Is the country as right wing as the media seems to indicate it is?

[still_one]

I cannot believe that after what the republicans have done starting with reagan that people are still drinking the koolaide

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. No, but the media tells people that and for many of them it sticks. They believe whatever they hear

sad but true, I think

[Mz Pip]

2. No

If it were, we would have McCain sitting in the White House.

The Right is certainly louder and their noise is enabled by talk radio and cable news, but that doesn't mean they are reflective of the nation as a whole.

[nevergiveup]

3. The country in general is centrist and very fear oriented.

[librechik]

4. left of centerish

unlike the right of center the FoxNewsers want us to believe.

[spanone]

5. if so, how did Barack Hussein Obama get elected? it's completely distorted.

[DFLforever]

11. He went directly to the people, didn't. he?

And was able to bypass to an extent the national media.

That's what he was dong in the summer of 2008 when a lot of smart folks thought he was losing the election.

[still_one]

16. That is a good point, however there was a lot of anger at bush and the

financial mess we were in, which unfortunately, the Democrats did not take advantage to point that out enough

[DemoTex]

6. No

Just most of the south.

[DFLforever]

7. The country is definitely not left

but is not as reactionary as the forces on the right would like to make it.

We have been mired in the Reagan era for at least 30 yrs and those policies and ways of thinking are very difficult to change. That's why Pres Obama's task is herculean.

The media's job description: preserve the status quo.

[still_one]

17. Are we being biased? How could brown win Kennedy's seat /nt

[lib2DaBone]

8. No. The country is NOT EVEN CLOSE to right wing...

No one wants Fox News playing in every waiting room in the country.. (doctors office, car dealership) yet that is what we get.

Republicans have learned to manage "Perception" vs reality. Something the DEMS can not even fathom...

[Cerridwen]

9. The "media" specializes in normalizing the abnormal.

I don't think it's safe to say "take what the media portrays and flip it 180" but I sure as hell know to investigate down to the molecular level anything they do portray.

When I say "media," I mean TV, cable, radio, papers, magazines, text books, novels, comic books, movies, ads, all of it.

[begin_within]

10. Sadly I think it is, but in the wrong sense

I see Americans as being extremely selish and self-centered people, and you can see this in their everyday behavior. They try to make up for it by donating time and money to charities, but in their day-in, day-out lives they are extraordinarily selfish. This aligns directly with the right-wing ideology, that it's "all about me" and "everyone is in it for themselves" and may the strong win, the weak lose, suffer and die. That's the core principle of the right-wing ideology, and the American people eat it up, because that's what they are in essence, though they pretend to be caring and socially conscious and all that, but the underlying reality is that American are extremely selfish creatures. So I would have to say yes, this is a very right-wing country. And it is founded in the social culture which promotes greed, selfishness and irresponsibility. Sorry.

[OHdem10]

12. No, in fact , many Republican rank and file are not as conservative

as those on the Hill. Washingtonians tend to talk only
to Washingtonians and the Media appears to fall for the
DC Republican Line--hook, line and sinker.

One Half--1/2 the country does not vote--Is this because
they have become disillusioned and therefore have disengaged?
( If they were conservative, they would be out with the rest
of Conservatives.

If you are given the Message only Republicans count and
the Democratic Party ignores you, what is a person to do.
They have become disengaged.

[Gman2]

13. Thru stigma and propaganda, most claim to be conservative.

But, when you ask questions, instead to descern their bent, it is much more left. But we are too timid to say, yeah, I'm liberal, who the fuck wants to know.

[NotThisTime]

14. Yes it is sadly

If I look at all the people around me in the community, I'd say that in large parts it's ruled by fear and that throws them into the Conservative bucket at some point

[still_one]

18. That is what concerns me. I see polls in California where Boxer is in a dead heat

after everything the republicans and right wing have done to our country, and how bush/cheney screwed California during our energy crisis, it is pathetic

what I observe

[Orsino]

15. Nearly.

The mass media are the channels through which we receive most of our eduction, and reflect how conservative Big Money would like us to be. Somewhat liberal socially, greatly repressed sexually, dumb as rocks, and frightened to death of anything that isn't capitalism.

They've been incredibly successful.