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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Suddenly the Media is Concerned About Tone

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  January 12th, 2011 at 11:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Last night on John King USA I tried very hard to keep my blood from boiling. Cornell Belcher, a very good guy, tried to claim that the right’s history of rhetoric is worse than the left’s.

I’ll meet you half way on that, just for the sake of argument, and say the left and right can at times be equally vile, but only for the sake of argument.

But really, maybe the right’s history of rhetoric is greater if only because the left goes beyond rhetoric to outright violence.

And that’s the jumping off point here for the media. Because suddenly the media wants to talk about changing the political tone in this country — a tone the media itself has helped contribute to with its selective sensationalizing of subjects.

When Kos gloated over the deaths of Americans in Fallujah, the media wasn’t interested in changing the tone.

When groups showed up outside Karl Rove’s house to protest, the media was not interested in changing the tone.

When SEIU protestors showed up on the front porch of a Bank of America Executive’s house, the media was not interested in changing the tone.

When leftists attacked a military recruiting office, the media was not interested in changing the tone.

When arsonists burned down Sarah Palin’s church, the media was not interested in changing the tone.

When rioters tried to burn down Seattle during a free trade summit, the media was not interested in changing the tone.

But when Jared Loughner, a mentally unstable Karl Marx reading registered independent whose friends described him as a leftist, guns down a Bush appointed federal judge and tries to take out a Congresswoman, suddenly the media is interested in changing the tone, but only because the tea party movement had something or other to do with something that didn’t have anything to do with Jared Loughner.

Oh yeah, the tea party movement won in November. That’s why we suddenly have to change the tone.

COMMENTS

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  • carmen

    This is the problem. They’re seething over this. Frothing at the mouth. And absolutely, positively, deathly afraid of this (the tea party winning) becoming a trend.

    Both Houses of Congress, their Golden Boy in the WH, the loons running the asylum from Jan 2009-Jan 2011 thought that was the beginning of the beginning… NOT the beginning of the end. And the fact that they got their a$$es handed to them in November 2010 has them outraged.

    They can’t see past their own self-created indignation.

  • gjohnson

    This could be said about the relentless attack on the right following the shooting in Tuscon, AZ. The left is finally releasing all of their angst from the stomping they took in November 2010. I will be very interested to see what kind of tone/speech Obama gives tonight.

  • Martin Knight

    This is a dishonest fallback position after their attempt to frame Palin, the Tea Party movement and the entire Right so spectacularly failed.

    Make it clear every time you’re on the air that this act of violence was all about a deranged man that had been targeting his victim since 2007. It had nothing to do with political discourse or any other issue.

  • throwback59

    Drudge is reporting that Loughner had complained about being rejected by women. Using the “logic” of the left, should we now blame all women for the attack?

  • proudmarinemom

    Tonight is a Memorial Service — for the victims.

    It will be religious in tone.

    It is NOT a political gathering.

    It is not a forum for a Presidential State-of-the-Nation address.

    Do not allow others to turn it into a political event.

    In fact, DON”T WATCH IT.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    For each of those instances cited above, one could find a hundred more.

    It’s not that the tea party won in November but why it won that is the problem. It’s not the rhetoric. It’s the exposure of the rhetoric, all of it, including the utter disregard for “of the people, by the people” allowing us to see what our so-called leaders would prefer remain hidden.

    If sincere, they should prove it by changing their own first. I said this on another blog and was called immature for it (by a lefty, of course). If they truly want to change the discourse in this country they should lead the way. They do, after all, claim they are leaders, don’t they?

    Somehow, I don’t see that happening.

  • http://vladenblog.tumblr.com Vladimir
  • Superheater

    “?ll meet you half way on that, just for the sake of argument, and say the left and right can at times be equally vile, but only for the sake of argument.”

    Where? When? How? Show me anybody on the right that spews the bile of DailyKos, CodePink, Ecoterrorists, Paul Krugman, Alex Baldwin, Madonna, Bill Maher, Sandra Bernhardt, Roseanne Barr, “Joy” Behar…etc, etc.

    The left has a virtual monopoly on this kind of stuff. Stipulating any equality does violence to the truth, even if I accept the specious inclusion of certain detestable characters the left likes to include in the definition of the right.

  • speciallist

    “It?s the exposure of the rhetoric, all of it, including the utter disregard for ?of the people, by the people? allowing us to see what our so-called leaders would prefer remain hidden.”

    bingo

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    It’s not really the tone they are concerned about, it’s all about destroying their political opposition at all costs. It’s the uncontrolled message that frustrates them as their past monopoly on the messaging system, media, is broken and every “crisis not to waste” leaves them further out in the cold, more and more distanced from the American people they could care less about connecting with.

