Probing a Political Paradox: Why the Discredited Right Still Sets the Agenda and Dominates the Debate
It's a paradox: the political center has clearly shifted; what used to be considered "left wing" positions have now become part of the mainstream, and the views of the Right are now at odds with the majority of the American public -- and with reality.
Yet, despite this seismic shift -- grossly underreported by the media -- the Right remains as powerful as ever when it comes to setting the national agenda and dominating the national debate.
Think about it: on Iraq and the exercise of American power, on economic fairness, on corporate responsibility, on the environment and climate change, on the universal right to healthcare, the progressive policies and positions long championed by the left have moved from union halls and MoveOn emails to the sidewalks, backyards, and kitchen tables of Main Street, USA.
Nevertheless, the traditional media -- and most politicians -- continue to insist on looking at every issue through a right vs left frame, then assume the answer is found by splitting the difference.
I've spent much of the last year trying to pinpoint the reasons for this startling disconnect in my new book, Right is Wrong, which is being released today (April 29).
And I concluded that there are three main areas to look at, not only to help us understand how we got in the mess we're in, but also to help us get out: the media, the role of fear in our politics, and the failure of political leadership.
These three factors have combined to allow the lunatic fringe that has taken over the Right to hijack our country, our democracy, and our Constitution. So that 28 percent of the population that continues to support George W. Bush no matter how many bodies pile up in Iraq, how many jobs disappear overseas, how many For Sale signs go up on their block, or how high gas prices get, continues to dominate our politics.
Let's take them one by one, starting with the media which remains hopelessly addicted to the false belief that in order to be fair and balanced every story needs to be given the "on the one hand... and on the other" treatment. But not every story has two sides -- and the truth is often to be found not in the middle but solidly on one side or the other.
The earth is not flat. Global warming is a fact. Evolution is a fact -- sorry Mike Huckabee. And not even Republicans still believe in the unfettered, free market. Look how they rushed to Big Government to save their beloved Bear Sterns.
Nor are there two sides to the proposition that Iraq is our generation's greatest foreign policy disaster. It is. Period. Full stop. Yet the same media that enabled the administration to sell us the multi-trillion dollar war are -- nearly six years later -- still pushing the Right's line that "the surge is working." Green Zone bombardments be damned.
Indeed, we are in the sixth year of an unnecessary and immoral war that has cost tens of thousands of lives, globally discredited the United States and has left us all less safe than the day Shock and Awe began. But the media are still debating the war's "progress," and describing the state of Iraq as "a mixed bag" -- which is a little bit like going to the doctor and having him tell you that you have a brain tumor but your acne has cleared, and you considering the diagnosis "a mixed bag."
What is behind the media's lapdog devotion to the messages and framing of the Right? It's a combination of self-loathing and abject fear. The media wear their dread like a cheap aftershave. The broadcast networks and the cable news channels live in mortal fear of a dip in the ratings, and newspapers are constantly checking their pulse -- convinced by their deteriorating profits and market share that the end is near. So they continue to offer the views of the newly marooned Right more than equal time.
Fear -- specifically the right wing's masterful manipulation of it -- has also come to dominate our politics.
In 2004 we had the whole sordid "al Qaeda really wants John Kerry to win" routine. And it's only April, but John McCain has already told us that al Qaeda will increase its violent attacks to try and defeat him, and that Hamas wants Obama to win. This is not only laughable but downright loathsome -- and there should be zero tolerance for such distortions in American politics.
Besides, why wouldn't al Qaeda want McCain to win? He's running to give a third term to George Bush, whose disastrous policies have been the terrorists' best recruitment tool.
McCain's "more of the same" platform should disqualify him from being allowed to use sharp scissors, let alone be president of the United States. But the mainstream media still treat him with kid gloves and continue to take his foreign policy positions -- however confused -- seriously.
You can be sure the Right will play the fear card again in 2008 because that's all that's left in its deck. And that's why it's incredibly important that Democrats take back national security as an issue from the Republicans, and why Hillary Clinton's latest attempts to out-bellicose McCain are so destructive.
The dynamic between the dithering Democrats and the reality-be-damned Republican Right calls to mind that great line from Yeats: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity."
