? poor turn out
Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 12:48 PM EST


Well if you listen to the media it was a large turnout? do the math -the city has 590,000 thousand residents; the day time this can swell to a million easy! their are 6.5 million people from the state;their is 14.5 million people in new England! the first news reports said their was close to 3,000 turn out to see MS squeaky voice! give her the benefit of the doubt swell it by 3+ call it 10,000 no tell it like the repukes exaggerate call it 20,000- you still got a pitiful turnout! less than one half of a percent! Of those who attended at least 20% opposed the hatred these people display! Oh by the way can someone suggest to that squeaking money grubber that she looks disgusting in that cheap red jacket!(who wants a former vice president candidate looking like a street walker)

all I can say is Scot Brown is smarter than I an many others gave him credit for!

thank you for reading this an remember we can counter unfair media, please post the facts as they are!