  • NeoKong

    Just seven months ago in the President’s own home town there was a weekend so bloody that if you only glanced at the story you would have thought they were talking about Iraq.

    Fox.

    Sun-Times Media Wire

    Chicago – Ten people were killed and at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue.

    54 people shot and ten died and the media was just like ” Oh yeah….54 shot bluh blah blah…yaaawn” but those damn Tea Partiers though….they’re crazy.
    If it happened in Crawford, Texas you can bet you would of heard about it. “Them damn rednecks have gone plum crazy”.

    The media is on their latest kick over violent political rhetoric when all around them in cities all over America we have the OK Corral on a daily basis.
    In two minutes on Goggle I could find 6 dead, 4 dead, 5 dead, 4 dead, six dead and on and on and on. That violence however is in the the urban ghettos controlled almost exclusively by Democrats so we never hear about it.

    The Tuscon shooting was certainly a tragedy but if we were to put it in context according to body count it wouldn’t even make the top twenty shootings.

    And that Dupnik fellow…? What a jerk. His county is in the middle of a crime wave with drug smuggling, kidnapping and human trafficking and he is calling people bigots for wanting him to do his damn job.
    I think the people of Arizona deserve a refund of all that salary they paid him.

  • Russ Martin

    The left is gravely concerned that the Tea Parties mobilized huge numbers of voters previously uninvolved in the political process. They are trying to drive these people back into the political shadows. Rules for Radicals.

  • chamberD

    I can guarantee you, proudmarinemom, I will not watch it, and if Rush chooses to play excerpts of it tomorrow in his broadcast, I will turn off the radio.

    Nothing this person in the WH has to say has any meaning for me since he has proven ad nauseum that he is a prevaricator of the first order, and nothing could convince me that he intends anything else than increasing his poll numbers through this effort. Now, however, should he choose the occasion to denounce the leftist media for their attacks against the right after the shooting — and then NOT counterbalance that with some idiot remark about the vitriol on BOTH sides, then I will be pleasantly surprised. These “tarring,” inflammatory and despicable remarks came solely from the left — but I’m not holding my breath that he would defend US, ever.

  • chamberD

    I can guarantee you, proudmarinemom, I will not watch it, and if Rush chooses to play excerpts of it tomorrow in his broadcast, I will turn off the radio.

    Nothing this person in the WH has to say has any meaning for me since he has proven ad nauseum that he is a prevaricator of the first order, and nothing could convince me that he intends anything else than increasing his poll numbers through this effort. Now, however, should he choose the occasion to denounce the leftist media for their attacks against the right after the shooting — and then NOT counterbalance that with some idiot remark about the vitriol on BOTH sides, then I will be pleasantly surprised. These “tarring,” inflammatory and despicable remarks came solely from the left — but I’m not holding my breath that he would defend US, ever.

  • proudmarinemom

    in the WSJ:

    if you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (a) asserting a connection between the “rhetoric” and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?

  • citizenjerry

    Did anyone catch the muted sense of irony in that the guy who tried to claim that the right?s history of rhetoric is worse than the left?s is named Belcher?

  • Bill S

    I think he agrees with you, but is being charitable just for the moment.

  • runner12

    their media. They rarely, if ever, call out there own for the outrageous lies and slander that they spread. They have not issued one apology for their slander of innocent people following the tragedy in Tucson nor for their shameless opportunistic behavior. Instead, they are trying to a.) pretend they did not do it b). change the subject to “tone” in political discourse. The problem is that the American people do not buy it. They witnessed exactly what they did and most of them are disgusted by it.

    They are losing and they know it, that is why they seized upon this tragedy in the inhuman way that they did. Their motto truly is “never waste a crisis to push your agenda”.

  • renny

    so the FCC will control the internet and Obama’s minions will protect us by forming a registry of all screen names and passwords. To protect us from what?

    Loughner made threats to many people, and some reported to Dupnik, which the sheriff admits.
    Lougher terrorized his classmates and was removed from college. As I teach at college, I know students are never removed.
    Loughner had at least one drug arrest.
    If any of Loughner’s transgression had been recorded, his record would preclude accessing anything like a gun.
    Loughner worked for Giffords in 2007.
    Giffords is a blue dog anti-abortion pro-gun Dem. who was once a Rep. No prog. victim here.
    Giffords joined Loughner’s UTube page.
    Loughner emailed Giffords. They were no strangers.
    Loughner’s computer shows nothing for Palin or Rush. He has no rightwing connection.
    Loughner is a registered Independent but did not vote in 2010.
    Laughner is a Truther and Obama supporter, not rightside ideas.
    How the left has turned those facts into a diatribe against the right is a virtual magic act.
    Luckily, it is not working. 58% believe Loughner is the perpetrator and the fault is his own.
    Thank God for the net.

