National networks now consider it unacceptable to criticize the government. Greenwald has the details (via Drudge, so keep a shaker of salt handy) and eriposte has a more comprehensive rundown.
From now on Bush followers can spare the outrage when people use phrases like ‘Dear Leader.’ In a free country, for example in the country that once sat between the Atlantic and Pacific, Mexico and Canada, networks do not feel pressured to turn away independent ads that might make the leading party uncomfortable. We don’t live there anymore. Same geographic location, different country.
***Update***
We might get back a bit of what we had if the GOP goes down in a glorious wreck this November, but I wouldn’t get excited just yet. Here’s a simple metric – count the days it takes each network to put up a graphic reading: Have the Democrats Gone Too Far? It doesn’t really matter what the actual topic is, since it is hard to imagine an area of government which the GOP has not pushed to ludicrous extremes. Inevitably the Dems will try to push some policy topic back into sane world and one of the David Broders will declare his feelings hurt.
I give FOX news about five hours since the very concept of Democrats in charge ought to offend them. ABC, which has recently declared its fealty to the crazy-right FOX News base, will take about a week. CBS? NBC? We know that it is only a matter of time before everybody invites Boehner and Mitch McConnell to tut-tut about how uncouth the Dems have become in their majority.
Rusty Shackleford
This is not America.
Zifnab
Sadly, it is.
JoeTx
Its ironic that we are fighting so hard for freedom and justice in foreign lands and are losing those same rights here at home. How can you take Bush seriously about fighting for freedom and democracy in Iraq, when we are losing same here. A recent study says we are now ranked 54th, with countries like Botwana in freedom of the press rankings, that is just insane!
The limited corporate ownership of our media is quickly killing our Democracy, may it RIP….
Gary Ruppert
The fact is that ABC is a private entity and can do as they please. I know that liberals think that the government owns everything by default, especially my tax dollars, but we have a thing called the Constitution. And until the Left and their Islamofascist allies replace the Constitution with Socialism, you’re not going to bully anyone into running vicious lies about our Commander-in-Chief in a time of war.
Tim F.
Someone misunderstands the concept of public airwaves.
Zifnab
Seriously. I think there was some time back in the 50s or 60s or 70s in which a number of small time new broadcasters decided to hike up their balls and charge into the political mess that was McCarthyism and Vietnam. They made names for themselves, the news agencies got ratings and fame, and Ieveryone was happy for a decade or three.
But that was a brief golden age of truth and reason. You don’t see it today because it was the anomaly, not the pervading reality. Try to remember, Edward R. Murrow got canned. Kissenger still works in the White House. Hersh still gets trashed by the administration for his questionable journalism. Dick Cheney is Vice President.
America hasn’t progressed as much as we thought and it wasn’t nearly as good as well all read about in the history books.
tBone
Let’s not give Gary too much credit here, Tim.
Pb
See above–perhaps to some extent, that’s another symptom of the same problem. But also there is a certain flavor of rabid nationalism to contend with, the sort that asserts that America is, was, and will be the greatest nation on Earth, in every way, for all eternity. No, sorry, we don’t get a free pass. There are, were, and will be many great things about my country, and I’d like to keep it that way, but mere blind assertion doesn’t cut it. Wishing doesn’t make it so, and all that, you have to actually be better and stay better to make it so.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Why do you people hate America? Don’t you understand that we’re at war, and criticizing our Commander-in-Chief in wartime constitutes material aid and comfort to Osama Bin Laden?
Guantanamo doesn’t have cells enough for the lot of you, so I’m proposing a system of “freedom camps” in Alaska to keep America safe from you for the duration of the conflict.
AkaDad
Following this logic, Republicans should have been incarcerated and put in “freedom camps”, when they constantly attacked Clinton for sending the troops to Bosnia.
Zifnab
Slow down there, big fella. You’ve totally outpaced your audiance here. Try to talk in smaller words and gutteral chuckles. And maybe work that whole statement into an easy-to-remember catch-phrase, like, “When it comes to Presidental loyalty, Republicans need to stay the course.” “Don’t cut and run from Democrats in office.” “You’ve just got to adapt your political strategy and win.”
ImJohnGalt
How do you replace a piece of paper with a political ideology?
Pooh
Tim, don’t engage Gary (“thefactis”) Ruppert except to mock – he’s a well, well known troll from Sadly, No.
John S.
I love the new crop of “conservative” commenters around here, like Thomas and Gary. They make a far better case for the moral and intellectual bakruptcy of the GOP these days than any number of posts by anyone else possibly could.
Such good, useful idiots.
Pooh
In seriousness, a point I tried to make ages ago in the net neutrality debate:
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Those wars were pointless distractions diverting us from the issues that really mattered, like Clinton’s ethical impairment and the struggle against Saddam and other evildoers.
