It’s the same question all “journalists” should be asking themselves right now:
Given the heinous dust that’s been raised, it seems likely that end-of-life counseling will be dropped from the health-reform legislation. But that’s a small point, compared with the larger issue that has clouded this summer: How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? And another question: How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped the shark?
(See pictures of angry health-care protesters.)
I’m not going to try. I’ve written countless “Democrats in Disarray” stories over the years and been critical of the left on numerous issues in the past. This year, the liberal insistence on a marginally relevant public option has been a tactical mistake that has enabled the right’s “government takeover” disinformation jihad. There have been times when Democrats have run demagogic scare campaigns on issues like Social Security and Medicare. There are more than a few Democrats who believe, in practice, that government should be run for the benefit of government employees’ unions. There are Democrats who are so solicitous of civil liberties that they would undermine legitimate covert intelligence collection. There are others who mistrust the use of military power under almost any circumstances. But these are policy differences, matters of substance. The most liberal members of the Democratic caucus — Senator Russ Feingold in the Senate, Representative Dennis Kucinich in the House, to name two — are honorable public servants who make their arguments based on facts. They don’t retail outright lies. Hyperbole and distortion certainly exist on the left, but they are a minor chord in the Democratic Party.
I don’t agree with Joe on every point here, particularly the part about civil liberties, you have them or you don’t. I can’t accept a “just trust us” approach t from Bush and I don’t from Obama.
The Democrats may stray into hyperbole and exaggeration, but they don’t just make stuff up to suit their arguments. The larger point stands. How can you have a reasoned policy debate with people who ignore inconvenient facts and simply lie about things?
I used quotes around the word journalist at the top because by and large the media has miserably failed to do it’s job during this debate. They’ve become so afraid of being labeled “liberal” by the right that if Sen. Kyl announced that the Sun revolves around Earth they’d announce it every few minutes. Then they’d have segment where it would be debated between some neanderthal moron who would try to shout down an astounded astronomer. We report you decide indeed. The media has failed and it appears the people of this nation will suffer for their incompetence.
