![]() THE SILLY CRITIQUING THE DUMB! This morning, Milbank challenges Limbaugh. We wont get far this way: // link // print // previous // next //
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2011 They get letters (about Wisconsin) and we get misled: Newspapers get a lot of letters. And uh-oh! Readers can get misinformed or misled by the letters they choose to publish. Consider two letters appearing today about the fight in Wisconsin. One such letter appears in the New York Times. Yes, the letter is short and sweetbut the Times shouldnt have published it:
Why would a newspaper publish that letter? By now, every journalist surely knows that the Wisconsins unions and Democrats have agreed to the governors budget requests. This letter conveys an inaccurate notionthe idea that Wisconsins state workers are protesting the curtailment of their salaries and benefits. For the record, this basic bit of misinformation is a basic conservative talking-point. The letter writer can still hear it being pimped on Hannity (though not on OReilly). At any rate, this letter plainly conveys a false notion. Why would a newspaper print it? That letter serves Governor Walkers interests. From the other side, consider this slightly murky, puzzling letter in todays Washington Post:
In our view, this letter is remarkable because Madland represents the Center for American Progress, a major progressive org. Madlands claims are murkily stated at points, but his overall thrust seems clear. Madland persists in making claims which have been renounced by a string of big liberals. Did the Legislative Fiscal Bureau say that Wisconsin has or had a slight surplus this year? Last Saturday, Kevin Drum linked to a PolitiFact report which debunked that claim. (To read that report, just click here.) Second question: Is a significant part of the projected budget shortfall due to Walkers actions? In fact, that $117 million is part of the pending two-year budget shortfall, which amounts to some $3.6 trillion; Walkers actions added to that pending shortfall, but only by about three percent. Walkers actions didnt add to this years relatively modest shortfall, as Madland rather clearly implies. Many liberals made such claims last week, before the claim was debunked. Madland may be right when he says that Walker is using the states budget problems as a pretext for attacking the basic rights of workers to collectively bargain. But he seems to be repeating an inaccurate set of factual claimsan inaccurate narrative which was widely renounced last week. Last Friday and Saturday, Ezra Klein corrected himself on these very points; just click here. (Sorryon Monday, we bungled our link.) Over at Salon, Andrew Leonhard self-corrected too; just click this. On Saturday, Drum linked to that PolitiFact post; in detail, it contradicted Rachel Maddows presentation of these claims, scoring her statements as flat-out False. But today, the Post prints a letter from a major think tankand the letter seems to restate these widely-debunked claims.
It happens all the time! Readers get misinformed by letters which appear in newspapers. That said, we see a bright spot today. This morning, readers can get misinformed or misled by letters from both major sides! PART 1THE SILLY CRITIQUING THE DUMB (permalink): Maureen Dowd is playing her silly old games in todays New York Times. Yesterday, Chicago picked a new mayor. This morning, right at the start of her column, the silliest person in American letters unveils her latest nickname:
The columnist just couldnt help it! Emanuel was once a dancer, you see! Inside Dowds poorly-wired brain, you know what that has to mean! Returning from last months lengthy trip to the spa, Dowd has been rather tame of late. But this most inane of all famous persons has long adored a certain practice. In this, her silliest framework, Maureen Dowd helps readers see that Democratic women are really men, while Democratic men are really women. She has played this silly, sad game for many years. Back in 2008, Dowd got savaged for her endless gender-trashing by the Times public editor, Clark Hoyt (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/23/08). Today, her silliest practice is back, helped along by a statement by Tiny Dancer. Darlings! Back in December, Emanuel made a very revealing statement! Inside Dowds tiny, miswired brain, a loud voice began to holler: Nobody made him say it! Dowd recalls what Tiny Dancer said. This is the soul of Dowdism:
He had pictured himself with a wedding dress on! Dowd knew she just had to type it! This morning, Dowd finally offers her nugget, the key question now confronting the nation. In this passage, we look into the soul of the fatuous, D-plus elites who lounge about at the Times:
Darlings! Quickly, listen up! He went to Sarah Lawrence! For the past several decades, Americas journalistic elites have been defined by several traits, one of which is their cosmic inanity. This morning, Dowd drags her broken soul back on the stage to remind us where it all starts. Over the course of the past several decades, liberals and progressives have done a poor job responding to this punishing culturea noxious culture which has worked, on balance, to further plutocrat interests. Dowd is our dumbest known actual journalist. For that reason, she has won her guilds highest prize. Elsewhere, though, the Culture of Dumb is used by hard-core political hustlers to shape the publics attitudes and understandings. No one is dumber than Rush Limbaugh, the most influential broadcaster of the past thirty years. To date, liberals have done a very poor job responding to his depredations. This morning, in the Washington Post, the columnist known as Lord Dowdinpants challenges Rush for his latest inanity. In his column, we get an idea how it sounds when the inane start critiquing the dumb. Does it matter what Limbaugh says? How should progressives approach such a question? Last week, at Salon, Michael Lind seemed to say that liberals pay too much attention to the blather of people like Rushto the blather of people like Sarah Palin, to the blather of Bachman and Beck. We thought Lind had some very good pointsand we thought he expressed those points poorly. We think its worth reviewing the issues raised in his interesting piece. Your discourse is driven by a Culture of Dumb. This has been true for a very long time. You cant run a modern nation this way. In the next few days, well consider how liberals should respond to these obvious facts. Tomorrow, alaswell start with poor Milbank! This morning, the silly decided to challenge the dumb. We wont get far this way. Tomorrowpart 2: When Milbank attacks A note on how to cover ones keister: Covering keister, Dowd says Emanuel was known around the West Wing as Tiny Dancer. Who knows? It could even be true (or not), to some extent. That doesnt explain why Dowd would build her whole column around this pathetic old theme.
In the Nexis archives, Rahm AND Tiny Dancer produces no previous hit.
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