A LEFTY BOOM

New York Post ^ | 8/29/03 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

August 29, 2003 -- THE rise of an ardent, pas sionate, angry and en gaged left is the most im portant political story of 2003.

The hottest book of the new publishing season is Al Franken's "Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)." Joe Conason of the New York Observer has a fast-selling tome called "Big Lies." At the end of September comes "The Lies of George Bush" by David Corn of the Nation magazine, which will likely hit the bestseller list as well.

[Timesink]

Yes, the left is rising. But for the left to truly challenge the right for dominance of the intellectual debate, its leaders and thinkers will need to be able to offer a picture of a better, safe and wealthier United State ... Their failed philosophy has blinded them, left them incapable of conceiving of a positive future or offering even a road map out of their own misery.

I think a better way to put it is this: When Ann Coulter's book came out, when Bernie Goldberg's book came out, everyone was talking about the ideas expressed in them for weeks afterwards. Yet for all the sales of Franken's and Conason's books, how many times have you seen anyone discussing their books' contents at all, except to note the occasional piece of gossip about some right-winger they don't like?

(I also disagree that the left is rising. It is getting somewhat louder, but it remains the same tiny group of malcontents it's always been. And they're losing power and influence by the day, not gaining it.)

[Timesink]

pingeroo!

[Timesink]

I realize this isn't a Media Shenanigan per se, but it's an important article nonetheless, in that it shows why the Loony Left really does believe the "mainstream" media is conservative.

This is the nascent Mainstream Media Shenanigans ping list. Please freepmail me to be added or dropped.
Please note this will likely become a high-volume list.
Also feel free to ping me if you come across a thread you would think worthy of the ping list. I can't catch them all!

[weegee]

There's a reason they are called USEFUL IDIOTS (actually 2 reasons, the master of the original useful idiots is still in control of these...).

Red Dupe BUMP

[goldstategop]

Foxanoia. No wonder the 11 Chicken Little D's have faced a media blackout for the past month!

[weegee]

Whether the left is really "rising" or not doesn't matter to those in the press. They want there to be a perception that the left is rising. Some people sit on the fence and see which way the wind is blowing.

Why else would media organizations like to push polls so that they get to broadcast the results they want? The only true "voter" poll is at the ballot box.

[Caipirabob]

Hating George Bush and all conservatives in general is not something to build a political movement on.

In the end, the rats still offer nothing in the way of functional ideaology or new ideas. In fact they still blindly support political ideaologies which have brought death and misery to millions upon countless millions.

The only thing they can offers the fact that they never learn and never will.

[Caipirabob]

Hating George Bush and all conservatives in general is not something to build a political movement on.

In the end, the rats still offer nothing in the way of functional ideaology or new ideas. In fact they still blindly support political ideaologies which have brought death and misery to millions upon countless millions.

The only thing they can offers the fact that they never learn and never will.

[Caipirabob]

Hating George Bush and all conservatives in general is not something to build a political movement on.

In the end, the rats still offer nothing in the way of functional ideaology or new ideas. In fact they still blindly support political ideaologies which have brought death and misery to millions upon countless millions.

The only thing they can offers the fact that they never learn and never will.

[lainde]

ping!

[stevem]

This is how movements begin. Pamphleteers like Franken, who often use ad hominem humor as a potent weapon, give fuel and intellectual ammunition to activists like those who marched against the war.

The fact that Franken's schtick is ever referred to as "humor" suggests that "liberal intellectual" is the quintessential oxymoron.

It should be supremely entertaining watching the new "liberal network" flounder, provided it ever gets off the ground at all. It seems to me that the hopelessness of the message will just about guarantee it.

It must be difficult going through life as a liberal, always being miserable and forlorn (is that redundant?).

[swilhelm73]

(I also disagree that the left is rising. It is getting somewhat louder, but it remains the same tiny group of malcontents it's always been. And they're losing power and influence by the day, not gaining it.)

The Left and the Right had essentially a public debate on the current course of America after 9/11. The right won, and handily, as you can see in the election results from 2002.

So, the Left has decided the American populace is stupid, and is now proceeding to restate the same arguments that have failed them already, only LOUDER and sloooooower.

Let's encourage them to follow this route and see how much better it works in 2004, then it did in 2002...better for us that is.

[mrtysmm]

These past few weeks, Crossfire has been the testing ground for the hosts of the new liberal talk shows. I did watch as much as my stomach would allow me to. IMHO, I say "bring it on". I think it will be quite entertaining.

[DanTheAdmin]

"I think it will be quite entertaining."