  • devan95

    Clinton should be in prison for crimes against humanity for what he did to his fellow citizens at Waco, TX, on April 19, 1993. The Waco Massacre and church burning was the most brutal, heinous violation of civil, human and Constitutional rights in this nation’s history. Innocent men, women and children were attacked with tanks, poison gas (CS gas turns to cyanide when heated) and burned alive. Those who ran from the church were machine-gunned as documented in the movie “Waco, The Rules of Engagement.” If you doubt how bad this was consider that you never hear the left stream media talk about it. They want it erased from history but this memorial site will remain forever: http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/waco2.html
    And if that weren’t bad enough, Clinton’s thugs then stuck a machine gun in the face of a 5 year old boy and sent him to the communist gulag known as Cuba: http://www.therealcuba.com/elian_gonzalez.htm
    Let’s hope Clinton isn’t teaching President Prompter too many of his old tricks!

  • chamberD

    Roughly one-third of the country backs the Tea Party movement; one would think that the leftist media would have a little more brains than to further alienate conservatives whose numbers can only grow as they become increasingly convinced of the moral bankruptcy of the left.

  • bobmontgomery

    So what we have to be watching is not how their leaders respond, but how OUR leaders react.

  • bobmontgomery

    WE read today where the Gov. of Rhode Island has announced state employees will not be allowed to call ‘talk radio’ while at work. Well, yeah, when you’re at work, you ought to be working, but why the Gov. picked this moment in time to enforce the ‘keep your mind on your job rule?.. Now, whether a talking points memo went out to all the lib governors, or other officials, we don’t know. Often the soldiers just automatically pick up their cues without direct discussion, or Journolist. It’s called ‘conditioned response.”

  • http://www.va5thdistrict.blogspot.com va5thdistrict

    The left and the MSM will continue to use this tragedy to hammer the conservative grassroots into submission. Over the past year and a half the normally quiet conservatives have finally found their voice and that made a major difference in this past November’s election. This shooting in Arizona will continue to be used to muzzle the right, the facts do not matter the left is scared and will do whatever it takes to win including bastardizing a national tragedy. We must stay the course.

    http://va5thdistrict.blogspot.com/2011/01/stay-strong.html

  • harlan

    …because that’s all that is ever reported. In fact, it is frequently invented, and then disseminated by a vile media.

    Violent lefty rhetoric never sees the light of journalism.

    (Did I say “light” of journalism? What a joke.)

  • izoneguy

    The progressive ?climate of hate:? An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

    http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/10/the-progressive-climate-of-hate-an-illustrated-primer-2000-2010/

    I really hope Hannity has Michelle on at some time to discuss this.

  • izoneguy

    Arizona Gunman Was Not Motivated By Politics

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/12/report-alleged-arizona-gunman-did-watch-news-television/

    Osler said Loughner began to spiral downward after a high school girlfriend broke up with him. Osler also said Loughner then began abusing alcohol and drugs, including salvia, a legal hallucinogen.

    “He would say he was using it,” Osler told ABC. “And he would talk about it and say what it would do to him.”

    Salvia-The Legal Hallucinogen
    http://www.salviadragon.com/salvia-the-legal-hallucinogen/

  • Common_Cents

    He is a pollster, for DNC, Obama, worked with Wellstone etc…. He is politics 100% of the time. He sees everything through the lens of party politics, whether one view advances or retards another Dem in office.

    Intellectually dishonest, lying means nothing to the left.

    Remember their mantra, any means to the end. Redistribution.

  • http://www.FranBaker.com frankieb

    I have no intention of watching THE speech.

    Please thank your child for his/her service.

  • nepanyrush

    To illustrate your point, I follow politics a lot and this is the first time I am hearing about Palin’s church being attached by arson. Why was there not a firestorm of media attention about this, a crime much more likely connected to political rhetoric.

  • bobmontgomery

    ……Abigail Thernstrom, ‘Republican’ member of the Civil Rights Commission, and I believe her phrase was “Small potatoes.”

  • http://www.sunshinestatesarah.com sunshinestatesarah

    http://www.sunshinestatesarah.com/2011/01/arizona-debate-we-should-be-having.html

    “,,,I am absolutely against any attempts to control, suppress or restrain our free speech. In my opinion, our loud, passionate, and even obnoxious political speech is a net positive. I am glad that we have the freedom to have debates, hold up posters protesting our government, write stupid and ugly things on the internet, and just plain yell at each other.

