Aiding and Abetting

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo coined a phrase some years ago that Washington is "wired for Republicans" and was such a prescient statement. The establishment media are now conditioned to work almost exclusively in favor of the Republican tactic of out and out lying and relying on the MSM to report the lie without any significant push back. Take for example the "liberal media" running with missing Governor Sanford aide's statement that he had spoken to Sanford today and that he was on the Appalachian Trail and that he would be back tomorrow. They are repeating this story as a fact even though Sanford hasn't called anyone else which would support the story, the aide has no way of confirming where Sanford was calling from, and the various conflicting stories his staff and his wife gave yesterday after the story broke. This media failing is getting to the point of being disgusting.

But not every example of the media being wired for Republicans has to do with them just repeating what they are told. Sometimes its that they actively incorporate what they have been told by Republicans about Democrats into their own original smears against Democrats. Take for example this question in the supposedly liberal Washington Post and supposedly liberal ABC News Poll.

8. Which of these statements comes closer to your view: (Beneath it all, Obama is an old-style, tax-and-spend Democrat) or (Obama is a new-style Democrat who will be careful with the public's money).

Now this isn't one of those notoriously wacky RNC polls, nor is it one of those hyperpartisan FoxNews polls. Hell this isn't even a right wing Rasmussen poll. This is the Washington Post and ABC News combining to project the most blatantly false and politically damaging meme about Democrats in general and Democratic Presidents in particular.

There is no good option for a person answering this question. If you say Obama is an "old school tax-and spend-liberal" you buy into a right wing stereotype that doesn't exist in the real world. If you say Obama is a "new style Democrat who will be careful with the public's money" then the clear implication is that even if you had a positive view of him personally that only means that the rest of the Democrats historically have been irresponsible with the people's money.

In short its a bullshit question. Its almost analagous to a push poll question, meant to create an impression rather than measure one.

So lets check out those "old school tax and spend" Democratic Presidents as opposed to their "fiscally responsible" Republican counterparts.




But why should our "liberal media" let a little thing like facts get in the way of smearing Democrats, right?

Assholes.