David Sirota: Gauging the Fear Inside the Palace Walls

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



Gauging the Fear Inside the Palace Walls
Submitted by David Sirota on December 31, 2007 - 1:20pm.



A pretty reliable gauge of Establishment fear is how far away from factual reality its chief spokesmen stray at election time. With economic populism now driving both the Democratic and Republican presidential contests, professional political pontificators in Washington are attacking candidates for being crazed and angry - when in fact their own rhetoric shows it is the pundits who are the angriest of all. An uprising is on - one against the hostile takeover of our government by Big Money interests. And inside the walls of the Washington palace, the elite is freaking out.

Here's Time Magazine's Joe Klein, claiming that presidential candidates who attack NAFTA are "wildly irresponsible on trade":

"NAFTA has been a wash, creating as many jobs as have been lost."

According to government data, NAFTA has cost America at least 1 million jobs. This is not new information - nor is it even much debated among economists on either side of the trade debate. But because it offends the Washington Consensus in support of lobbyist-written trade policies and because the realities of trade are finally taking center stage in the presidential primaries, Klein - a loyal Establishment soldier - has taken to the ramparts to lie.

Klein's silliness is eclipsed only by Stu Rothenberg - who reliably hands us the old adage that any candidates challenging the status quo will destroy America. Here's his take today:

"(John Edwards) is also portraying himself as fighting for the middle class and able to appeal to swing voters and even Republicans in a general election...His approach to problems is likely to frighten many voters, including most middle class Americans and virtually all Republicans...Given the North Carolina Democrat's rhetoric and agenda, an Edwards Presidency would likely rip the nation apart - even further apart than Bush has torn it."

Rothenberg's entire career is predicated on his supposed ability to analyze polling data - which is stunning in juxtaposition to his statements today. After all, polls show Edwards performing the best of any Democrat against any Republican presidential candidate. More importantly, polls also show the vast majority of the country - including Republicans - behind his populist economic positions. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/gauging_fear_inside_palace_walls?tx=3

[Jade Fox]

1. Excellent...

We are seeing more and more clearly how the Corporate Establishment means to keep its power in this country (against the will of the people), and how it is the pundits job to support that effort.

I loved this paragraph:

Most Washington pundits have reached their positions by defending the system they cover as fundamentally good. Doing that, in their minds, validates their own value and worth - because if they acknowledge that the system is corrupt, it means they are admitting that their work bolstering that system is corrupt, too (which, of course, it is).

[liberalla]

2. and this paragraph,

...an uprising is on!

In my reporting over the last year I learned that things are - finally - starting to change. The Joe Kleins, Stu Rothenbergs and Mike Bloombergs still have influence, because they have lots of money behind them. But an uprising is on - one that has already impacted the 2008 presidential race, and one that will continue to seethe well past the upcoming caucuses and primaries. It is that simple fact that truly frightens the defenders of the status quo who have gotten used to the good life inside the palace walls.

:woohoo:

[me b zola]

3. k&r

[SalmonChantedEvening]

4. Once you start reporting the lies as fact, you can never stop.

There's always a catch Joe.

[liberalla]

5. kick

:kick:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. Please read this people

K&R