Hullabaloo

Sunday, June 03, 2007

 
Tool Time

by digby

Joan Vennochi must have really been pushing her deadline to come up with this ignorant screed today, excoriating the Democratic field for refusing to debate on Fox:

IF YOU can't face the bad boys of Fox News, how can you face the bad boys of Iraq or Iran?

That's very cute, but it misses the point entirely. What the Democrats are saying is that unlike George W. Bush they aren't dumb enough to legitimize the enemy's propaganda. By pretending that Fox is a news network instead of the official house organ of the Republican Party the Democrats would be doing what Bush has done with al Qaeda --- behaving with such predictable idiocy that it inspires the other side's recruiting.

Furthermore, it's a waste of time. FOX is a partisan Republican network and the Democrats are trying to get Democratic primary votes (who do not and will not watch FOX for any reason.) They might as well be holding the debate in Dick Cheney's office. The vast, vast majority of Fox's audience are older, white, male right-wingers, hard core 28 percenters who would rather stick needles in their eyes than vote for a Democrat. It's ridiculous to think Democrats have any chance of persuading the audience of a network whose most popular show stars a man who says this:

O'REILLY: OK, I think it's a small part, but I think it's there. On the other side, you have people who hate America, and they hate it because it's run primarily by white, Christian men. Let me repeat that. America is run primarily by white, Christian men, and there is a segment of our population who hates that, despises that power structure. So they, under the guise of being compassionate, want to flood the country with foreign nationals, unlimited, unlimited, to change the complexion -- pardon the pun -- of America. Now, that's hatred, too. It's a different kind of hatred, but it's hatred and best exemplified by The New York Times, which today says in its editorial, quote: "Those who want [the immigration] bill to be better are horribly conflicted by it. Their emotions still seem vastly overmatched by the ferocity of the opposition from the restrictionist right, with talk radio lighting up over 'amnesty,' callers spitting out the words with all the hate they can pour into it," unquote.

Now, this is a theme of The New York Times, that if you oppose the immigration bill that you hate Latinos. Now, there's a segment that does, but most oppose it on policy. They just think it's bad policy, rewarding bad behavior. Bad policy. But The New York Times, which is an open border, OK, let-everybody-in concern -- that's what they want, because they want a totally different power structure in America.

Number one, they realize that 40 million new citizens -- and that's, you know, probably the estimate that if you let all the illegal immigrants and all their extended families come here, which is what The New York Times want, would wipe out the two-party system. You'd only have a Democratic party, because new immigrants are probably gonna break 3-to-1 Democrat, and that's what The New York Times wants. But more than that, they want to change the white, Christian male power structure. That's what they want.

I think he knows his audience very well, don't you?

I can't explain why the Congressional Black Caucus Institute is still willing to lend credibility to FOX's bogus claim to being fair and balanced by sponsoring this debate. They are being used as cover for the disgusting swill like that above which FOX's stars spew around the clock every single day and I think it's a mistake. I'm very glad that most of the Democratic candidates have declined to participate.

And in any case there is no excuse for Biden and Kucinich to suggest that their rivals are racist for failing to appear at this debate. Both of them should be ashamed of themselves. Joan Vennochi may just be another columnist on a deadline taking an easy shot but these two should know better.


H/T to BB

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digby 6/03/2007 02:33:00 PM |