Glenn Greenwald: Arianna Huffington’s "Right is Wrong"

[babylonsister]

Arianna Huffington’s Right is Wrong
By: Glenn Greenwald Saturday May 3, 2008 2:01 pm


Arianna Huffington's latest book -- Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe -- thoroughly documents the most influential fact in our political life: namely, that the right-wing faction which has taken over the Republican Party is radical, deeply hostile to America's core political traditions and values, and incomparably destructive. As she puts it: "they don't believe in evolution but believe in torture."

But the real value of this book is its examination of the two key culprits in the ascension of this right-wing fringe: the establishment media and the Beltway leaders of the Democratic Party. Huffington's insights are most piercing and innovative when her targets are the bloated, empty-headed media stars who have done more than anyone else to allow this fringe group to masquerade as part of the mainstream. And she pinpoints the dual afflictions which have rendered the media totally supine, when they aren't actively complicit, in the face of this falsehood-spewing, extremist movement -- the twisted notion of journalistic "balance" which means that they present every claim no matter how objectively false, along with the "self-hating" mentality of "liberal" journalists who have internalized right-wing smears and thus repeat them and seek to accommodate them:

A key to understanding the fanatical Right’s takeover of the Republican Party and how these ideas spread to the rest of the country is looking at the role of the media—not the Fox News pseudo-newsmen or the talk radio blowhards—but the respectable, supposedly liberal media. Without the enabling of the traditional media—with their obsession with “balance” and their pathological devotion to the idea that truth is always found in the middle—the radical Right would never have been able to have its ideas taken seriously. . . . By reporting everything through this prism the media missed the big story: the hijacking of America by the lunatic Right.

Perhaps the most compelling proof of how potent is Huffington's critique of the media's malfeasance is that one of her prime and most-deserving targets, pseudo-tough-guy Tim Russert, banned Huffington from appearing on NBC and MSNBC shows to discuss her book, because of his hurt feelings over the criticism she voices. As demonstrated by the recent network news blackout of the NYT's "military analyst" expose -- a blackout which Huffington recently described as "among the most shameful in the history of American journalism" -- our media stars will simply suppress, conceal from their audience, any content which reveals their fundamental corruption. Hence, Russert uses his position at NBC to ensure that NBC viewers are blocked from hearing Huffington's revealing critique of his "journalism."

Huffington is equally unsparing -- and equally on-point -- when it comes to the fear-driven, weakness-embodying Democratic Party establishment, which has been as unwilling as the establishment press to take on the fringe Right:

The other not-so-innocent bystanders to the Right’s takeover are the Democrats who have continued to tread far too lightly when it comes to holding the GOP’s fanatical core accountable. Time and time again, the Democratic leadership has allowed itself to get played, run over, or distracted.

more...

http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/03/arianna-huffingtons-right-is-wrong/#more-23081

[BeatleBoot]

1. Arianna wrote from the Deck of her Yacht off the Coast of Tahiti.

[supernova]

3. And what part of that post isn't true?

I don't care if she wrote it from the observation deck of the ISS.

It's still true.

[eallen]

6. That's impressive. I didn't know she was a passage maker.

[farmbo]

11. So she doesn't coon hunt & drink jack shots...She's one of them elitists...

...so we can disregard her critique of the corporate media?

:sarcasm:

[bleever]

2. "their pathological devotion to the idea that truth is always found in the middle"...

K&R.

[yurbud]

14. more accurately, truth is found in same corporate donors by half of Dems

so that even when Dems are in the majority, progressives are about a fourth of Democrats.

[DJ13]

4. Everyone needs to understand what this part means-

"two key culprits in the ascension of this right-wing fringe:the establishment media and the Beltway leaders of the Democratic Party."


The "Beltway leaders of the Democratic Party" she's talking about are the same DLC people behind Clinton's campaign.

They are rogue elements of the GOP itself, falsely calling themselves Democrats in order to win for their corporate backers no matter which party is elected.

Only Obama stands in their way, as both McCain and Clinton support most of the same agenda.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Yep.

[cbayer]

7. Ariana has the class, guts and money to take on anyone.

I think she's great - don't always agree with her, but still great.

The article mentions neither candidate, BTW. Anyone who assumes that Obama is not a part of the Democratic Party establishment is fooling themselves. If he weren't, he would not be in his current position.

[Juche]

8. excellent

People are fighting back against the authoritarian, fact-allergic fringe that has taken over the GOP. This had better keep up.

And I think its great Russert is so angry. Journalists need to realize how disappointed tens of millions of us are because they have failed to do their job so many times. The radical right's intimidating the media by claiming any attempt at pointing out the errors of conservative idealogy is 'the liberal media' or their refusal to address any painful questions about what has been happening in America has really damaged jouranlistic ethics and efforts. Now to be fair and balanced no matter how untrue, dangerous or stupid with a proven record of failure the ideas of the right are the media has to treat them with kid gloves to avoid a lambasting by the right wing.

[pleah]

9. OH shit! I signed up for the

discussion on firedoglake.com this morning and then forgot to log on.

It was also, Kentucky Derby Day! Mint juleps and all. Ooops!

It would have been great to participate in the on line discussion.

[pleah]

10. I forgot, k&r.

Thanks.

[Senator]

12. K&R

[yurbud]

13. Does she go on to say Democrats get played because they serve or want to serve...

the same corporate interests?

To a large extent, we have two corporate parties, and our only choice is with or without religious nuts.