The third factor in the continuing power of the loony Right is the abject, across the board failure of our political leadership to adjust to the fact that the game of "right versus left" has been rendered obsolete by the emergence of a new and vital center. But political movements and political shifts do not fully succeed without bold political leadership -- and if we ever needed that kind of leadership, it is now.
Democratic leaders need to re-define the center of American politics. Right is no longer the opposite of left. It is the opposite of wrong. And what used to be the left needs to redefine itself as something more than just an opposition force -- but rather as an active, positive, mainstream current that includes independents, Republicans aghast at what has happened to their party, and many new voters who are tired of empty partisanship.
Over this past year, it has seemed that America is ready to define a new center and to turn a new page and close the book on this tragic chapter of our history. The nomination of John McCain, however, could obstruct this transition. McCain is the Trojan Horse the Right desperately needed to put a faux maverick, faux independent, faux straight-talker imprint on the same ruinous policies that have taken us down this dark road.
Though the era of the Right has exhausted its historic course, collapsing in moral, political and economic bankruptcy, the transformation and co-opting of McCain from a maverick into the Second Coming of George W. Bush shows the durability of the Right and the lingering danger it poses. There is nothing automatic about its disappearance from the stage. Not unless we, together, give it -- and McCain -- a mighty push into the wings and right out the stage door.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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BRAVO--OR BRAVA==FOR THE BOOK BY MS HUFF--RIGHT IS WRONG--I SHALL MARCH TO BARNES AND NOBLE THIS VERY WEEK IN MY APRIL SHIRT TO PURCHASE A COPY AN TO READ
ASSIDUOUSLY---WHICH MEANS CLOSELY.
SPEAKING OF ASSES--THANK HEAVEN OBAMA FINALLY SHOT THE SHEPHERD--THAT MAN
WAS ON A FREE-LANCE FROLIC OF HIS OWN EGO THESE LAST DAYS--AND SIMPLY DISREGARDED ANYTHING IN HIS ACTIONS THAT MIGHT DESTROY OBAMA, AND THE EFFORTS
OF MILLIONS OF US WHITE FOLKS TO JOIN MILLIONS OF OTHER FOLKS TO HAVE A NEW KIND
OF PRESIDENT. JM GORMAN
READ: ""CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN"" if you think The Right is Wrong is good you will come out screaming about how wrong they really are after reading this one!
That's better. Thank you.
Dear Censor,
Hope you are well.
In your spare time, just wanted to recommend some reading to you. You're a college student? Maybe you haven't gotten around to this one yet. It's John Milton's "Areopagitica" -- it's one of the reasons that we have freedom of speech in the United States (a place that is distinct from the internet where not all speech -- not even all civil speech -- is allowed). You might want to read Milton. He's passionate. He's instructive. He's a moral teacher. He's free (the book is available online now).
And, by the way, he's a much more entertaining writer than Ms. Huffington. Even if this site does have fantastic web design. Please tell the web designers (not to be confused with intelligent designers) just in case they cannot read this remark for themselves (you know, like if you don't post it).
Thanks, ever yours, the Muse
ACTUALLY, MCCAIN IS THE RIGHT'S TROJAN PROPHYLACT
So that screwing the American public becomes a form of "safe sex"...
Sorry Arianna, I can't resist. McCain may be the right's "trojan horse", but Obama is the left's "trojan".
You should have resisted, but Chimps do not have too much restraint.
Arianna,
Please refer to John McCain as "the former Maverick John McCain."
I think it will stick..
NOT EVEN "FORMER"..
He never was a maverick. He just played one on TV....
I like McCain myself. But I think your comment is funny. Thought you'd like to know. That's if Arianna's censor will let you read my remarks. I have offended them again. Alas. They are so picky.
"I like McCain myself."
That's no surprise, especially that you vote for the Sociopath-In-Chief, Bu$h twice. Go figure.
It worked for Prince!
What symbol would McCain use?
