Throwing red meat to the lions

I watched an interesting TV show last night about the origins of the Nazi party in the immediate post WWI Germany.  (Yes, I'm a history nerd.)  Stay with me here....this is leading to a modern corollary.  

It told the familiar story of a few malcontents who met regularly in dark Munich beer halls, how Hitler met Goering and the original party core was formed, etc.

 

 Propaganda Minister Goebbels wrote the book on print and electronic thought manipulation.

But then it told of how things were moving in slow motion until they bought a small Munich newspaper, the Das Groobenshinerbocklageramberale (not sure about the spelling).  That was their original propaganda mouthpiece, and that's when their membership took off. 

They filled its pages with slanted news, sometimes factual, sometimes made up, to whip their fellow malcontents into a frenzy.  And they soon found radio had an even wider audience.

The Fox News of the 1930's?

That's not likely to ever happen again.  Today we're much more sophisticated.  Or are we?  Ever watch Fox News?  In a headlong race to the bottom, they're in first place by a wide margin.  They're not even subtle about it.  

They're a mouthpiece for the ultra-conservative right....the Tea Partyers, and those who are (or at least think they are) in a privileged position.  Some of their "contributors" are actually funny they're so absurd.  Fox News today is the ultra-right wing's Das Groobenshinerbocklageramberale.

In fairness, the ultra-left has their mouthpiece, too....MSNBC.  The only difference is, nobody watches it.  They once invented their own propaganda radio network (Air America) and it flopped miserably, too.  I guess they haven't read that book by Goebbels, Propaganda, Lies, and Just Plain Bullshit.  Fox News obviously has, and has even added ts own prologue.

The right says the New York Times is a liberal mouthpiece, but as long as you stay off their editorial pages, I don't see it.  It's pretty much just who, when, where, why, and how plain vanilla news.  I had a good chuckle recently when my pseudo-Tea Party brother showed me a "conservative" article in the Dallas Morning News, then started lambasting the "liberal NYT".  

Only then did I show him the by-line of the article's author at the end of the Dallas News story....it was a NYT journalist.  They just copy and pasted his story.  Haha!

Anyone who quotes from either Fox or MSNBC as their source loses huge credibility with me.  People today only want to hear that which reinforces what they already believe.

We need to learn to read more widely and think for ourselves again.  We've become very gullible people.  What's that old saying about history repeating itself?

S

The Tea Party Unmasked

I can't believe the bald-faced lies I hear coming out of the mouths of these Tea Party brown shirts (Nazi reference).  Just as Adolf Hitler, with a straight face no less, said his invasion of Poland in 1939 was in self defense after a series of German-staged "incidents", Rafael Cruz & Co. are saying they are shutting down the government in order to de-fund Obamacare and "make a down-payment on fiscal discipline and reform".

Well gag a maggot!  Let's just call 'em what they really are:  Class Warfare Storm Troopers.

If they're so hell-bent on cutting spending, why didn't they just jump on the Simpson / Bowles bandwagon? 

[Simpson / Bowles was a true bi-partisan committee....technically the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform....appointed in 2010 to "achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run".  Its recommendations were severe yet fair to all, meaning everyone took a serious haircut.  Rich, poor, entitlements, homeowners, business subsidies, labor unions, The 1%....everyone would have to give up something.]

The Tea Party couldn't run from it fast enough!  

"What?  No subsidies for Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Ag, no tax loopholes, no special deductions, tax increases, a hit on capital gains?  BLASPHEMY!"

Truth is, The Tea Party wants to cut spending for everyone except their own.

In fairness, the ultra-left wants to protect their labor union buddies, welfarians, minorities, entitlements, etc, while cutting everything near and dear to the wealthy.  (There can't be a Class War with just one combatant.)

But back to the problem at hand:  there are soundbites all over TV showing Tea Party candidates campaigning in the last election promising to "shut down the government".  They said it out loud, and there is video to prove it.  There is absolutely no way in hell they can honestly say this current mess is the fault of the Democrats.  They picked their fight and got their wish.

And when the economy stumbles, when / if our nation's credit takes another downgrade, when / if we default on paying our bills, when / if interest rates rise, those soundbites are going to come back to haunt them.  

Americans always love to pin blame on someone when things go bad, and the Tea Party will be a sitting duck....it's their mess.  And then maybe....just maybe....rational Democrats and Republicans can get back to work on The People's Business.

Show some spine, Republicans, and give the Tea Party hijackers the boot.  I only pray Rafael "Ted" Cruz' 15 minutes of fame is about over.  Let him go stand in the corner with the ghost of Joseph McCarthy.

S