Right-wing civil war: Bloggers admit AM nut Mark Levin can’t tell the truth

[meegbear]

I wish the Delaware Republican primary season could have stretched on for a few more weeks or even months. Watching partisan right-wing pundits battle each other over the state’s U.S. Senate nomination was pure delight. And the media fratricide that marked the final 48 hours of the bitter campaign battle was especially satisfying as some far-right propaganda players finally got a taste of their own misinformation medicine.

My favorite part: Watching GOP bloggers condemn Tea Party hate talker Mark Levin for being unethical. (You don’t say!)

As you may have noticed, during the final Delaware fury, right-wing media players went all in on behalf of controversial Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell and in the process waged war with fellow right-wing media players who dismissed her as unelectable in November. They instead stood by traditional Republican Party candidate Mike Castle.

Nothing wrong with an honest intramural debate, right? Problem is the GOP Noise Machine doesn’t really do honest. It’s not one of their gears. That doesn’t bother members when they’re being dishonest about Democrats and liberals. But suddenly when they’re dishonest about each other? Apparently that is not allowed. And yes, the Delaware hypocrisy was in full bloom.

The week’s marquee media matchup featured Levin battling blogger Paul Mirengoff at the high-profile conservative site Powerline. Mirengoff had chided conservatives for not being pragmatic in backing O’Donnell even though polls showed she had little chance of defeating her Democratic opponent in November. By not supporting the more electable Castle in a Democratic-leaning state like Delaware, the Powerline blogger worried that conservatives were dooming Republicans to permanent minority status.

For whatever reason that innocuous analysis set off Levin who lashed out wildly at Mirengoff (while misstating his position):

The battle quickly shifted to the right-wing blogosphere when Tea Party bloggers Jin Hoft and Dan Riehl peddled the bogus claim that conniving Castle once tried to impeach president Bush. The guys at Powerline seemed genuinely stunned that fellow right-wing bloggers would stoop to such lows:

The madness continues, as activists who support Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware Senate primary have stepped up their attacks on Mike Castle by alleging that he voted to impeach President Bush.

And with that, the full-on civil war erupted, with both sides calling out each other for being deceitful and dishonest. And yes the irony was hard to miss.

It’s ironic because all these right-wing bloggers and talk show hosts shovel bullshit all the time. It’s what they do. It’s how many of them make their living. They strive to shovel as much of it as they can in a 24-hour day. They take pride in their shoveling prowess. They layer it high and try to score points by shaping their piles into new and usual forms: Obama is a Kenyan communist! Texas was invaded by Mexico drug gangs! Nancy Pelosi is Hitler’s mistress. Or whatever idiocy they dream up that day, and whatever their sycophantic readers and listeners want to ingest.

That’s the norm. That’s considered okay. In fact, that’s celebrated within the GOP Noise Machine.

<snip>

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201009160002

[monmouth]

1. A K&R especially for the "Nancy Pelosi is Hitler's mistress." Gold...n/t