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America Has a Republican Problem and the Media Is Partly to Blame - Neal Gabler - Moyers & Co
Last edited Mon Jan 9, 2017, 08:41 PM - Edit history (1)
[font size="3"]Donald Trump is a distraction from the fact that the mainstream media has pretended the GOP is a normal party with values just to the right. Now the country is paying the price.[/font]
http://billmoyers.com/story/america-republican-problem-media-partly-blame/
As incendiary and dangerous as he is — and he is very dangerous — and as much of a main event as he has been in this election season, Donald Trump is largely a distraction from what really ails our political discourse. Long after he is gone from the scene, the Republican Party that engendered him, facilitated him, and now supports him — despite a severe case of buyer’s remorse — will no doubt still thrive, booting up for a future candidacy of Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Paul Ryan. And the media will still act as if Trump were an aberration, a departure from so-called “sensible” conservatism. If so, it will be yet another act of media dereliction.
In fact, worse than dereliction, because the Republican Party, with its history of dog-whistle racism, sexism, homophobia, nativism, and gun addiction, salted now by incipient fascism, has been legitimized by the mainstream media for years. One could say that the GOP and MSM have operated in collusion to the great detriment of this country. One could say that and not even be a liberal, just a commonsensical American.
Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution
The MSM continue to treat the Republican Party as if it were just another constellation of ideology and policy — another way of governing the country, even though this campaign season, if not the last 30 years, should have disabused journalists of that notion. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. It operates on dogma, sees compromise as a moral failing, views enemies as pagans who must be vanquished, and considers every policy skirmish another Götterdämmerung.
That isn’t politics; it’s a modern version of the medieval Crusades, and as the ancient Crusades did to Europe, it has inflicted untold damage on our country. Because it is deep in the bones of the Republicans, it won’t end with Trump, who is a non-believer himself when it comes to conservative orthodoxy. It can only end with the extinction of the party itself as presently constituted — Cruz, Ryan, Rubio, McConnell, et al. — and the rise of a new conservative party, not a cult.
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In fact, worse than dereliction, because the Republican Party, with its history of dog-whistle racism, sexism, homophobia, nativism, and gun addiction, salted now by incipient fascism, has been legitimized by the mainstream media for years. One could say that the GOP and MSM have operated in collusion to the great detriment of this country. One could say that and not even be a liberal, just a commonsensical American.
Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution
The MSM continue to treat the Republican Party as if it were just another constellation of ideology and policy — another way of governing the country, even though this campaign season, if not the last 30 years, should have disabused journalists of that notion. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. It operates on dogma, sees compromise as a moral failing, views enemies as pagans who must be vanquished, and considers every policy skirmish another Götterdämmerung.
That isn’t politics; it’s a modern version of the medieval Crusades, and as the ancient Crusades did to Europe, it has inflicted untold damage on our country. Because it is deep in the bones of the Republicans, it won’t end with Trump, who is a non-believer himself when it comes to conservative orthodoxy. It can only end with the extinction of the party itself as presently constituted — Cruz, Ryan, Rubio, McConnell, et al. — and the rise of a new conservative party, not a cult.
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Fox News and Right Wing Media Attack Journalists For Reporting the Truth About Benghazi
Journalism, regardless the system of delivery, was once a method of inquiry that played the role of a public service to disseminate and analyze news and information based on principles of truth, accuracy, and facts. America’s corporate-owned media has become an extension of the Republican Party tasked with propagandizing conservative talking points and perpetuating lies to keep the public misinformed and ignorant conservatives in a state of rage. It was little surprise then, that when the New York Times played the traditional journalistic role with an in-depth investigative report on the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi that claimed four American lives it was attacked mercilessly by Republicans desperate to keep their phony Benghazi scandal alive.
The Times report revealed that an anti-Islam video created by American Christians played a major role in inciting anti-American rage that precipitated the attack, and disabused conservatives of their assertion that al-Qaeda planned and carried out the attack. Republicans could hardly admit their year-and-a-half fabrication was a blatant lie, so they attempted to shift attention away from the truth and characterize the Times story as something it was not; a pro-Hillary Clinton and revisionist opinion piece. Over the past few days conservative media tasked with propagating the phony Benghazi scandal took to print and the airwaves to assail the reporter responsible for the Times piece in a concerted effort to perpetuate Republicans’ lies that al-Qaeda planned and carried out the Benghazi attack.
On Thursday, Fox & Friends hosts assailed the Times and reporter David Kirkpatrick for reaching conclusions that contradicted Republicans’ version of the attack and implied that paper had blood on its hands for not summoning military reinforcements and concealing the identity and location of the attackers. Fox’s Steve Doocey said, “Clearly, what they’re saying is somebody that works for The New York Times knows the identity of the people who murdered our Americans. Have you seen that headline in The New York Times? No. You haven’t seen it. But all we know is, no Al Qaeda involved and that video had something to do with it. But, you know what, it has been widely pooh-poohed since they came out with it.” It has only been pooh-poohed by Republicans because it verifies Susan E. Rice’s initial report on the attack, and condemned by conservatives who were not on the ground and as they are well aware, slimy Darrell Issa knows the video played a major role in inciting protestors to violence.
What conservative media is claiming to discredit the Times story is that it is a “clean-up job” to “whitewash” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the attack, and that it is an admission of culpability by the reporter on the ground for failing to alert authorities and call in reinforcements. To put an end to the assertion the Times reporter had an obligation to summon reinforcements and help authorities apprehend the attackers, it is reasonable to check in with real journalists who explained to Fox’s pretend journalists what a field reporter’s job entails.
