Welcome to the Machine
By dcmediagirl on September 3, 2008 at 11:53 AM in Current Affairs
No doubt you’ve heard about the Republican Noise Machine. Welcome to the Nutroot Echo Chamber 2008.
Here’s how it works:
Some idiot posts a wild-eyed, ridiculous conspiracy theory on a blog. It’s picked up by other bloggers. Rumor becomes brushfire which starts to burn out of control across the Internets. MSM picks up on rumor. Rumor broadcast and printed. Panels are formed to discuss the “issues” addressed in the rumor. Media critics write about the feeding frenzy. A kind of quasi-remorse ensues. “Responsible” bloggers reevaluate. MSM reports on reevaluation. Everyone agrees the story was covered in a balanced way. MSM congratulates itself for not being irresponsible like those Cheetohs-munching kids in pajamas. No irony detected by anyone in the MSM as they deflect blame for covering a story that would never make it past a responsible, old school city editor. Kudos all around. Meahwhile, a false story has been spread and repeated dozens if not hundreds of times. The circus packs up and moves on, leaving scorched earth behind.
Consider this unbelievable post by Steve Clemons, a grownup who should know better. Talk about wanting to have it both ways – he manages to spread the rumor and take the high road by debunking it at the same time. The oldest trick in the book and a classic opposition research hit job. While I’m not suggesting that Steve is part of some grand conspiracy, he deserves to be called out on this unclassy move.
Like many, I have been sifting through the growing pile of circumstantial evidence that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s fifth child, Trig, might be her daughter’s child rather than her own.
I didn’t write about this both because I was not convinced of the allegations, and I couldn’t do more than add a decibel level to a growing sound machine that was convincing itself that there was significant, perhaps well meaning, fraud involved here. That would not have been a constructive contribution.
I have seen other cases in which a mountain of evidence points in one direction — but that turned out to be wrong. It seemed to me that there were potential explanations that fit Palin’s character, and in these personal cases, she deserved better than the blogosphere’s doubt.
Let that sink in. Now for this:
Andrew Sullivan has finally helped end the dizzying frenzy, I hope. He links a photo of Palin (above) on “what was the last day of the Alaska Legislature’s Session, on April 13, 2008, five days before Trig Palin was born.”
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan and those who helped dig a bit further than the photos and narratives on hand and for their general sobriety about this uncomfortable subject.
Yes, you read that right. We owe the return to sanity to Andrew Sullivan. Andrew Sullivan, who used another smear trick – quoting a commenter – to spread the theory that two of Palin’s kids may be named after witches; who accuses the McCain camp of “desperation” for decrying the rank sexism of this campaign; to issuing a Maoist demand that Palin forego her privacy by releasing her medical records to refute a rumor that was wholly created by fellow bloggers that no sane person would believe. Sort of like asking Bill and Hillary Clinton to prove that the didn’t murder Vince Foster.
Repulsive and shameful. Register your disgust.
by Ronald Scott
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