Thursday, July 14, 2005

Fooling Some Of The People, All Of The Time

I've got tons of posts to write or finish, and comments to comment on and whatnot, but I just got back from a business trip and that just made my normal workload that much higher than before. But I just wanted to comment on this briefly.

How much longer until the right-wing media machine breaks, and all of the little wingnuts wake-up, rub their eyes, and start seeing reality in all its glory? I was thinking about this while reading this post by Kevin Drum, and overall this whole "Rove isn't a villain, he's a hero" argument. I mean, can anyone really see this argument without vomiting up their own stomach in a mixture of disgust and mordant laughter? How can anyone believe this? Without even knowing the facts, it sounds laughable on its face. I can understand people defending Rove. But trying to turn Rove into a hero should be nausea inducing for even the most pliable of believers. There are still Nixon defenders, but to my knowledge, nobody has suggested that he be given a medal for his performance.

So is there a breaking point? Can the right-wing over do it with their "black is white, evil is good" routine? Or have they trained these people well enough that they will believe absolutely anything, no matter how egregious or obviously false? I'm a liberal and a believer in the better side of human nature, so I'd like to believe that there is a breaking point, and that some story like this will send the sparks flying and smoke pluming; when even Brit Hume says "I'm not saying this bullshit," and walks out of the studio in disgust. They don't even need to see the truth, they just need to realize how much they're being conned in every stage of their beliefs. We can only hope that this is the story that does it. It would be the ultimate irony if Rove's own defense is the one that ruins it for the rest of them.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's a very high-stakes game for the people who see the other side as the enemy. I imagine the great unspoken thought is that the ends justify the means. For example:

Karl exposed a covert? Better one person (or many) sacrificed than living in a liberal society.

Troops tortured detainees? Well, they're terrorists, aren't they? We don't need to treat them like human beings.

We invaded a country for the wrong reasons? Well, they were bound to do something eventually.