Right Wing Nut House

THE GOOD

Jeff Goldstein has a few words of wisdom for the left: Specifically, Atrios and his constant poison pen posts against conservatives. In this case, Atrios is blaming the right and George Bush for the accidental killing of the young Brazilian at the Underground in London by police who mistook him for a terrorist.

As I noted in the comments at Cole’s place, if, as one of his supporters insists he is doing, Atrios is simply saying that “the Right fosters an atmosphere that makes it difficult to evaluate these situations because the very act of questioning what happened is portrayed as disloyalty,” then the easy rejoinder is that when your “evaluation” consistently begins from the premise that “BUSH LIED! ROVE MANIPULATED! CHENEY EATS BABIES WITH SHARON AND PISSES OIL!”, it signals to your interlocutor that the “questioning” you’re interesting in engaging in springs from a well already so polluted by partisan hyperbole that any subsequent discussion is bound to be rancid.
So Atrios’ contention that it is the “Right” that is fostering the poisonous atmosphere is at best dubious, and at worst willfully blind.

And Goldstein expands on that thought in a comment published by Glenn Reynolds:

I am not blaming ‘the Left’ en masse. But I am blaming those who are actively out to make political hay out of whatever the latest manufactured, ginned up outrage. And I think it’s time we started to forcefully push back against a political and media culture that is at least tangentially responsible for creating terrorists and their sympathizers based on false premises.”

I would say more than “tangentially responsible” for creating terrorists. It brings to mind the opposition Lincoln faced during the Civil War.

As Bruce Catton put it, the Democrats were proceeding with politics as usual, using the standard “grips and handholds” of political warfare. The problem arises when opposition in war time goes beyond the political and enters the realm of the strategic. As the war ground on, Lincoln was forced to fall back on the most radical elements of his party for support because the logical result of the Democrats policies would have bee separation! They could bleat till the ram came home about supporting the troops but when it came right down to it, the only alternative they could offer was peace.

We have something similar today. Democrats say constantly that they want us to succeed in Iraq and that they support the troops. But the logical conclusion to be reached regarding “timetables” for withdrawals and the various side shows with detention centers is that they oppose the war in Iraq. So here’s Bush, forced to fall back on the support of the hard core 45% of the country that will probably stick this thing out till the end. The Democrats are playing the game but the rules have changed and they don’t realize it.

Great stuff from Goldstein lately. Go here and here also. Get educated.

THE BAD

Maybe I’m just imagining it but has anyone else been thinking that Jeff Jarvis has been smirking a lot lately when he’s be on TV?

In fact, he’s becoming downright insufferable at times. Case in point, his ambush of Bernie Goldberg on Ronnie Deutsch’s show on CNBC. Mr. Goldberg has written a book entitled 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America : (and Al Franken Is #37). After the obligatory back and forth between Goldberg and Duetsch, the producer of the show asked Goldberg to stick around for a discussion on “culture.”

What he stuck around for was a mugging by 5 panelists, including Mr. Jarvis, who, according to those watching the show, hardly let Mr. Goldberg get a word in edgewise. I’m not surprised. With 5 camera hogs along with Duetsch, you’d need a 57″ screen just to get all their mugs on at once.

At any rate, Bernie got mad. Jarvis got dismissive. And in the end, everything worked out fine. Bernie got publicity for his book and Jarvis cemented his reputation as a new media wizard, the Gandolph of the blogosphere.

All this wouldn’t have gotten me upset except Mr. Jarvis has a post on his new look blog in which he tries to tell conservatives that we should stop whining now, we’ve got all the power we need:

Bernie — and Bill and Rush — still try to play the victims, the underdogs, the little guys fighting them big, bad ol’ liberals. What’s amazing is that they can still pull it off. Look at Bernie’s own list and you see a bunch of losers: Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky haven’t gotten us out of Iraq; Al Franken and Janeane Garolao are nowhere next to Rush and Bill; Dan Rather’s all but unemployed (and Mary Mapes is); Howard Stern has been forced off the air; Phil Donahue defines has-been…. The conservatives are in power, solidly in power, and yet they still hold to the M.O. that got them into power: playing outsider, victim, paranoid.

But it still works. It sells books.

Michael Moore a loser? Moore has done worse than try to get us out of Iraq. In fact, I’d say that his agitation against the war is the least of his sins. Michael Moore makes films seen by millions of people that are passed off as documentaries but in reality are so full of lies and distortions that it does a disservice to even call them “propaganda” films.

As for conservatives being “solidly in power” perhaps if Mr. Jarvis believes the government is the end all and be all of American society he is correct. But the rest of America is still firmly in control of the left.

Consider the entire educational system. From top to bottom, from the primary grades to post graduate studies, the entire rotten structure of education is under the direct control not of the left, but of the hard, far left. This post is too short to cite chapter and verse but if you’re interested see David Horwitz here. Even if you are a centrist or a center left ideologue like Mr. Jarvis, that book will open your eyes as to not only what is being taught, but the theory and practice of the way it’s taught and why.

As for the rest of America society, anyone who thinks the press has suddenly morphed into some kind of bastion of conservatism should have their head examined.

THE UGLY

Catherine Baker Knoll is the Leiutenant Governor of Pennyslvania. She’s also a moonbat of the first magnitude:

The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying “our government” is against the war.

Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa., said yesterday that a funeral was held Tuesday at a church in Carnegie for her brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32.

She said he “died bravely and courageously in Iraq on July 10, serving his country.”

In a phone interview, Goodrich said the funeral service was packed with people “who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives.”

Then, suddenly, “one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll.”

She sat down next to a Goodrich family member and, during the distribution of communion, said, “Who are you?” Then she handed the family member one of her business cards, which Goodrich said she still has.

“Our family deserves an apology,” Rhonda Goodrich said. “Here you have a soldier who was killed—dying for his country—in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey’s death.”

What really upset the family, Goodrich said, is that Knoll said, ‘I want you to know our government is against this war,’ ” Goodrich said.

Looks like the People’s Republic of Pennsylvania needs to either secede from the Union or get itself a foreign policy more in line with like, you know, Washington, D.C.

Considering Ed Rendell, I’m not optimistic about either.