The New Right-Wing media scam: "Haters"

The other night, I saw Tucker Carlson and Al Franken arguing on Tim Russert's show, and at one point, Carlson said that he couldn't understand why there was such "anger" at Bush - and he inferred that most of the objections against the President were based on emotion and not reason.

This is the new Republican scam - they're trying to portray us as irrational "haters". Two examples:

David Brooks in the New York times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/30/opinion/30BROO.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fDavid%20Brooks

<snip>

The quintessential new warrior scans the Web for confirmation of the president's villainy. He avoids facts that might complicate his hatred. He doesn't weigh the sins of his friends against the sins of his enemies. But about the president he will believe anything. He believes Ted Kennedy when he says the Iraq war was a fraud cooked up in Texas to benefit the Republicans politically. It feels so delicious to believe it, and even if somewhere in his mind he knows it doesn't quite square with the evidence, it's important to believe it because the other side is vicious, so he must be too

<snip>

and Charles (Sour) Krauthammer in Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/from_search/0,10987,1101030922-485769,00.html

<snip>

" Bill Moyers may have his politics, but his deferential demeanor and almost avuncular television style made him the Mr. Rogers of American politics. So when he leaves his neighborhood to go to a " Take Back America" rally and denounces George W. Bush's " government of, by and for the ruling corporate class," leading a " right-wing wrecking crew" engaged in " a deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States way of governing," you know that something is going on. That something is the unhinging of the Democratic Party. Democrats are seized with a loathing for President Bush."

</snip>

They're all on message - the implication is that Bush is not doing anything wrong, that we're just all consumed with animosity at him - for Florida, or whatever, and that the dissatisfaction has no basis in policy.

Of course, that's bullshit - and when you consider that there was a full-scale hate industry against Bill Clinton for eight years, I think that the hypocrisy is apparent enough.

But they're working together, and we have to, too - make sure that you have reasoned critiques of Bush, and they're not hard to find these days. Especially if you're working on a campaign for a candidate. Swing voters tend to be apolitical - but they will listen to people who describe politics in terms of problems and solutions. This is who these right-wing minions are appealing to - they're trying to imply that they are the rational ones, and we on the left are just some angry mob who don't want Bush around anymore.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

... his "clean air act" which increases pollution, his undermining of our fiscal health, the lost jobs, and the tax cuts for the wealthy - saying that makes us "haters".

Nice try!

$hit....seriously. And I hate his stupic childish laugh whenever a Dem is trying to make a point...as if that is going to discredit whatever the Dem is saying. He is so childish and an embarrassment to CNN. He never makes good points....just stupid remarks that have no substance. I think most people make it clear why we hate Bush....where do you start. Not enough time....gotta go get some lunch.

God knows why weathermen and rw pundits like those things so much. His Mom, beltway insider Margaret Carlson probably told him, "Find a gimmick, like a bowtie. Then, even with mediocre rhetorical skills you'll get to be a big star. You'll stick out in their minds as the baby-faced Alex P Keaton clone with the tousled hair."

n/t

I'd heard that somewhere, I looked it up just now, and it was wrong. Made a good story though. Jonah Goldber is the son of rightwing banshee Lucianne Goldberg, though, right?

And plugged-in yet out-of touch whores like Krauthammer are a big part of why we're pissed.

Get out of your Jag, skip the Wshington party circuit for a while, and get to know some REAL, ORDINARY AMERICANS!

...PROJECTING!!! These people project so damned much that they're in danger of turning inside out. Does that make sense? It sounded good.

.... they do that a lot - take something they do, then project it on to the opponent.

wasted time. Move on.

....

Simple question. Let THEM come up with the answer.

Carlson was SO patronizing of Al. He simply COULD NOT understand the level of vitriol directed at Bush. Claimed that it diminished Al's viewpoint, it being so clouded with hatred and all. I nearly fell off my chair! The left is full of hatred? It's a darn shame? It diminishes our credibility?

Well F-U Bow Tie Boy!! When you can acknowledge your own role in the eleven+ years of hatred aimed at the Clintons, I'll be ready to listen to you. It's truly the desperate end of the right wing thug regime. They have nothing left to throw at us, so they're reduced to being "concerned" about our mental and emotional well-being!

Screw you. Reap what you've sown, baby!

...that's what the term means in the context of liberal politics.

People should be judged based on the content of their character; This leaves the Right wide-open to attack, of course.

Too bad.

They've ran a campaign of hate against the working class, minorities, and liberals for years. However you know they're cowards and when you fight back with fire they try and portray us as the irrational, insane ones... You know everything they are.

Liberals (and Americans) have every reason to hate Bush he's waged war on us for too long on too many fronts.

Virtually everyone has some kind of bitch at boy blunder and his regime and this is the way the Repugnicans justify it to themselves and energize their "base"

It's the usual deflection tactics these goons use to avoid both responsibility and accoutability on anything this regime does. For example, if there's a talk about the economy, it's the left that hates Bush rather than how those tax cuts for the rich didn't create new jobs and deepened the national debt. Or WMD in Iraq and the lies that led to a fraudulent invasion? It's the left that hates Bush for going after the guys who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11. I'm sure everyone can play this game.

Just coincidence, I guess. :eyes:

Why not start a separate thread on this? Very inciteful, I think.

Krauthammer...how appropriate.

And of course their message utterly ignores reality of the Clinton Years, and the rise of NaziStormtooper.com (some call it Free Republic) not to mention the tactic of altering polls like a Stalinist by multiple voting, so attached to them as the originators that it is named after the Brownshirts themselves!

It also totally ignores, quite customarily hypocritically for the Busheviks, the last decade of history before the Bloodless Coup of 2000.

Of course, if Krauthammer and the rest of his Bushevik pals get their way, as in Orwell's "1984" history every morning will be what the VRWC says it is, at night it will be erased to be re-written for the Bunnypants Squad the next morning.

has been floating the 'Angry Left' phrase for a few weeks.
I presume they are now racketing up that 'seed' to the next level.

David Corn had a prophetic piece on it here:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8898/view/print

As well as a Google search that yields quite a number of hits
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22the+angry+left%22&btnG=Google+Search
for "angry left"

Reported a few weeks ago at Cursor.org

... it's obvious the Bush administration isn't going to get by on it's merits. They need plan B, big time. And they ain't gonna get much help from Rush LImbaugh (ha-ha). But this guy seems to think anger is good , by itself. I don't know - you still have to convince people that Bush is driving this country to ruin. And for that you have to explain, not shout.

because I do hate those assholes! I am a new comer to DU and had the pleasure of reading some of the hate mail from the repugs. I really couldn't help but laugh. Who is full of hatred? Talk about a bunch of morons! The reason I hate the Bushies is because I am informed. I know what they are up to and what special interests they embrace. They must think that the american people are to stupid to figure out all of their lies. I hate them for that.

what BS! Hating is purely owned buy the right.

"The hot, angry people that aren't rational and are screaming and hollering, they may be drawn toward the Dean candidacy because he's focused his campaign on trying to connect with that anger, which is a small part of the population of our country." - Jeb Bush, during a news conference in Tampa on 10/1.

Got this from http://www.dailykos.com>Kos.