Abnormal Is The New Normal?

After pointing out the irresponsible rhetoric that comes from talk radio and Faux News, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been relentlessly attacked by the members of talk radio and their followers for pointing out this fact.

"Loughner was a liberal," some would claim, while others would just call him mentally ill. Apparently, defending their hate is easier than honest introspection.

OK, let's say we give them Loughner. There is always Jim David Adkisson who shot up the Unitarian Church in Tennessee after getting repeated doses of the vitriol and hate speech served up by Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly.

If they think that is just one example, Blogging Blue posted, last summer, that Adkisson was just one in a string of crazies who lap at talk radio's and Faux News' hate juice.

Digby thinks that this denial of reality by the right and the populace in general is the new normal:

I've been following this story of the radical right very closely since Oklahoma City. But as I mentioned the other day, I didn't realize what a huge role it has come to play in their popular imagination. They believe they were wronged, and it's fed their militant paranoia ever since then.

It is worse. But perversely, because it is worse, people are less alarmed by it. It's fairly obvious to me that this has been normalized. And it's been normalized to the point where what people now find alarming is someonepointing it out

American voters say 52 - 41 percent that "heated political rhetoric drives unstable people to commit violence," the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Liberals rather than conservatives are more responsible for such rhetoric, voters say 36 - 32 percent.

No, that's not a joke. But I'm not surprised. I often get accused of being divisive when I write about right wing lunacy. It makes people feel uncomfortable.

I hope like hell it's not the new normal, especially after seeing this list linked to by Digby.

Like The Tick On A Rat

The title is the picturesque, and accurate, description of Charlie Sykes used by my friend, Bert, at folkbum's.

Read the entire post to see why Faux News, WISN and WTMJ are the charlatan news stations that we know them to be.

Can't Touch This

From Crooks and Liars:

After reading at HuffPo yesterday that a right wing smear group produced an ad so atrocious (and potentially illegal) that even FOX News wouldn’t touch it, I knew it had to be bad.

There are a lot more goodies in the this story, especially that the ad may be illegal, if not atrocious and inadvertently funny. The post goes on...

I wonder if the other networks are irresponsible enough to pick up on FOX’s “mistake” and use it as an excuse to run the ad. I wonder if that was the idea all along.

Locally that irresponsible party would be Charlie Sykes.

What Did He Teach Again?

What is it with the local right wing media and their bogus claims on their resumes?

The most recent bit of silliness comes from James T. Now Harris often mentions that he used to teach, but he never says what he taught. I would feel safe placing a hefty wager that he did not teach any of the sciences.

He definitely has his biochemistry quite confused. Perhaps he's been testing his bear spray on himself or something, but we got news for James:

Neither dinosaurs or SUVs have ever been on a moon of Saturn.

Pundit Nation and the Illusory One have more on Harris' apparent audition for Faux News.

Plagiarism? Color Me WTF*

I know at least two local bloggers who'd say it looked like a red cat. How many more can you name?




Title gleefully stolen from Nathan, Prop. Video from Ben Smith's Blog

A Fair Comparison

I swiped this cartoon off of Dooley's site, not because the cartoon in itself is funny, but at the comparison it makes:



I would definitely put someone from Fox News in with the rest of these people.

Fox Blows

And they (our right-wing conservative cheddarsphereans) wonder out loud why Democrats will not appear or agree to debate on Fox News. Hmmm ... perhaps this is why.



Sounds racist to me.


h/t This Modern World

But Are They Fair And Balanced?

Most conservatives would probably say that they get their news from Fox News or talk radio. Neither are very reliable sources of accurate information of course, but that is to what the conservatives tend to be drawn.

Probably because she doesn't feel them to be conservative enough, McBride apparently shuns these sources and goes for a real conservative site for her information. And the worst part or her is they are better journalists, in English, than she is. But, then again, who isn't?

McBride's Gotcha

Playing on the theme of the great liberal conspiracy theory, McBride lays out the nefarious schemes of the left to portray a conservative celebrity, Bill O'Really?, as a victim of a smear attack. But the posting in itself isn't the highlight. The real fun starts in the comment thread.

First McBride fan(atic) and/or possible student, i jeff, writes:

Jessica explains this very well. I will only add that conservative leaning pundits could never pull off this scam on a liberal. MSM media outlets and all their liberal allies should be ashamed of themselves. Unfortunately, it takes some semblance of honesty and integrity to do that. Not sure if anyone has ever asked this question, but what happens when the media goes a step beyond bias? I believe it would be called corruption. A free press that becomes a corrupt media no longer serves any useful purpose.

To this, McBride witfully rejoins with:

I Jeff, You are so right. If conservatives tried this on liberals, the MSM would write scathing pieces about the dishonest smear tactics of the conservatives.

Apparently, neither of them have ever watched Fox News.