Carpe Datum

Scalp Collecting

Atrios has a couple of good comments lately about all the "scalp collecting" that has been going on. Some liberals have wondered if it is worthwhile for us to go after ConservaBorg personalities with as much zeal as they go after, well, normal people (or liberals, doesn't matter which). They go after people like Dan Rather or Eason Jordon or (name your favorite Clinton administration official), even though such people have spent plenty of time kissing up to Bush or at the very least have been fair and professional for the majority of their careers. So if we do the same to idiots like Brit Hume (lately) or Rush or Hannity or so on down the food chain to JD Guckert, aren't we lowering ourselves to their level? Atrios responds (here and here):

If Dan Rather had grossly and deliberately misrepresented something that Ronald Reagan had said, here's what would have happened:

It would be all over AM radio.

Howard Kurtz would write several columns in the Post and discuss it frequently on CNN.

The New York Post would headline "Rather Kicks Reagan's Corpse!!"

The New York Times would run a prominent feature about it,

Editorial boards from around the country would weigh in on this travesty.

Every columnist - conservative and liberal - would be falling all over themselves to condemn Dan Rather.

It would for years to follow become the reference point for "bad journalism."

Now we have Brit Hume clearly deliberately distorting something FDR said, and several other Foxmonkeys following suit. Will any of the above happen? No. Brit Hume has no standards. Fox News has no standards. And, none of the usual suspects even tries to hold them to any standard.

So, when people ask why the "left" can't collect any scalps, that's why. You can't shame people who have no shame.

I don't see how anyone with a half-developed sense of shame could vote for Bush with a clear conscience or with any sense of pride. The simplest explanation I can imagine is that there is just a straight cognitive disconnect among the nutball set. You know...

Don't touch my gun rights, they are enshrined in the Constitution! Oh, but you want to take away all the other rights using the Patriot Act, please go ahead with my permission.

Affirmative Action is un-American. No "special rights" for minorities or gays! Oh, but if you vote against our Hispanic attorney general, you are a horrible racist.

"Clinton gutted our military," they scream. Then as a result of a needless war of choice, our military becomes dangerously unprepared for any new conflicts, thanks to Flight Suit Georgie, who is our hero.

Deficits are horrible and all the fault of Democrats in Congress, but hey, if the Boy King is in charge and wants tax cuts for the rich, then we're fine with deficits. They must be the fault of the terrorists.

And on and on and on. I have to admit nothing from the right-wing surprises me any more. I'm just disappointed that so many people have been suckered into blithely going along for the ride, figuring both sides are equally bad. We've overcome Moron Majorities before in America. The history books are rife with great examples. I'm just not so optimistic we'll get out of this one without a lot more pain.

Athenae at First Draft has more on the role of the press in rooting out wrongdoing. When you investigate and uncover something that's wrong, that's not "scalp collecting". It's good journalism. Something the corporate media doesn't do very often (if you leave out Seymour Hersh).

Posted by Observer at February 17, 2005 07:15 AM