print“The outcry against state takeover of medicine is in the best of traditions. Yet the malpracticing media are discounting the fractious town-hall participants as proxies for corporate and political interests. And worse.”
“The Authentic Ass-troturfers,” my new WND.COM column, details these execrable efforts by the left-liberal news filters, and their political master. Yes, “Cronkite died the other day; news coverage croaked a long time ago.”
You’ll find particularly patronizing the manner in which MSNBC “Anchors David ‘Shyster’ and Tamron Hall inferred that, rather than ‘un-American,’ the turbulent town hallers were a little simple.”
To quote from the column, What “led our sleuth in a C Cup to ‘inform’ her viewers that the mutinous multitudes were muddled beyond belief”? “Town hall attendees seemed to be harping on the proper role of government, and not on the minutia of the messiah’s medical plan.”
Lo! Making a philosophical point instead of a utilitarian one—now that is dimwitted. …”
Read the complete column, “The Authentic Ass-troturfers,” in which I make sure to further dim the debate, at least as Tamron Hall of MSNBC would see it.
You can catch the weekly fare every Saturday on Taki’s Magazine too, where the reading is really good.
Update (August 14): BECK. I like Glenn. I’ve said so often. But you come to this space for reason, not for platitudes. That’s not going to change. If you like the Beck blackboard and its “delusional diagrams of multiplying giant ACORNS,” you have to consider the merits of Maddow’s Memos, and other conspiracies lurking behind what to this here rational individual are “really unremarkable events and associations.”
You can’t gravitate to Glenn’s conspiracies while rejecting Rachel’s.
And here’s the mundane truth Glenn’s conspiracies obscure (from the post “On Conspiracy Theories”):
The premise for imputing conspiracies to garden variety government evils is this: government generally does what is good for us (NOT), so when it strays, we must look beyond the facts—for something far more sinister, as if government’s natural venality and quest for power were not enough to explain events. For example, why would one need to search for the “real reason” for an unjust, unscrupulous war, unless one believed government would never prosecute an unjust war. History belies that delusion.
Conspiracy is not congruent with a view of government as fundamentally antagonistic to the individual and to civil society, a position I hold.
Politics is dirty; there is no secret or conspiracy to it. Glenn’s nonsense, aside being tedious and taking away from the important issues of the day that he could be covering, encourages a sort of childish faith in the institute of government: “Omigod: look what they’re up to. I’m going to cry if they don’t start being nice to me.”
The Founders bequeathed a limited government because they did not believe, like Glenn appears to, that filthy politics is so unusual and conspiratorial. It’s the norm! Stray away from their vision of the corrupting properties of power, and you wander into the real of Democratic Pollyanna politics.
True, Rachel finds conspiracy in private interactions, even though these do not use coercion or access public funds. So, I guess, she is worse. Still, that’s not much of a consolation for adherents of Glenn’s latest obsession.
Incidentally, why does Glenn not sketch a diagram of the military-media-congressional-industrial complex? It’s plenty meaty. I’ll tell you why: Warfare, any warfare, so long as it involves our sainted men in uniform and their chiefs and generals, is sacred to our Glenn.
Lesson: people see conspiracy where they want to.
Good stuff. Mind if I ask, though – it’s a very good diagnosis of the disease, but what’s the cure?
[As I say again and again; this is not the first article I’ve written on any one topic; nor is each article exhaustive. A search in the archive will yield answers. Search categories should be obvious; “socialized medicine,” etc.]
I love your writing and your colorful vocabulary, however, we don’t always agree. I think the comment about Beck is unnecessary, and that Beck is on to something. It is well documented for those who bother to research it the connection between groups like Acorn and other leftist organizations. My information comes from people like Dennis Cuddy, John Loeffler, Brannon House, David Noebel, James Simpson, and the like. While we may not like his delivery method, I see no need to dismiss him as kook.
Without question, the “gaping vacuity” (properly placed and unsheathed) is perhaps the most powerful Weapon of Mass Destruction in the history of our mortal existence. The list of casualties is staggering.
Insurance is a perfectly acceptable variant, according to Merriam Webster. It’s quite common in the South. [Like “spit” for past tense “spat”; it’s a language drift that sucks.]
