Funny That A Whore Would Be Up To Her Same Old Tricks, Yrs. Later

From the electrons of Salon, a spoilsport points out what a witch Betsy McCaughey is, & comes up w/ a not-unreasonable idea to wise these stupid racists the hell up. But ruins it by suggesting that we not call them "stupid racists." Here are the important parts, so you needn't worry about getting any Paglia on you by visiting Salon.

Stage managed? Absolutely. Somebody like Betsy McCaughey doesn't invent a lie as brazen as the so-called death panels out of nowhere. She's a professional; a paid propagandist for the right-wing Hudson Institute. Back in 1993, her article "No Exit" in the allegedly liberal (but incompetently edited)* New Republic magazine helped sink President Bill Clinton's healthcare initiative.

Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1

Then McCaughey claimed the Clinton bill made it a crime to buy supplemental insurance or pay your doctor out of pocket. The bill itself said, "Nothing in this act shall be construed as prohibiting ... an individual from purchasing health-care services."

Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2

But McCaughey's a poised and superficially attractive woman who performs capably on television. So why wouldn't low-information voters get taken in all over again? Particularly after her "death panel" falsehoods got amplified by figures like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and the supposedly "moderate" Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Perlstein: "If you don't understand that any moment of genuine political change always produces both [mad lies and heartfelt fear], you can't understand America, where the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy, and where elites exploit the crazy for their own narrow interests."

And yet the Obama White House got caught napping as the paranoid train left the station once again. Presidential aides told reporters that the barrage of falsehoods and insane comparisons to Nazi Germany "had caught them off guard and forced them to begin an August counteroffensive."

So where were these geniuses back when Clinton was being called a drug smuggler and mass murderer? When militiamen spotted U.N. "black helicopters" over Western skies? When thousands hoarded canned food and bottled water in advance of the imaginary Y2K catastrophe?

Conservatives determined to prevent Obama from succeeding understand that their best chance is to frighten poorly informed voters historically susceptible to conspiracy theories – particularly in rural states far from centers of power.

Too often, the Democratic response goes something like this: "The claims can be debunked a million times and it would make not one bit of difference to them. They hate President Obama, most of them are racists, and they are out to destroy him. They are irrational (barely) human beings with no conscience."

Persuasive, don't you think? OK, so I took that from a fellow on my Facebook page. It's sadly typical. For a generation now, the well-organized and lavishly funded right-wing noise machine has dominated American political debate with poisonous nonsense like McCaughey's, with little effective pushback.

To the extent Democrats resist, it's mainly on Web sites like the invaluable Media Matters for America. What's needed, however, is a strong counter-narrative informing voters that they're being had: conned, tricked and manipulated by, yes, New York, Washington and Hollywood "media elites" who lie for money. Vulgar? You bet. It's called "populism," and it once dominated the very states where talk-radio bombast now holds sway.

No, the argument can't be won overnight. On the other hand, it can't be won at all by calling people stupid racists.

© 2009 Gene Lyons. Distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Association

We dunno. Couldn't hurt to try to expose these people, but will the stupid racists believe the media exposing other media elitists? There's stubborn pride in disbelief of the obvious & accepted (& a commensurate pride in belief in the fantastic, Jeeziz, angels & other delusions) among the bitter clingers, & even lifting the rock & showing all the crawlies may not help much. *Ha-ha ha-ha-ha. He means YOU, Andrew Sullivan!