As Democratic Landslide Looms, Big Media Try to Peddle More 'Right-Wing Nation' B.S.

As Democratic Landslide Looms, Big Media Try to Peddle More 'Right-Wing Nation' B.S.

By Paul Waldman, Media Matters for America. Posted October 22, 2008.

When Democrats win we're told that they need to move to the center. What a joke.


We usually have to wait until after the Democrats emerge victorious at the polls for the Beltway finger-waggers to begin warning them not to be too ambitious, not to do too much, not to actually follow through on the proposals they presented to the voters. But this year, it's starting early: Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, penned a 3,300-word cover story warning that, as the subtitle says, "America remains a center-right nation -- a fact that a President Obama would forget at his peril." Because, God forbid, a progressive candidate who wins an election should actually keep the promises he made to the American people.

It's an interesting contrast to what happens when Republicans win. While Democratic victories are seen as signifying nothing about the electorate's fundamental beliefs, Republican victories are inevitably described as revealing profound sea changes in American ideology. When the GOP took over both houses of Congress in 1994, The New York Times wrote the next day, "he country has unmistakably moved to the right." The Washington Post agreed, saying, "The huge Republican gains also marked a clear shift to the right in the country."

And after Election Day 2004, the Times intoned, "t is impossible to read President Bush's re-election with larger Republican majorities in both houses of Congress as anything other than the clearest confirmation yet that this is a center-right country -- divided yes, but with an undisputed majority united behind his leadership." The article was headlined, "An Electoral Affirmation of Shared Values." The Los Angeles Times agreed that the election proved voters "don't believe that the Democrats share their values." Chris Matthews wondered, "Can the Democrats ever connect with the country's cultural majority?"

Yet we heard nothing of the sort from elite media outlets in 2006, when Democrats retook both houses of Congress -- no grand proclamations that the country had moved left, no ruminations on whether conservatism was an electorally bankrupt ideology. Instead, the news media focused on a few conservative Democratic candidates who won seats in Republican areas, despite the fact that they were far outnumbered by the new Democratic members who held traditionally progressive positions.

In other words, when Republicans win, we're told that Democrats need to move to the center, because the country is too conservative for them. When Democrats win, on the other hand, we're told that... Democrats need to move to the center. Their victory must have been some kind of accident -- it couldn't have been because the public actually agreed with what they want to do.

more...

http://www.alternet.org/election08/104001/as_democratic_landslide_looms%2C_big_media_try_to_peddle_more_%27right-wing_nation%27_b.s./?page=entire

They are pulling the entire country to the left.

Not to mention the whole failure of capitalism thing we're seeing. Kind of hard to keep demonizing socialism when even Wall Street has embraced it.

to center-left nation.

Rachel Maddow's show yesterday was surreal: RFK Jr. talking about vote suppression and then Rachel implying that Kerry lost because of windsurfing.

It's easier to continue the RW meme that Dems lose because of silly shit than deal with the notion that Republicans have been/are committing election fraud.

Rachel fed into the RW BS. She even introduced it with a quote from F***** Carlson. She basically made Dems look weak over silly BS. No one with any sense believes Kerry lost because of windsurfing, and the current joke:



Yeah, an audience that most likely included Dems and Repubs "ate it up." Everyone making a big deal about this is being completely disingenuous or determined to make the Dems look weak. No one with any sense believes a joke will cause Obama to lose.

The whole thing is preposterous. Rachel didn't even need to cover this.

She could have used the segment to call out the RW for distorting Joe Biden's words.

People talk about a lot of irrelevant crap during campaign, and the RW is notorious for distorting or making up stuff.

The bottom line is that as close as the 2004 election was, photos of Kerry windsurfing did not impact how people voted.

The RW feeding frenzy (and Democratic complicity) over Kerry's joke did not cost us the 2006 election.

Obama is not going to lose over silly stuff. It's important to make the distinction between silly stuff and smear, which is far more likely to have an impact on some voters. Obama is running a great campaign, which along with the blogs have effectively countered GOP smear tactics.

If this was a really close election, I doubt that Kerry's joke would impact it either. It's never a good thing when Dems join in with the RW distortion. Look at the nasty pathetic campaign McCain is waging, does it really make sense for anyone to claim that a comment could potentially cost Obama the election?

It's ridiculous.

Funny how that works. Some Repubs are outraged at this outrageous spending, but it's no big deal to some here.

Not many Repubs care about Kerry's joke, but some here want to believe it's potentially a game changer.

Giving all the "Joe the plumber" and "Obama is an elitist" claims coming from McCain's campaign, they should be hit over the head on this issue.

The finger MSM finger-waggers can go to hell. Not Rachel, cause I still believe she's the best thing to happen to TV talks shows since Countdown.

No magazine editor is going to tell him how to run the country. They just want to remain relevant.

Here is what the MAJORITY of Americans (Democrats AND Republicans) want from OUR government!




**(The above article from AlterNet is from 2005!)




The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

The other 8% are either Republican politicians or wannabe Republican politicians.

They may be afraid that truly progressive Americans will break up the huge media monopolies like Time Warner.

reasonably honest and open. From that basis, we could work our way on to solving the real problems that now face Americans.

As if a slight move to the left after 8 years of right wing rule means we are suddenly Sweden or something. Karl Marx would spit out his Coke if he heard this.

:)

Yup, Alaska more socialist then my blue left leaning state of Connecticut.

:banghead: