The Healthcare Message vs. Wingnut Crazy

Posted on 08/13/2009 at 8:30 am by Bob Cesca

Benen on the far-right healthcare attacks:

…it pays to lie, blatantly and repeatedly, when launching a campaign against a policy initiative. If proponents ignore your bogus claims, they go uncontested, making it easier to persuade uninformed voters. If proponents challenge your bogus claims, the media will say they’ve “lost control of the message.”

The self-conscious media notion of “fake balance” has largely created this dynamic. And it’s absolutely a victory for the disingenuous wingnut right. They managed to convince the media that they’re biased and thus fomented this guilt complex which, in turn, prompted an effort to air all sides, irrespective of who’s accurate and who’s lying.

As Gibbs said yesterday:

“[L]et’s be honest, you all, the media, tend to cover ‘X said this, Y said this,’ but some of you, but not everyone, does an investigation about whether what X said is actually true.”

Gibbs absolutely nailed the core of what’s wrong with the media right now.

So liberals and the Obama administration ultimately have to run triple-duty. Pushing a message, pushing an agenda, while also debunking the crazy. Meantime, the Republicans only need to make up more crazy, and their job is made even easier when cable news is so willing to thrust every screeching, gun-toting wingnut yokel in front of a camera to further repeat this crap.

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  • Jan

    I just don’t get it. How can any living, breathing human being be against healthcare for all? Even the most right wing nutjob couldn’t be THAT cruel.So there’s obviously other things going on here. Like racism against Obama. That it’s driving the rethugs crazy that they are out of power.Could these people really think it’s ok for 22,000 people die a year because they have no access to healthcare?Really???

  • Eric

    Jan, I can’t (obviously) speak for all of them, but I can for my mother, who is 79 and Republican. My dad was, also, but a moderate. Since his passing (it’s been years) mom has drifted (I think – it’s something I really don’t want to examine too closely) farther and farther to the right. I think she watches a lot of Fox News. That’s what my sister-in=law tells me. Again – I’d rather avert my eyes on that.I think my mom was sucked in by the Reagan canard of the ‘welfare queen’. She bought the story whole, that there was somebody (AA, of course) who had fabricated several fake identities and was ripping off welfare to the tune of 150K a year.It doesn’t matter that the story was debunked as a myth that Reagan (or his advisers) had simply made up. (What was the rationale? ‘It doesn’t matter that it’s not true – it gets the point across’.) Investigation into welfare fraud could only turn up cases of abuse that ran to 6 or 7 thousand, certainly not 150K.I think that’s part of it. There is a certain demographic (caucasian?, retired?) that had these lies embedded into their psyche and it’s not going to be displaced. It’s racist, certainly, but I think it’s more. I think it’s fear of a system that, although it’s equitable 98% of the time, would allow 2% to get a ‘free ride’.And since I’ve used my mother as an example, I should say that she is generous, devoted to her church, volunteers, all of that. She’s just flawed. As are we all.

  • scribblechic

    Now Jan you’re just being irresponsible. At least thats what Claire McCaskill said when Mr. David Scott called the racists out in his district.You know Mr. Scott, the African American congress critter from GA that had the big ass Swastika painted outside his office and the letters sent to his office addressed: NIGGA DAVID SCOTT.Oh It was also Ms Claire’s town hall where the black woman was shown on TV being halled out after some white guy snatched her Rosa Park poster and ripped it up.So you better watch it Jan. You’re doing a huge disservice to America by calling out the big fat fucking white racist elephant in the room.Thanks Eric for sharing your story. I do acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of assholes preying on the fears of the elderly. I recognize that game being played. I also see the REAL racists out there that the MSM and Claire are trying to play off as angry citizens just trying to get questions about healthcare answered.White guys with guns and slogans that an American Terrorist had written on his back when he bombed innocent citizens get paraded on my TV as american patriots. Are you fucking kidding me?Watch how all this shit changes when the first person of color starts to “FEAR.” Then you’ll see all this racial tolerance gone out the fucking window.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    I’m wondering if it will go away soon. I mean, if the bill passes with a strong public option, will this nonsense stop or will it just get worse and worse right up until the day it goes into effect? These nuts believe in all that End Times bullshit. Will they quiet down after it passes or start preparing for the Second Coming of Jebus?

  • Eric

    Nano – they’re always preparing for the Second Coming. They were before the election. They want it real bad. Scares the poop outa me.

  • Lexaburn

    Our swine media complex is complicit in deceiving the public, so the Republicans didn’t really need to “convince” to air their dishonest point of view.

  • Steph in SC

    Eric is right.My parents, who voted for Clinton the first time, are now both retired. They watch ONLY Fox news, and listen to talk radio ALL DAY!My dad even carries a little portable radio around with him. They both are totally part of the lunatic fringe!When I was growing up it was like they were two different people than who they are now. If you only listen to Rush and Glenn and have Fox news playing constantly, I believe you become brainwashed. There is NOTHING I can say that will change their minds.I find it very sad and frustrating because we have become estranged because of their “new” outlook on life.

  • bibimimi

    “So liberals and the Obama administration ultimately have to run triple-duty. Pushing a message, pushing an agenda, while also debunking the crazy”.The third part is the Media’s JOB, but they’ve done an irretrievable faceplant on that years ago when they found out doing your job sometimes means losing your job, your sponsors, your nig dirty paycheck.

  • bibimimi

    ‘your nig dirty paycheck.’I meant BIG dirty paycheck. Bang goes the message.