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Arianna Huffington, formerly a Republican, credits her shift in political views to colleagues Al Franken and Robert Scheer. Before her change in ...

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The Toxic Thinking Of The Right Infects The Body Politic

By Arianna Huffington, Tribune Media Services

One of the main themes of my new book, "Right Is Wrong," is the role the media have played in allowing the lunatic fringe now in control of the Republican Party -- the people who believe in torture but don't believe in evolution -- to hijack our democracy. I document how the real problem comes not from Fox News or the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but from a mainstream media that has so internalized the Right's framing and messages they have now become a part of its DNA.

And the media seem intent on confirming this point again and again and again.

The first of the latest round of exhibits proving that the Karl Rove playbook has become the MSM's bible was offered into evidence during last week's ABC debate. The uproar that followed made it seem as if this kind of behavior was an aberration, but, in fact, this has been going on for years -- only in a less concentrated form.

Next came a double-whammy in Sunday's New York Times. First up was David Barstow's epic revelation of the unseemly complicity between the Pentagon and the mainstream media in delivering the Bush administration's talking points on Iraq via "a kind of Trojan media horse" -- Pentagon-approved, prepped and financially enriched "military analysts" dutifully parroting the Bush party line, with nary a raised eyebrow from the TV stations and newspapers offering these highly decorated sock puppets their prestigious platforms.

It was -- and, indeed, continues to be -- a propagandists' field day. And while the moral bankruptcy of the "military analysts" -- many of whom now admit to promoting "facts" they knew to be untrue -- is astounding, it is more than matched by the bankrupt behavior of the media mavens who enabled the Pentagon disinformation campaign. Barstow paints a picture of TV and newspaper execs turning a blind eye to the conflicts of interest their analysts were drowning in. And now they are going mute: Many of the news organizations Barstow contacted for his story -- including CBS, Fox and NBC -- refused to comment, while others offered up half-hearted mea culpas. "We did not ask . . . the follow-up questions we should have," said CNN.

As David Bromwich put it in an e-mail to me: "The cavalier attitude of the networks is astonishing. No system but despotism can survive when so many high up do such things without embarrassment."

The second blow delivered to the media in Sunday's Times was the article about how American military commanders in Afghanistan have been urging a widening of the war to include going after terrorists in the tribal regions of Pakistan. But they have been rebuffed by the Bush administration, despite the fact that these terrorists, including members of al-Qaida, present, in the words of CIA director Michael Hayden, "clear and present danger to Afghanistan, to Pakistan and to the West in general, and to the United States in particular." So much for Bush's endless bleating about listening to his commanders in the field. Once again, the White House's obsession with Iraq has caused it to take its eye off the real threats facing America.

But where is the hue and cry from the rest of the media? Just as the media gave Bush a free pass and allowed Afghanistan to fall off the radar screen, it is shockingly silent on this latest outrage. Too busy thinking up the next lapel pin or Weather Underground gotcha? Will we look back on this after the next terrorist attack and hear the inevitable milquetoast admission: "We did not ask the follow-up questions we should have."

And while we are on Afghanistan and the lack of follow-up questions, it will be interesting to see if the media allow Hillary Clinton to get away with refusing to explain what she meant when she said that she didn't agree with MoveOn.org's positions on foreign policy and national security. Her campaign has refused to elaborate on her comments, and also refused to comment on why Hillary had repeated the lie -- articulated most notably by Karl Rove -- that MoveOn was against intervention in Afghanistan after 9/11.

But it isn't just the media that have been infected by the toxic thinking of the Right. It has also been absorbed into the bloodstream of the body politic. The political class has allowed the Neanderthal wing of the GOP to drag the political debate so far to the right, that even Democrats find themselves getting cozy with ideas that not so long ago would have been the exclusive domain of archconservatives.

For example, I was in New York last Thursday giving a speech at the famously progressive New School. In the green room before I spoke, I was talking (in the presence of a CNBC camera crew) about the previous night's ABC debate with New School president and former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey. He seemed genuinely surprised with my negative review, telling me that Gibson and Stephanopoulos were only asking the questions the American people wanted asked. It took everything I had to stop myself from asking him when his spaceship had landed, bringing him back from whatever universe he'd been living in.

Something tells me that lapel pins, '60s radicals and ugly innuendos about patriotism are not the issues that caused 83 percent of the public to say that America is heading in the wrong direction in the latest Gallup survey.

Then I saw that dreadful new ad featuring Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, sitting side by side on a couch in front of the Capitol Building, robotically espousing the need for bipartisan agreement on global warming. What was Pelosi thinking? Yes, global warming is a crisis that needs to be addressed. And yes, it is an issue that gives lie to the media-promoted notion that all issues should be viewed through a left vs. right prism.

As it happened, I first saw the Pelosi-Gingrich ad on the same night that I caught Gingrich telling Sean Hannity that "the left wing of the Democratic Party, frankly, kind of admires American terrorists." A more outrageous statement would be hard to find. But instead of consigning Gingrich to the slagheap reserved for the likes of Rep. Steve "al-Qaida Will Be Dancing in the Streets if Obama Wins" King, Pelosi -- who according to Gingrich is enamored of home-grown terrorists -- scooches in next to him, smiles for the camera, and enhances his legitimacy as a statesman and champion of reasoned compromise.

And what exactly are we to make of Gingrich's signoff line in the ad: "If enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can spark the innovation we need"? Who exactly are "our leaders"? Aren't they, to paraphrase Pogo, them?

Can't wait to tune into CNN to see what new CNN commentator Tony Snow thinks of Nancy and Newt.

Arianna Huffington's e-mail address is arianna@huffingtonpost.com.)

(c) 2008 Arianna Huffington. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

This news arrived on: 04/24/2008

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