I WAS ELITE BEFORE YOU WERE ELITE
Jul. 10th, 2009 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogSpeaking of Fox News and its ratings bonanza, here’s an interesting piece from The Daily Beast regarding the spectacle of Sarah Palin blaming the Liberal Elitist Media for her decision to resign, while Palin fans Bill Kristol and Rush Limbaugh blame the Big Liberal Elitists who hate Palin for no really good reason.
The basic premise of the column is: what in the f*** are you people blathering about?
It’s a point worth making, because ever since the early 1990s, conservatives have complained about how the media is run by biased liberal elitists who want to silence the GOP forever, etc. Which wasn’t all that strong a case in 1994 when the likes of Limbaugh rose to fame, but it’s an even tougher case to make now.
The fact that Fox News is the top news station in the country – and absolutely LOVES Sarah Palin – is a good start. Context also matters:
But as Friedersdorf notes, the conservative movement has always kind of thrived by playing the oppressed underdog – and one with a complete disregard for facts. So why not pretend the odds are against them?
Anyway, you might want to bookmark the article for the next holiday when yr Freeper relatives come over for BBQ and start reviving that old Liberal Elite Bias chestnut. Toss a few of those nuggets and ask them to explain that. You should be able to keep that argument going for hours.
Yr welcome.
Young and rich,
This is dF
The basic premise of the column is: what in the f*** are you people blathering about?
It’s a point worth making, because ever since the early 1990s, conservatives have complained about how the media is run by biased liberal elitists who want to silence the GOP forever, etc. Which wasn’t all that strong a case in 1994 when the likes of Limbaugh rose to fame, but it’s an even tougher case to make now.
The fact that Fox News is the top news station in the country – and absolutely LOVES Sarah Palin – is a good start. Context also matters:
The present decade witnessed the ascendance of Ivy League alumnus George W. Bush to the White House, GOP majorities in Congress, and John Roberts heading a Supreme Court with a 5 to 4 right-of-center advantage. Rupert Murdoch emerged as America’s most influential media mogul. A small group of hawkish foreign-policy intellectuals laid the groundwork for a foreign war of choice. Even the presidential race that led to Barack Obama’s election included a debate hosted by the pastor of an evangelical mega-church. Ruling elites, however broadly defined, looked pretty conservative.
But as Friedersdorf notes, the conservative movement has always kind of thrived by playing the oppressed underdog – and one with a complete disregard for facts. So why not pretend the odds are against them?
Anyway, you might want to bookmark the article for the next holiday when yr Freeper relatives come over for BBQ and start reviving that old Liberal Elite Bias chestnut. Toss a few of those nuggets and ask them to explain that. You should be able to keep that argument going for hours.
Yr welcome.
Young and rich,
This is dF
