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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOnly one party’s to blame? Don’t tell the Sunday shows.
Only one partys to blame? Dont tell the Sunday shows.
By Greg Sargent
Last month, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein published an Op ed and a book making the extremely controversial argument that both parties arent equally to blame for what ails Washington. They argued that the GOP by allowing extremists to roam free and by wielding the filibuster to achieve government dysfunction as a political end in itself were demonstrably more culpable for creating what is approaching a crisis of governance.
It turns out neither man has been invited on to the Sunday shows even once to discuss this thesis. As Bob Somerby and Kevin Drum note, these are among the most quoted people in Washington yet suddenly this latest topic is too hot for the talkers, or not deemed relevant at all.
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Not a single one of the Sunday shows has indicated an interest, and I do find it curious, Ornstein told me, adding that the Op ed had well over 200,000 Facebook recommends and has been viral for weeks. This is a level of attention for a book that we havent received before. You would think it would attract some attention from the Sunday shows.
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Ornstein also noted another interesting point. Their thesis takes on the media for falling into a false equivalence mindset and maintaining the pretense that both sides are equally to blame. Yet despite the frequent self-obsession of the media, even that angle has failed to generate any interest. Whats more, some reporters have privately indicated their frustration with their editorial overlords apparent deafness to this idea.
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more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/only-one-partys-to-blame-dont-tell-the-sunday-shows/2012/05/14/gIQAXOcPPU_blog.html
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...they are commercials for the GOP...
bluesbassman
(19,360 posts)want to perpetuate the idea that this country is evenly split down the middle ideologically. That tension is how they sell programming. If the truth really came out, and the RW shoved into the dustbin of history where it belongs, what would the sell for entertainment?
OffWithTheirHeads
(10,337 posts)nxylas
(6,440 posts)They will tell you that America is a conservative nation and that only the extreme left would support such crazy notions as single-payer healthcare or only going to war when you actually have to.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)They aren't getting any props among the very industry they are criticizing ... It disrupts the narrative.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)They want a stalemate. They want a close race and they want each side to spend it's entire ad budget and then some. SuperPACs are a windfall for the networks because that is where much of that money is going to be spent. Ad rates go through the roof as the election nears. Regular corporate buys and product intros get moved up or delayed because the regular customers for airtime won't pay what the campaigns and superPACs will.
The Sunday shows are money losers for the networks that still do them. Tiny audience and terrible demos. With no customers to please, the networks might as well advance their own agenda -- helping which ever side is down so that the race stays close enough that the money gets spent.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts).... to think they hold EQUAL blame with any of the problems we face now is patently absurd. Even crap like NAFTA was called "Repug light" back then for a reason!
CanonRay
(14,084 posts)Those turds have been off my list for at least a couple of years now.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)They are there to create an image for people that don't pay much attention to TV and just happen to watch it Sunday while recovering from a Saturday night hang over..or getting ready for Church... that is the target audience....the low information voter.
kentuck
(111,052 posts)...and the media would call it a "toss-up".
They cannot bring themselves to tell the truth. But on the other hand....
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)cilla4progress
(24,717 posts)but, I contend this false equivalency mindset would persist even in a fascist regime!