Only in the sense that it'll be fun to watch 'em crash and burn. As for the entertainment value of their programs... that will most likely be very painful. :)

[tdadams]

This is a very good analysis. The left has nothing to offer but nebulous criticism, and even that is transparently agenda driven.

[billhilly]

There is a palpable political hatred afoot in this country that probably has not existed since the civil war. It is potentially dangerous, and certainly unhealthy for a society such as ours. It is the same kind of hatred that leads to ethnic cleansing in other countries. Here, it is political cleansing.

[tkathy]

The Palestinians and Islamists have built a political movement based on hatred just like the liberals.

[ChewedGum]

Yes, I concur. Their movement (at this point) is built on disdain for Bush and for all things conservative. Their methodology is to rail against those things they hate, but they have no platform except that which is opposite their enemy. It is no mystery why none of the dwarves have gotten any traction...because there is no tread on their tires. Dean is ahead because he is the most angry/vitrolic and the base with their anger/vitrol identify best with him.

Gum

[The Wizard]

I agree with you

[Musket]

Since the Civil War? Oh puleeze. Have you not heard of the '60s? Things were much more agitated then, yet I don't remember and "ethinc cleansing" going on. Me thinks you are overreacting just a bit.

[section9]

Dean is smart, even shrewd. But he's not smart enough to contain the anger of his followers.

The present movement is built on hatred of the President and conservatives. There's no overarching positive vision that the Left can offer America. Once, the Democratic Party could offer a look at the "broad, sunlit uplands". But Democrats don't produce men like Kennedy and Roosevelt anymore.

Now, all they have to offer is fear itself.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Musket]

Whoops. That should be ANY "ethinc cleansing" going on. Sorry 'bout that.

[NutCrackerBoy]

Let's encourage them to follow this route and see how much better it works in 2004, then it did in 2002...better for us that is.

If this vitriolic left is truly one third of the electorate, that is a heck of a sizable chunk. I don't believe it will grow. If Hellary enters the race, she will of course pocket it. After winning nomination, she will promise to continue the war on terror unabated. The Clintons will fashion a straddling message.

The Dean left plus just enough of the center could do it.

[bullseye1911]

There is a palpable political hatred afoot in this country that probably has not existed since the civil war. It is potentially dangerous...for the Left, as the Right have guns and know how to use 'em!

[samtheman]

The Left is developing into a large splinter group that will only succeed in sapping the power of the Liberals. Republicans everywhere should temporarily unite with the Left in that task by voting for Dean in the primaries (wherever they can). A Dean nomination is just what we need to give us a rock solid Republican lock on the House and Senate.

Vote Dean.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Not exactly a BOOM. More like an implosion.

[fightinJAG]

This is a very good analysis. The left has nothing to offer but nebulous criticism, and even that is transparently agenda driven.

OTOH, this is what the left said about US during the Clinton years: all we had was hate, all we offered was criticism. Boy, were they surprised when that "nebulous" groundswell of "obsession" with Clinton resulted in the election of George W. Bush. (Of course, they don't believe Bush actually won the election, so that is another matter.)

My point is this: while I agree that the left is hungry to express its sheer and irrational hatred of George W. Bush and conservatives, I'm still wary that, somewhere in there, a politically significant force is coalescing around Nikita Dean.

Could Dean "come out of nowhere"? Yes.

Is the Hildebeast even now plotting Dean's early demise? Yes.

Then we shall see if the lefty Rat rage will help or hurt Mrs. Clintoon's coming candidacy.

[BushCountry]

The situation is not improving for the Left. They overplayed their hand and the silent majority is starting to stir. Sodomony approved, 10 commandments fall, gay marriages, a shrill voice on Iraq and hatred of America by the left has caused a simmering of emotions and opened some eyes.

[tdadams]

Could Dean "come out of nowhere"? Yes.

What do you mean "could he"? He already has.

[billhilly]

"Since the Civil War? Oh puleeze. Have you not heard of the '60s?"

Heard of them? I lived through them, the first eight years of them in the military. You?

[OldFriend]

Wasn't it Tom Brokaw who said he wouldn't wear a AMERICAN flag on his lapel because it signified support of this administration?

[Musket]

I lived through them, the first eight years of them in the military. You?

We are grateful for your service, but that's not the point. You are forcasting "ethnic cleansing" for the US and I think you are overreacting just a bit. That's all.

[MortMan]

No the left is rising, all right - just like salmonella tainted meat patties over pickled milk.