I really liked the alliteration in “mutinous multitudes were muddled beyond belief.”
We have it from BHO’s own mouth that insurance companies will forbidden to deny coverage because of any pre-existing condition and forbidden to place a cap on coverage. In other words, insurers are required to accept unlimited risk. The only insurer who can operate under those conditions is one who can create money out of thin air.
To assume that Obama knows he’s creating a single-payer system is to call him a liar. To assume that he doesn’t know is to belittle his intellect. How does one avoid a charge of racism?
Are you calling Tamron Hall a boob?
Good thing I don’t watch TV, as I might become titillated watching the “Sleuth in a C Cup.”
Ilana,
I call That Disease on MSNBC “Shyster” as well. In fact, I won’t even watch MSNBC or CNN.
What is the POINT of these so-called town halls if the people are only supposed to bow and genuflect approval towards Pelosi, Hoyer, and Obama and otherwise shut up?
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS amuse me – there are those who wind up appearing SHOCKED when the obvious happens (like the mortage bubble or a bear depositing solidified excrement in the woods). Then there are those who assume the government is actually competent – e.g. the Navy “knew” about Pearl Harbor but “deliberately” held the info back from Admiral Kimmel. Having been told that in order to send a SECRET classified package overnight required a memo with 6 signatures to justify the $12 [the Navy spent $5000 instead of $12!] – I can assure you that the notice to Pearl Harbor will arrive any year. In other words, given a choice of explanation between the government being idiotic or deliberately hyper-clever, the conspiracy theorists always insist on the latter – which makes me laugh.
We can be grateful that the Democrats in power have run wild in their efforts to have Government gobble up the economy and our freedoms. Had they not, or had they paced their totalitarian tendencies, the backlash we are witnessing, although predictable, would not have occurred. Events do not extrapolate linearly into the future. They do so nonlinearly and therefore the future is not predictable very far from the present. Obama and the Democrats are discovering an old truth here. But they are ignoring reality in their hubristic efforts to “remake America.” Let them fail miserably.
[Republicans did the same when in control of all the organs of power.]
I – for one – fear my government (and our ‘unrepresentative representatives’) from Mr. Obama on down to politicians on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate. I’m doubly afraid of this health care ‘reform.’ Common sense alone tells me there is NO reason to put the entire system into upheaval and disrupt the 250 million who are happy with healthcare in this country for the 10-20 million (NOT the bogus 47+ million claimed by Obama and the state-run media) who may not have ‘adequate’ care. Furthermore, I’ll never be able to fathom how costs would ‘go down’ by adding millions into some sort of healthcare insurance. And the abominable idea of denying healthcare to the elderly to reduce costs is still in the current versions of the bill – obscure as they may be.
I’m all for being a caring human being. As my parish priest aptly put it a few months ago in a Bible study, “Jesus said to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. He did NOT say ‘Give your money to the government to do this.’ Charity as Jesus taught has to come willingly from our own HEARTS – not via a heartless and inefficient government!”
“Lesson: people see conspiracy where they want to.” Boy, can you say that again. Clearly Congress is not conspiring to put us under their foot, with “Cap and Trade” or “Health Care reform” Nor do they conspire with other nations for the advancement for “Socialistic Policies worldwide.” But can we say “Consensus?” Probably not, I think the Democrats have a patent on the word.
[It’s NOT A CONSPIRACY; it’s out in the open; it’s politics. And a lot of voters like it.]
In re: Mark Walker’s comment, above: Jesus did say a lot of things about caring for those in need, and your pastor is correct, He never once suggested that the state be the means of doing so. If people including our elected officials took Jesus’ prescriptions seriously, they would rely on private charity, individuals, and the private sector in general to do good works–which many Americans sincerely wish to do when they are not hamstrung by government mandates.
Venality and incompetence account for much, but sometimes the physical evidence leaves troubling questions. We’ve learned better than to trust government and press, and we see them daily repeating lies for the masses, which most people readily believe. If you want to get yourself branded as a conspiracy theorist, just look at the films of the collapse of WTC 7.