No one even blinks an eye when Washington Post neocon columnist Charles Krauthammer slyly promotes the bigoted right-wing canard that Obama is a secret Muslim by referring to the President's recent trip to Cairo, Egypt, as "his 'Muslim world' pilgrimage." [Washington Post, June 12, 2009]
There's barely a shrug when Fox News star host Glenn Beck (who was a long-time feature on CNN's Headline News) muses about an armed insurrection, denounces Obama's efforts to salvage the U.S. auto industry as "progressive fascism," or invites on right-wing guests to define "progressives" as people who want "to progress" away from the U.S. Constitution.
It's considered normal now when ugly rhetoric reverberates through the right-wing media. Even when the hate-filled words are translated into outbursts of right-wing terrorism--such as the assassination of abortion doctor George Tiller and a murderous assault on Washington's Holocaust Museum--the mainstream "frame" for addressing these questions is how unfair it is to link words and deeds.
It seems that the only time mainstream U.S. journalists beat their breasts is when they detect a challenge to the still-prevailing free-market theology.
For instance, CNBC--the premier U.S. business channel--has become home to a growing fury toward any "government" interference in the market, as if the theories of self-regulating markets and the perceived wisdom of financial gurus like Alan Greenspan hadn't been blown apart by a financial meltdown that threatened to create a new Great Depression.
Though the Obama administration has continued policies that are very bank-friendly--extending trillions of dollars in government help while asking little in return--CNBC acts as if the financial crisis had been brought on by some government bureaucrats, not by the excessive greed of many Wall Street darlings long featured and fawned over by CNBC's interviewers.
There was the spectacle last week of the pro-Wall Street anchors at CNBC harassing and interrupting House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank as he tried to explain his proposals for limiting the huge compensation packages for executives and brokers. Finally, Frank yanked out his ear piece and ended the interview.
"Fine, goodbye sir," anchor Mark Haynes said dismissively. "We'll manage without you."
Not surprisingly, the right-wing blogosphere had a field day mocking Frank for his "snit" while it was hard to find any commentary about the biased behavior of the CNBC crew.
Similarly, the right-wing media infrastructure stoked an anti-Obama brushfire in February when CNBC reporter Rick Santelli fumed about the President's plan to help up to nine million Americans avoid foreclosure.
Santelli asked whether "we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages." Then, gesturing to the wealthy traders in the pit of the Chicago commodities exchange, Santelli declared, "this is America" and asked "how many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills, raise their hand."
Amid a cacophony of boos aimed at Obama's housing plan, Santelli turned back to the camera and said, "President Obama, are you listening?"
Though Santelli's behavior in a different context--say, a denunciation of President Bush near the start of his presidency--would surely have resulted in a suspension or firing, Santelli's anti-Obama rant was hailed as "the Chicago tea party," made Santelli an instant hero across right-wing media, and was featured proudly on NBC's Nightly News. (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Stoking the Fires
