-----Original Message-----
From: Media Matters for America <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Media Matters: The clouded wrath of the crowd
October 24, 2008
The Weekly Update from Media Matters for America
--
The clouded wrath of the crowd
by Jamison Foser
As Election Day approaches, the right-wing media are becoming
increasingly vitriolic and irrational.
Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Jerome Corsi, and others have attacked Barack Obama
over his visit to his ailing grandmother.
On Monday, Savage responded to Colin Powell's
endorsement of Obama by insisting, "The only people who
don't seem to vote based on race are whites of European origin." Later in
the week, Savage said welfare recipients shouldn't be allowed to vote. Fellow
radio host Jim Quinn went a step further over the edge, declaring that there was "good
reason" for allowing only landowners to vote.
A Washington Times
columnist called
Barack Obama a "Marxist" who believes that "murdering
innocent babies ... is
an inalienable right." ABC's The Note declared that little piece of
overheated rhetoric a "must-read."
The creative conspiracy theorists over at WorldNetDaily claim that Obama
"campaigned for" "radical Kenyan Prime Minister Raila
Odinga" during a 2006 trip --
a claim supposedly substantiated by obviously
fake emails Jerome Corsi
claims to have obtained. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that the emails
are real, they still do not substantiate WND's claims -- in fact, they don't contain so much
as a single statement of support for Odinga.
Syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell compared Obama to Hitler, Mao and Jim Jones. What's the similarity?
Well, they all spoke inspiringly of "change."
Believe it or not, that isn't the craziest Hitler
comparison to ooze forth from the right-wing fever swamps in the past month.
Bill O'Reilly recently declared that Nancy Pelosi practices her
speeches too much,
noting that Hitler also practiced speeches before delivering them (O'Reilly claimed he wasn't comparing Pelosi to
Hitler. Right.)
For radio host Bill Cunningham, comparing Obama to Hitler
doesn't go far enough. He prefers to suggest that Obama is the
antichrist. (Cunningham has frequently
peppered his comments about Obama with gratuitous references to the
candidate's middle name, Hussein -- once embellishing by referring to
"Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama.")
KSFO radio host Lee Rodgers falsely claimed that Obama has
admitted that he would "stand with the Muslims" against "the
Western world" -- a
twisted fantasy reminiscent of Savage's claim to
"doubt" that Obama "would take our side" in the event
of a terrorist attack. Speaking of which: Two weeks ago, Savage announced that
"[N]ot all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists happen to be
Muslim." Just in case the bigotry and stupidity of that statement
isn't obvious: Tim McVeigh wasn't a Muslim.
There is, in short, a lot of hate and venom spewing forth
from right-wing media, particularly radio and blogs. The last time a Democrat
was elected president, the right used that hate to mobilize opposition to him
and his agenda. There's no reason to think the Rush Limbaughs of the
world will react differently to an Obama presidency. The only question is
whether the "mainstream" media will take their cues from the
far-right hate merchants again --
and whether progressives will be more aggressive in fighting back.
Jamison Foser is Executive Vice President at Media Matters for America.
Forward This E-mail To A Friend
Share your concern about conservative misinformation
Sign up
Did a friend forward you this email? Click here to sign up to receive Media Matters for America email alerts.
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking here
息 2008 Media Matters for America
1625 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20036
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい
|
