Bury Me Broken

Assault on 'Liberals'

Eric Alterman in The Nation magazine article "Corrupt, Incompetent and 'Off Center'" shows how disparate the consevative pundits view of liberals and America with where America actually is. Although 30% of Americans deemed themselves "conservative" and only 18% "liberal", Americans overwhelmingly identify with liberal values:

"In a May survey published by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 65 percent of respondents said they favor providing health insurance to all Americans, even if it means raising taxes, and 86 percent said they favor raising the minimum wage. Seventy-seven percent said they believe the country "should do whatever it takes to protect the environment.''

A September Gallup Poll finds that 59 percent consider the Iraq War a mistake and 63 percent agree that US forces should be partially or completely withdrawn."

And yet, Alterman points out that the political arena and the news media are dominated by vicious, right-wing pundits.

"In fact, all that's necessary to discredit an individual or an idea in the present poisoned atmosphere is to apply the label "liberal," which conservatives equate with "treason," "slander" and "treachery" (Ann Coulter); "idiocy" (Mona Charen); "Communism" (David Horowitz); inspiration for child murder (Newt Gingrich); Islamic terrorism (Andrew Sullivan, Christopher Hitchens, Horowitz again); and priestly pedophilia (Rick Santorum)."

posted by niteskolar @ 10:41 PM