[billhilly]

Just where in my post did I predict ethnic cleansing? Have you heard of an analogy? I said that in other countries this kind of hatred can lead to ethnic cleansing. I specifically said , in this country it is political cleansing. That is a far cry from ethnic cleansing since both political parties contain all ethnicities.

Now, produce your credentials or leave me alone. I'll compare my political sophistication with anyone on this board.

[Musket]

Whatever.

[proxy_user]

"The only thing they can offers the fact that they never learn and never will....

This assumes that they are the same people year after year. But perhaps it is the case that every year a new crop of angry leftists appear, stay that way for a while, and then get a job, start living in the real world, and modify their views.

The current wave could then be explained by the 'echo boom'. A large number of college-age children of liberal baby boomers have matured, and are now active. In a few years, they will be fed up with large mortgages and high taxes, and ready to join us.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Crossfire has been the testing ground for the hosts of the new liberal talk shows."

Crossfire? I remember that show. It used to be the only place on the dial where you could consistently find a conservative opinion, even though you had to listen through a cacophony of yelling and screaming to hear it. I think CNN (remember them?) mistook the popularity of Crossfire to think that people actually liked the format.
Now that there are a number of saner alternatives, I haven't watched them for years. Are they still on? Is CNN still broadcasting?

[sauropod]

Unfortunately, its not a tiny group. Just go to a Hitlery book signing.

[sauropod]

No they won't. They are moronic and infantile. I have seen enough of them at the anti-war protests. A lot of them are yuppie women.

[50sDad]

The fact that Franken's schtick is ever referred to as "humor" suggests that "liberal intellectual" is the quintessential oxymoron.

Phoenetically breaking that out, as "an oxygen-breathing Democrat"?

[Paradox]

There is a palpable political hatred afoot in this country that probably has not existed since the civil war. It is potentially dangerous, and certainly unhealthy for a society such as ours. It is the same kind of hatred that leads to ethnic cleansing in other countries. Here, it is political cleansing.

I sense this as well. Who'd have thought that the Liberals, with all their touchy, feely, goodness, could generate utter HATRED like this?!

I must admit that I was (and am) somewhat taken aback by the "hatred" I saw for Clinton and the democrats here on FR, but that PALES in comparison to the nasy, vindictive, and PUTRID BILE that I see fomenting in liberal quarters..

[Mind-numbed Robot]

The only true "voter" poll is at the ballot box.

Another is the audiences of talk radio. They are overwhelminly conservative.

[Consort]

It's more like a puff than a boom.

[Helms]

" The hottest book of the new publishing season is Al Franken's "Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)." Joe Conason of the New York Observer has a fast-selling tome called "Big Lies." At the end of September comes "The Lies of George Bush" by David Corn of the Nation magazine, which will likely hit the bestseller list as well."

This is the rise of "Political Pornograpy" from the Left. Its propoganda pure and simple.

[jmstein7]

It's not really a "boom" when you've simply backed an enemy into a corner and the enemy experiences "fight or flight". The libs are losing, and they are losing badly. They are acting out of pure FEAR. They having nothing to more to offer. They are not ACTING... they are merely REacting.

[dogbyte12]

I must admit that I was (and am) somewhat taken aback by the "hatred" I saw for Clinton and the democrats here on FR, but that PALES in comparison to the nasy, vindictive, and PUTRID BILE that I see fomenting in liberal quarters..

I think we are suffering from amnesia. The left's hatred of Nixon, and the right's hatred of Clinton, makes this look like a love fest in comparison.

Clinton & Nixon could make otherwise rational people sputter. Bush isn't anywhere as hated as those two were.

[randog]

The Dean left plus just enough of the center could do it.

That's been my theory for a while. Dean rallies the far left to avoid a third party challenge to the dems a la 2000, then the dems nominate a moderate to round-up the independents. Dean's kool-aid drinkers vote for the dem nominee not because they like him/her, but because they hate Bush.

[NutCrackerBoy]

I think we are suffering from amnesia. The left's hatred of Nixon, and the right's hatred of Clinton, makes this look like a love fest in comparison.

Clinton & Nixon could make otherwise rational people sputter. Bush isn't anywhere as hated as those two were.

Clinton & Nixon both used centrist coalitions to gain election, but did not inspire any love on opposite side of the spectrum. Reagan was politically true to himself, but through charisma and a positive message did inspire quite a bit of love among Democrats. GW Bush is bland. I think the hatred of GW is less caused by him. It is more a result of events (election, 9/11) and frustrated ideology.

[Crawdad]

My mother told us that when one hates another, he gets wrinkles in his heart. So true.