    We have gone through a series of close, highly contentious elections in the past few years (the 2000 “hanging chads”, Bush’s re-election in 2004, the Democrat’s takeover of Congress in 2006, Obama’s election in 2008, and now the Republican victories in 2010), and each time we have handled the transfer of power from one leader to another, from one party to another and back again, without bloodshed.

    We have a record of peaceful political transitions that are the envy of the world. In too many other countries, political power is held only by the barrel of a gun, and dissenting speech is brutally oppressed. Human beings are passionate and emotional creatures, and I believe that having the freedom to engage in “violent” rhetoric provides a vital outlet to examine and challenge ideas without actually engaging in violent acts…”

    I would rather live in a country where Alan Grayson can spout off all of his ugly, obnoxious ideas (and I say that as a resident of FL’s 8th Congressional District, Grayson’s former seat), than somewhere that free speech is suppressed, stifled, or silenced.

  • gjohnson

    I don’t care if I watch it live or not, but what I do care about is being informed about what this man says so that when the time comes I can use it against him. Ya know… know thy enemy.

  • leftwing

    I find the imagery of a violent American left to be shocking. Not that there is no example anywhere, but the idea that the American left is generally interested in violence.

    It is not how we see ourselves at all. Non-violence, opposed to war, in favor of gun control, opposed to torture. These are core values for most liberals.

    Indeed, I think we are often mocked for these things by the right. We are mocked as clueless granola munching hippies.

    In contrast, most Kos types, I think, fear that they have declared themselves for nonviolence at the risk of disarming in the face of a violence prone right.

    Kos types see conservatives as militaristic, gun weilding, and prone to apocolyptic rhetoric about a final showdown with the Devil — or the left — as the case may be.

    I feel that fear of leftist violence seems wildly exaggerated here, compared to the poeple I know on the left.

    I hope that Kos fears of rightwing violence are also exaggerated.

    We can have vigorous debate without the insults and violent rhetoric. And I think we should.

  • gekster

    “I feel that fear of leftist violence seems wildly exaggerated here, compared to the poeple I know on the left.”

    Ever see a G-8 summit protest.
    The Greek riots. (by leftistd)
    The tuition hikes protest in England.(again by leftists)

    The left violence needs no exaggeration.
    It is most apparent, and most violent.

    When was the last time you saw a bunch of right wingers act like that.
    Yeah, I know.
    Glen Becks rally.

  • Bill S
  • davesinsanantonio

    anything like it, they really mean they want the Right to shut up! They are only interested in “changing the tone” when the Right is gaining. When they are in the ascendency, or in power already, or when they are in the attack mode, they have no interest in lowering the heat of the rhetoric. So, what ever they say “we” should do, WE should do the opposite!!!!
    We cannot let them dictate the terms of the debate, or of the Senate rules, or of governance once we get back the Senate and the White House, nor how we should conduct the House for the next two years.
    It is their craving for power that makes them try to tell their opponents how to behave. Just like they are trying to tell ordinary citizens what to eat and what to drive and what doctor to see when and what kind of treatment to have when we do. They cannot help themselves, they are the consummate busybodies. They have to tell others how to live, how much money to earn and what to do with it when they have earned it.
    Then, they break the rules they set down for others, and don’t even blush about it!

  • themarathonman

    And since the country hasn’t exactly pulled out the torches and pitchforks and marched on Wasilla, Alaska in response to the post-Loughner “Culture of Hate” rhetoric, they now have to be the conciliatory, “can’t-we-all-just-get-along” ones. When you try to light a fire and fail, you have to douse the embers you manage to create.

    So predictable……

  • givemefreedom

    the liberal progressive democrats will think it’s for real and run with it, and quote it, and make it sound like it’s real . . . . and then we’ll wish we hadn’t said it.
    “Superheater” you got it right, there IS NO conservative EQUAL to the killing field by the rhetoric of the left.

  • givemefreedom

    Thanks for the reminder SunshineStateSarah.
    The media covered a little of Grayson’s verbal bowel movement but never condemned him for it, in fact they encouraged him to continue and add more on the hallowed floor of congress.

  • miroco

    I had been assigned to work for LBJ in Austin when he was VP. It was only a matter of days before everyone assumed I was one of “Them”.
    To outside observers it must have seemed like the Queen playing golf in Alice in Wonderland, but underneath the chaos was always “The Scheme”. Permanent taxes were labeled temporary, misquotes and NONquotes were attributed to enemies, charges with no merit were filed against opponents underlings. What is now the MSM was firmly in LBJ’s pocket, ONLY the WSJ dared question anything. Broadcast licenses were the weapon of choice and LBJ got his for ALL of Austin. Had Jimmy Carter not been such a traiterous incompetent there would still be only one party.