You two will have all winter long to debate it in the freedom camp. All winter long, for the next 20-30 winters, that is.
You can take this clown with you:
You write on it, at which point it becomes a document pertaining to the ongoing ideological struggle between sanity and leftism that the world has had to endure ever since those knuckleheads like Marx and Darwin surfaced in the 19th century.
Without fools and liars like these two, and kooks like you to follow them, the crimes of leftists like Castro, Stalin, Hitler, Ho Chi Minh, Huey Long, and Michael Moore (among many, many others) would not have been possible.
AkaDad
Thanks for explaining to us that stopping genocide is pointless…
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
This, from a moonbat who would undoubtedly prefer that Saddam and Kim Jong Il remain in power indefinitely, is priceless.
Need I remind you of the genocide Democrats have constantly abetted, from Yalta to the Khmer Rouge to Rwanda to Tibet?
Whenever a Democrat gets in power, White House pornography supplies go rocketing up. Genocide oversight plummets. (And don’t try to pin Darfur on Bush, either. Sudanese genocide was begun under Clinton, and we can’t do anything about it until we’ve dealt with the Hazara-slaughtering Taliban and Kurd-slaughtering Saddamites that Clinton left for Bush to deal with.)
ImJohnGalt
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me has hurt my feelings.
[snif]
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
There, there.
I’m sure you’ll get over it.
AkaDad
LOL undoubtedly. I actually “prefer” they not be in power.
How can you remind someone of something that never happened?
Wheres the proof of this?
rbl
There is a University of Malmo study that established it quite strongly. Google it yourself, if you want to see, it don’t have time to waste proving known facts to the BDSers. And by proof, I mean 99.96% three standard deviations type proof, not any of this 600K +/- 300K liberal “scientific” claptrap offered up by Limey idealogues with an axe to grind.
Aaron
What do we call this new country?
My leading choices are:
“Amerika”
and
“The United States of Terror”
Personally I prefer the later. To compare: In the USA, you had the rights in the bill of rights: the right to be arrested only upon warrant, the right to be brought before the court instead of taken away to some gulag, the right to confront your accusers… and other rights.
In the United States of Terror, you have the right to be declared an “Enemy Combatant” for any reason, whereupon you will then be disappeared into the gulag prison system, held without trial, attorney or contact, and “freedom boarded” until you confess to whatever they want to hear.
Welcome to the United States of Terror.
By the way, here is my nomination for a new national anthem for the United States of Terror..
For the words to it, just point to anything potentially dangerous in the ares, preferably a brown person and start yelling “terrorist” if its a person and “bomb” if its an object.
Bas-O-Matic
Pooh Says:
Tim, don’t engage Gary (“thefactis”) Ruppert except to mock – he’s a well, well known troll from Sadly, No.
Ruppert is no mere troll. Ruppert is an aesthetic movement. Sure, there was once a troll named Gary Ruppert that would haunt the comments of Eschaton, The Poorman, and Sadly, No! with fact free diatribes captioned with “The fact is.” But that troll has inspired an entire following of spoofs propagating Ruppert’s tireless yet stilted talking point spamming style all over the internets such that it is no longer feasible to discern the difference between the real Gary Ruppert and his many, many disciples.
sglover
The fact is that ABC is a private entity and can do as they please. I know that liberals think that the government owns everything by default, especially my tax dollars, but we have a thing called the Constitution. And until the Left and their Islamofascist allies replace the Constitution with Socialism, you’re not going to bully anyone into running vicious lies about our Commander-in-Chief in a time of war.
Ummmm…. Help me out, here. Is this satire, or no? I haven’t been able to distinguish between Republican doctrine and parody for years.
sglover
Oy. A double dose:
Whenever a Democrat gets in power, White House pornography supplies go rocketing up. Genocide oversight plummets. (And don’t try to pin Darfur on Bush, either. Sudanese genocide was begun under Clinton, and we can’t do anything about it until we’ve dealt with the Hazara-slaughtering Taliban and Kurd-slaughtering Saddamites that Clinton left for Bush to deal with.)
OK. If this is parody, it’s pretty hamfisted. And if it isn’t… Tell me, in which Cabinet department is the Genocide Oversight Agency located? That’s one I hadn’t heard of. I guess it’s the office that handles “Genocide Permission Forms” from overseas? When exactly did they that give Sudan the thumbs-up? Of course, I’m certain that if Clinton had intervened in Sudan, guys like Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich and Duke “Stripes” Cunningham would have backed him 110%, him being Commander in Chief ‘n’ all…. Anyway, please clarify these important issues. I suspect that you have truly unique insights to share.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
.
So you say now, when it’s politically convenient.
Are you seriously claiming the only genocide that’s occurred since 1945 was the one in Bosnia that Clinton only stopped to distract America from his philandering?
