Bundy, Dana Loesch is right (sort of), Andy Warhol and why the mark is missed

[rpannier]

Andy Warhol is credited with saying everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. Cliven Bundy, the man riding a horse waving the flag of a country he doesn't think exists got his 15 minutes and more.
Dana Loesch in defending Bundy's racist rants went on about how he was an old man and not media savvy.
And I agree with her.
Whether he is or is not a racist, whether or not he has a black friend, whatever he is exactly what she said he is, old and not media savvy is not really the issue.
The problems with the standoff at the Bundy Ranch should be less about Bundy and his racist rhetoric and more about how we got there. And that is fairly simple; We live in a day-and-age where the three 24-hour news networks try and make the news, rather than report it and discuss the facts. Fox, CNN, etc roll up to this guys ranch, shove microphones in his face and egg this guy on.
Does anyone really believe that Cliven Bundy rides around his ranch with a giant US flag? Of course not. It's likely that someone at Fox decided it would look good for the camera. And this dink ate it up.
The problem they ran into was when he got off script. He said what he really thought about 'Negroes', 'Cotton' and 'Slavery' and suddenly he was not worth their time.
The media turned this racist, whining, moocher into some sort of cult hero, because they could get lots of pics of him, his dead calf, the lunatic militia survivalists, etc. And that's part of the problem. They want easy pictures, easy film, interviews that rile up people because it is easy. And they go for the easy reporting. They do little to no research into the story, they just report whatever anyone says. So crazy gets hours of copy because they'll talk until they pass away or say something dumb and no one will listen.

Had this happened during the Washington, Jackson or Grant administrations (and a few other presidencies) they'd have sent the military in there, shot up his farm, taken his cattle and likely burned his place to the ground.
Why? Because he is a leech, a mooch and an annoying pain in the ass who threatened to kill federal marshals.

Am I blaming Obama? No. I think it was handled correctly. But Hannity and his right-wing caravan of freaks rolled in and when shit appears flies soon follow.