  • williamjameson

    You have denounced nothing, in fact you lame excuse only sever to white wash the liberal violence. Now your friends may be peaceful but the hateful left has criminal records going back a long way. The scum at the KOS are a prime example of violent liberals pretending to be Americans. Find better reading sources because they lie and spew hate to ramp up the tone to push the crazies into action.

    Read this then remove your email from the KOS list.
    http://www.thepatriotsflag.com/2010/03/violence-against-republicans/

    http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2010/RealRadioHatemongers/ExecSumm.aspx

  • geri0529

    Thank goodness for the internet…..so there was a connection between the Congresslady and the :nut case”!!

  • geri0529

    Thank goodness for the internet, FOX, and the facts!! So the Congresslady employed “nut case” Loughner in 2007? They must have had quite a falling-out, for him to have taken the action he did. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……

  • gekster

    I don’t see that connection.

  • jdw4america

    Certainly not our intelligence. Can you truly believe that we will accept the notion that the left only wants to be friends? All you are saying is give peace a chance?

    Where was the rational, deliberate Kos when “Death of a President” was released in theaters? Oh that’s right, it’s art. It wasn’t a masturbatory fantasy on film for the left even if the “passive” rhetoric from college campuses. the MSNBC talking heads, the leftist bloggers and idiots in general was screeching that someone should kill GWB.

    Oh and the victimization of the left!! Poor things. Certainly they have kept faith with the respect for the other guy’s opinion thing, at the risk of the right mowing them down at their gaia gatherings. Surely no one at Kos has called the right racists for more than two years…or homophobic…or islamophobic…or invaders…or murderers…or greedy…or corrupt…or stupid. Certainly no one at Kos scoffed at our expecting the Constitution to be followed or bills to be read before being shoved up the a$$ of the American people. No no, not at Kos.

    Surely they expressed disappointment with their beloved O when he said he would bring a gun to “our” knife fight. Surely they said he had gone too far by labeling his enemies. They told him not to claim the American people were so stupid that when we became afraid, we would be confused. The good people at Kos said ridiculing the faith of the people who hold the Bible sacred is wrong. They reminded him that the gun doesn’t only have its purposes, but that the 2nd Amendment still exists, and so gun owners are not criminals.

    Unfortunately none of that happened. The left cheered barry on – are still cheering him on when he uses inflammatory language against the people of this country who happen to disagree with him. Check the record – how many times has Kos advocated assassination of people holding differing opinions? If it’s higher than 0, that’s more than RedState.

  • hendrig

    The media may not have condemned Grayson but the voters did. They finally saw him for what he really was. A shameless Grandstander.

  • steve010

    Now they are going to try to rewrite history and tell us that Mark Ruud, Huey Newton, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn were right wing hate mongers prone to violence.

    They want us now to believe that the “vitriolic hate speech” now is no comparison to anything the left did. Right. I wonder what Bernadette thought of Sarah Palin’s reference to “blood libel”. Bernadette is Jewish. She probably thought Sarah’s speech was incendiary.

  • steve010

    I wonder if this would qualify as anti-government vitriolic hate speech: 20 year Friend and Pastor of Barack Obama, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright:

    ?The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ?God Bless America.? No, no, no, God damn America, that?s in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.?

    I guess because he is friend of the President this kind of speech doesn?t qualify as incendiary.

  • bobmontgomery

    ….becomes the new Politically Correct Standard. This is not rocket science. Has no one ever attended an auction?

  • steve010

    People on left use various arguments to justify their speech:

    Jeremiah Wright asserts that HIV was invented by the U.S. government as a tool of genocide. A national survey in 2002 and 2003 by researchers at Rand Corp. and Oregon State University indicated that about half of African-Americans believe the virus was created on purpose; and a quarter said the virus was first brewed in a government laboratory.

    Jeremiah Wright also implied that the government sent illegal drugs to black neighborhoods to kill or imprison blacks. That theory has no reputable evidence but nonetheless has considerable support among African-Americans.

    But to call Jeremiah. Wright hateful, as some white critics have done, is to misuse the word, said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta , the same congregation once led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    “Hatred and anger are not the same thing,” he said. “And whenever injustice is present, moral outrage and anger are appropriate.”

    This is probably what we should say: whenever injustice is present, moral outrage and anger are appropriate. I suppose the injustice that the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin experience doesn’t qualify as injustice.