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July 27, 2008

Comments

Roger Keeling

Nice blog you have here. Found you via Steve Benen's blog, and I appreciate your comments. But I do think you need to be aware of one small detail.

You seem shocked that American conservatives would stoop to such low tactics as the out-and-out lies they're now spreading about Barack Obama. In fact, in your opening paragraph you say, "Right wingers in America really have come round to thinking that the end justifies the means. In fact, they don't care anymore about what's true -- what matters to them is what they can sell."

Oh, you innocent, innocent man! You need to understand that there is NOTHING new about this. I came to hate rightwinger conservatives way back in the 1970s, when I first went to college and began watching politics more closely, because every election and every issue brought out EXACTLY this kind of thing from the Right.

Every election, and every issue, still sees a veritable wave of this kind of filth flowing out from conservative sources. Once upon a time it was, of course, somewhat mediated by the editors of newspapers and magazines. I'm sure private communications were as vile then as now, but the really harsh stuff tended to get edited out. (Nonetheless, I was still seeing enough of it, generally as letters-to-the-editor or Op-Ed pieces, to be perpetually outraged).

Now, with the internet, there's no mediation at work at all. The rightwing sewer flows straight out into the great big world directly.

The Swift Boat Veterans who lied and lied and lied about John Kerry's war record were doing no worse, and not much different, than THIS stuff. The mendacious filth they spewed about Al Gore in 2000 was no worse. The hate-mongering I saw mounted against Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election was no worse, either.

Really, the rightwingers haven't somehow "lately" concluded that the end justifies the means. They've ALWAYS lived by that belief. They NEVER cared what was or wasn't true; they ALWAYS cared only for what would "sell."

I have a friend who thinks I ought to write a few books about this, including something like "50 Years of Filth" or "50 Years of Lies," just documenting -- election to election -- all the incredible (and incredibly blatant) misrepresentations made by mainstream Republican and conservative outlets during presidential elections. Problem is, if the book were comprehensive, I just don't know what the market would be for a 50,000-page tome printed in 7-pt agate.


Roger Keeling

Nice blog you have here. Found you via Steve Benen's blog, and I appreciate your comments. But I do think you need to be aware of one small detail.

You seem shocked that American conservatives would stoop to such low tactics as the out-and-out lies they're now spreading about Barack Obama. In fact, in your opening paragraph you say, "Right wingers in America really have come round to thinking that the end justifies the means. In fact, they don't care anymore about what's true -- what matters to them is what they can sell."

Oh, you innocent, innocent man! You need to understand that there is NOTHING new about this. I came to hate rightwinger conservatives way back in the 1970s, when I first went to college and began watching politics more closely, because every election and every issue brought out EXACTLY this kind of thing from the Right.

Every election, and every issue, still sees a veritable wave of this kind of filth flowing out from conservative sources. Once upon a time it was, of course, somewhat mediated by the editors of newspapers and magazines. I'm sure private communications were as vile then as now, but the really harsh stuff tended to get edited out. (Nonetheless, I was still seeing enough of it, generally as letters-to-the-editor or Op-Ed pieces, to be perpetually outraged).

Now, with the internet, there's no mediation at work at all. The rightwing sewer flows straight out into the great big world directly.

The Swift Boat Veterans who lied and lied and lied about John Kerry's war record were doing no worse, and not much different, than THIS stuff. The mendacious filth they spewed about Al Gore in 2000 was no worse. The hate-mongering I saw mounted against Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election was no worse, either.

Really, the rightwingers haven't somehow "lately" concluded that the end justifies the means. They've ALWAYS lived by that belief. They NEVER cared what was or wasn't true; they ALWAYS cared only for what would "sell."

I have a friend who thinks I ought to write a few books about this, including something like "50 Years of Filth" or "50 Years of Lies," just documenting -- election to election -- all the incredible (and incredibly blatant) misrepresentations made by mainstream Republican and conservative outlets during presidential elections. Problem is, if the book were comprehensive, I just don't know what the market would be for a 50,000-page tome printed in 7-pt agate.


Roger Keeling

Mea culpa. I have no idea how I accidentally posted the above twice. I did use Preview twice; perhaps I accidentally hit "post" one of those times. In any case, my apology.

Iris Blackmond

I stumbled upon your web site tonight and I must say it was impressive for your cool refreshing honesty. You were on point and stated the case with out bias and in my book that is always a good job.

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