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... Perhaps that's why (the Working the Refs done by the Republican Noise Machine) Corporate M$M has done such a thorough-going job of parroting GOP Big Lies about Clinton over the last year - re emails and server. Instead of doing a little research and informing the public of the fact that it is hardly new that officials in the State Department find it necessary at times, to forego the slow encryption process and send communications with classified information via a less than totally secure means. The fact is, there are times when, in order to do their jobs, they are forced to use the quickest means of communications available. What the State Dept officials do in those cases is speak in vague terms about the matter. Thus, the only way someone hacking into a conversation would know what they were talking about, was if they already knew what they were talking about.
[font size="3"]Now here is semething that has been a rarity when it comes to media coverage of Hillary Clinton, an example of real journalism by David Ignatius, from more than a year ago....[/font]
The Hillary Clinton e-mail ‘scandal’ that isn’t - David Ignatius, Aug 27, 2015
Does Hillary Clinton have a serious legal problem because she may have transmitted classified information on her private e-mail server? After talking with a half-dozen knowledgeable lawyers, I think this “scandal” is overstated. Using the server was a self-inflicted wound by Clinton, but it’s not something a prosecutor would take to court.
“It’s common” that people end up using unclassified systems to transmit classified information, said Jeffrey Smith, a former CIA general counsel who’s now a partner at Arnold & Porter, where he often represents defendants suspected of misusing classified information.
“There are always these back channels,” Smith explained. “It’s inevitable, because the classified systems are often cumbersome and lots of people have access to the classified e-mails or cables.” People who need quick guidance about a sensitive matter often pick up the phone or send a message on an open system. They shouldn’t, but they do. {"they shouldn't"??... they do it in order to do their jobs. Sometimes there is no time to get something encrypted. A late answer is NO ANSWER AT ALL. IOW: YOU DIDN'T DO YOUR JOB._B USA}
“It’s common knowledge that the classified communications system is impossible and isn’t used,” said one former high-level Justice Department official. Several former prosecutors said flatly that such sloppy, unauthorized practices, although technically violations of law, wouldn’t normally lead to criminal cases.
(and what about the server?)
First, experts say, there’s no legal difference whether Clinton and her aides passed sensitive information using her private server or the official “state.gov” account that many now argue should have been used. Neither system is authorized for transmitting classified information. Second, prosecution of such violations is extremely rare. Lax security procedures are taken seriously, but they’re generally seen as administrative matters.
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Note that Powell and Condi Rice used personal email accounts for official Government business. Powell advised Clinton to do the same. In terms of the legalities involved, a personal server is no different than a personal email account with a commercial email provider. Nobody in the M$M made this clear, nor did they point out that with a commercial email service provider, they have cyber-security personnel, who in order to do their job, have the ability to examine any and all emails and attachments thereto on their system. (Do I need to point out that these cyber-security personnel DO NOT have Government security clearances.) That means that no one can guarantee that any classified information in an email sent/retained in any such commercial account has not been compromised. You may talk about the relative merits of Clinton's IT people's efforts to secure her server, but there is no 'relative' about a commercial email account. It is completely not secure. This is what Powell and Condi Rice had. And BTW, classified info was found in Powell's and Rice's emails.
Comey confirmed that Sec Clinton did NOT Lie about her emails - but you'd never know that if you were listening M$M
When Comey was questioned by that House committee, GOP Toadies who are M$M dutifully reported Trey Gowdie's question to Comey and Comey's answer that there were emails found that had classified information in them. WHat the GOP Toadies did NOT inform people of was that THE STATE DEPARTMENT DID NOT AGREE THAT INFORMATION WAS CLASSIFIED, Further what the GOP Toadies of M$M did NOT report is that IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR THE STATE DEPARTMENT TO DISAGREE WITH THE INTEL COMMUNITY AS TO WHAT IS CLASSIFIED INFO - IOW: it's not always so evident what should be classified.
OH, and further, what M$M DID NOT REPORT IS THAT WHEN QUESTIONED BY REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT. COMEY HAD TO ADMIT THAT IT WAS TRUE THAT NOT ONE OF THE EMAILS IN QUESTION HAD A CLASSIFIED HEADER ON IT. AND THAT THEREFORE IT WAS REASONABLE FOR SEC. CLINTON TO INFER THAT THERE WAS NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN THOSE EMAILS.
[font size="3"]And regarding the GOP being more like a cult than a political party.... that's not some "Liberal" Secularist talking. Read what a career GOP Congressional Staffer had to say about the GOP when he retired in disgust in 2011....[/font]
Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult
It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.
The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel - how prudent is that? - in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.
[font color="red"]Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care.[/font] This fact, which ought to be obvious, has nevertheless caused confusion among the professional pundit class, which is mostly still stuck in the Bob Dole era in terms of its orientation. For instance, Ezra Klein wrote of his puzzlement over the fact that while House Republicans essentially won the debt ceiling fight, enough of them were sufficiently dissatisfied that they might still scuttle the deal. Of course they might - the attitude of many freshman Republicans to national default was "bring it on!"
It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.
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The debt ceiling extension is not the only example of this sort of political terrorism. Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel - how prudent is that? - in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.
[font color="red"]Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care.[/font] This fact, which ought to be obvious, has nevertheless caused confusion among the professional pundit class, which is mostly still stuck in the Bob Dole era in terms of its orientation. For instance, Ezra Klein wrote of his puzzlement over the fact that while House Republicans essentially won the debt ceiling fight, enough of them were sufficiently dissatisfied that they might still scuttle the deal. Of course they might - the attitude of many freshman Republicans to national default was "bring it on!"
It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.
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Here's what two Political Scientists (one from the American Enterprise Institute), veteran observers of politics and governance in Washington had to say about the GOP - that the GOP had become "an insurgent outlier in American politics":
Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.
We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.
[font color="red"]The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.[/font]
When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.
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[font color="red"]The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.[/font]
When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.
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