I wasn’t familiar with this one, but I’m glad someone conducted it.
I find it amusing that liberals, whose talking points are inconceivable outside of the realm of lowbrow comedy, are so quick to accuse others of parody. I guess you have to go with what you know, though, and when substantive debate isn’t included, comedy is all you’re left with.
The Oval Office. You know, the one Clinton occupied when he ignored the crimes of Saddam and the Taliban and the Sudanese government.
If Clinton had stopped the genocide, he would’ve been supported 110% of the way by Congressional leaders who are truly concerned about human rights. (Like the ones you’ve mentioned and belittled- DeLay, Gingrich, etc.) But then again, if Clinton had done so, he wouldn’t have been Clinton. He would’ve been a different President, presumably one who deserved respect and bipartisan support.
(Or are you saying that if Clinton had done everything Bush has done, you moonbats would’ve supported him 110% because he was a Demorat? That’s an interesting admission, if it’s what you’re driving at.)
sglover
OK. The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me has straightened me out. It wasn’t parody, and he has discovered a way to instantaneously transmit electronic messages into our time-space continuum from some parallel universe. Huzzah!
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
I don’t even know what this post means. It sounds like science stuff, to me. Science is not something I enjoy. Science is for moonbats and people in the “reality-based” community. It’s not something for real Americans, like people who trust in God, the Bible, the flag, George Bush apple pie, and Mom. (Not necessarily in that order.)
Filthy McNasty
Get over yourselves. It’s a fucking ad. As evidenced by the Mark Foley brouhaha, the major media is still sitting comfortably in your lap, anxious for you to tell it when to roll over.
Fucking babies.
tBone
Damn that liberal media, conspiring with CREW and George Soros to force poor Mark Foley to chase after hot young 16-year-olds!
Seriously, McNasty – spoofing is fine, but at least try to make it funny or entertainingly crazy. I can get your brand of bitter deadender rage at any rightwing blog on the Intertrons, no need to parody it here.
Aaron
What is this “university of malmo study” that is being referred to? my experience with “the Google” is apparently insufficient.
And what are these “Pornography supplies?”
Clean sheets?
Okay, this part I kind of understand: “don’t have time to waste proving known facts to the BDSers.”
This is apparently some form of Wingnut speak a la 1984 where:
“known facts” are things which Wingnuts wish were true, such as the idea that Bush didn’t lie us into Iraq, but of course aren’t (he did)
and BDS is Bush denial syndrome- whereby people who realize that bush is a liar and a war criminal are called crazy just like in the good old Soviet Union.
All very 1984….
Pooh
Seconded. Try harder, son. One day, you’ll be a real winger!
just sayin
America 2.0. Get used to it.
Mary
Filthy McNasty said:
Uh-oh. Somebody’s not going to get elected in Virginia if he keeps writing things like that.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
If nothing else, I think this thread amply demonstrates why the Democrats cannot be trusted with the security of this nation- nor, in a more specific sense, with the tenacity necessary to see us through to victory on the frontlines of WWIII in Iraq.
I think history will vindicate that assessment, and I can only hope that one day, historians will point to online blog discussions like this one as demonstrative of the warning signs that rank-and-file Democrats gave of their unwillingness to take on the terrorists where it counted.
merlallen
the fact is, gary ruppert doesn’t understand a lot. and doesn’t care how ignorant he is.
demimondian
America 2.0 — is that like America 1.0, but with (con)scripting?
tBone
Indeed. It’s also bloated, less stable, and littered with broken features and missing functionality compared to the previous version.
Kimmitt
Wait, are the Islamists fascist, socialist, or liberals? Is there a scorecard somewhere?
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
The terms are interchangeable. These ideologies change their names, and some of their irrelevant, kooky banter, but never their ultimate objective- the destruction of America, and of goodness itself.
There are other additions to the loose alliance of America-hating evildoers, mind you. Darwinists, secularists, Marxists, secular humanists, Unitarians, atheists, and homosexuals also fall within this grouping.
We are America, those people are not, they hate us for our freedom and our prosperity, and we have to destroy them before they can carry out their evil conspiracies to destroy us. It’s really as simple as that, and any attempt to muddy the water is moonbat claptrap designed to aid and abet the enemies of freedom.
A1
-Your parody of Republicans is to funny!
/ROTFLMA
/LOL
/Amazes me when republicans call any one else a hater.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
You don’t understand. In the name of freedom, sometimes it’s necessary to kill millions and millions of people- most of them non-white, true, but some white as well. Mostly liberals.
Aaron
Sure I understand. Neo-Nazism….where liberal is the new jew.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
As usual, you moonbats violate Godwin’s Law.
For your information, the correct term is “neo-conservatism.” Or “compassionate conservatism,” if you’re still hung up on Election 2000.