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WaPo Wastes Column Space On Wingnut Bigot's Garden Of Cliches
About Jason Linkins
Jason Linkins is a Political Reporter at the Huffington Post, covering media and politics. He's based in Washington, DC. Previously, he wrote for HuffPo's Eat The Press, and has also contributed to DCist and Wonkette.
The well-manicured Opinion page of the Washington Post was sullied this weekend by a column from Kathleen Parker, whose apparent ambition is to be Maureen Dowd's rival in the relentless deployment of deflated clichés without ever removing her tongue from some unholy intellectual gutter of her own devising. Fred Hiatt, perhaps commemorating the recent gay marriage decision of the California Supreme Court, apparently found it necessary to commission a piece on John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama that was equal parts overheated and homophobic.
Mission accomplished, thanks to Parker, who reminds us all for the 8,263,825th time that Edwards is wealthy and has nice hair. Parker is a big fan of the failed policies that Bush has allowed to strengthen Iran's position one-hundred fold and doesn't want that to change through the sensible course of diplomatic confrontation Obama has espoused. And, all the while, she couches her argument's lack of intellect, sense or gravity with what Brad from Sadly, No! refers to as "the oldest trick in the Wingnut Punditry Bible: she lectures us about what Real Americans think." It's all like reading the first chapter of Richard Scarry's My First Book of Conservative Cliches.
The core of Parker's piece seems to be this:
While we're waiting to find out, Edwards's tortured Southern shtick is supposed to help Obama with the demographic of white, rural, working-class (non-college) Americans he's been having trouble with. Green room translation: poor, ignorant racists.
Huh! Funny thing about this "green room translation": Parker, just last week, penned what amounts to a paean for white supremacy for something called the Jewish World Review, in which she stood up for someone who said Barack Obama was not a "full-blooded American." The whole piece was accurately summarized by Atrios as "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!" and given further damnation from Glenn Greenwald, who called it "repellent." And that's being kind, given doggerel like this:
Who "gets" America? And who doesn't?
The answer has nothing to do with a flag lapel pin, which Obama donned for a campaign swing through West Virginia, or even military service, though that helps. It's also not about flagpoles in front yards or magnetic ribbons stuck on tailgates.It's about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots.
Go ahead and read the whole thing in context of the larger piece if you want! It only makes the commentary seem less enlightened.
One of the more disconcerting facets of last week's coverage of the West Virginia primary was the media's obsession with fetishizing something called a "white working-class American" while simultaneously - almost unerringly - finding examples of that demographic who were the pinnacle of ignorance. It did a disservice to the voters of West Virginia, whose substantive opinions on the Democratic race and their preferences took a back seat to a constant parade of outliers that the media elite happily presented, and mocked, as bigots.
By celebrating "white working class-itude" alongside the worst examples of the same, the media sent the perverse message that such base and bigoted attitudes are a cherished American tradition. With that as background, it's hardly surprising that a coprophage like Parker should come along and connect these particular dots. It's a little disturbing that the Washington Post would elevate such a person to their opinion page, but in the zero-sum game of pageviews, it's perhaps just another example of the robust "economy of the asinine" at work. In the meanwhile, if Ms. Parker can truly be said to be a "full-blooded American," you can sign me up for an immediate transfusion.
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May 19, 2008 10:15 AM