The primary reason the GOP's rightwing sets the agenda is the lazy and unethical MSM. The lazy and unethical MSM that in 2000 and 2004 gave George W. Bush a pass while telling lie after lie about the Democratic nominee. Dowd, Rich, Russert, Matthews, and even Ms. Huffington combined with a herd-like mentality common to most of the MSM to trash the liberals while letting the conservatives slide.
"McCain is the Trojan Horse the Right desperately needed to put a faux maverick, faux independent, faux straight-talker imprint on the same ruinous policies that have taken us down this dark road."
The saddest part of this whole political madhouse is how the balance of powers between the different segments of government have been eclipsed by the Unitary Presidency! This has heralded the destruction of the Constitution and clearly marks the beginnings of the U.S. as an empire in decline!
Arianna has been on my show quite a few times though admittedly it has been a while. I’ve also had on one of her reporters. For her to assert that the media is wrong in its "addiction to presenting two sides to every issue even when there is only one" insults the neutrality that all of us deserve when reading our news. Punditry and reporting are not the same. To argue that there's only one side to an argument is to invite back the very dynamics that once denied progressives their rightful voice. I have recordings of Arianna knowing better a few years ago. I hope she stops this nonsense so I don't need to break them out. Sincerely, Alan Nathan, Columnist and Host of "Battle Line w/Alan Nathan" aired nationally on the Radio America Network
I have to disagree, I consider myself a liberal, but very sympathetic to the party of
the radical middle. I really don't need to listen to unenlightening arguments by
right wing trolls and left wing fairies. I feel that many of these discussions are
aimed at heated arguments and controversy, rather than working through issues
and clarifying points of view. You have to go PBS's Lehrer report for that.
The Unitary Presidency was not put in place for a Democrat. McCain is the Trojan Horse because he is the means for Jeb Bush to step into the Unitary Presidency. McCain's VP will leave office early for health or family reasons. McCain will select Jeb Bush to fill the VP vacancy. If McCain can hang in there for 2 terms and then Jeb gets his 2 terms, that 16 more years of the horror we are living through now. Short of an invasion from outer space, I don't see anyway to stop it. Certainly not with the 2 Democratic candidates and the Democratic Congress. What's left?
It's a paradox: the political center has clearly shifted -- thanks for the heads up, Arianna. Now you just need to get the word out to the 300,000 million Americans who don't know they're Libs! Darn, why are we always the last to know? I'm going out right now to change all the bumper stickers on my car. I'm gonna do it right now. Just as soon as I take down my American flag.
Arianna, I hate to contradict you, but those were Newt's talking points in the nineties. It's why terrorists are made equivalent to our military forces. And Dems spread the "sky is falling" mantra day in and day out. Finally Carter and Clinton were the epitome of failed leadership.
If Clinton ws the definition of failed leadership with a record of eight years of peace and prosperity and Bush is a record of success, you are in another domain of consciousness.
Clinton brought us NAFTA that all of you libs complain about. Clinton sat on his rump while Islamic jihadists attacked American interests time and time again. Clinton gutted the military and intelligence agencies that you like to blame for faulty intelligence on Iraq. You say Clinton brought us peace. I say he encouraged people to attack us. You say Clinton brought prosperity, yet when people prosper under Bush they are "crooks and criminals" and evil rich. Must be nice to live in your little world.
***corrected version***
A muddle of conflicting opinions united by force of propaganda, that's our political culture in the USA.
The Web is just as effective a tool for dissembling and dividing the masses as it is for uniting us.
The messages from each candidate couldn't be more clear despite all of the attempts to dumb us down:
and only one is choosing to elevate issues in the campaign instead of ideology; to keep talking about that which unites us rather than that which divides and prevents us from being "We the People" ... I'll leave it to you to figure out who that is.
A muddle of conflicting opinions united by force of propaganda, that's our political culture in the USA.
The Web is just as effective a tool for dissembling and dividing the masses as it is for uniting us.
The messages from each candidate couldn't be more clear despite all of the attempts to dumb us down:
and only one is choosing to issues of ideology and elevating that which unites us rather than that which separates us from being "We the People" ... I'll leave it to you to figure out who that is.
Sorry Ariana,
Global Warming - at least man made global warming is a "theory," not a fact. Same with Evolution. I'm not saying they are wrong, but they are far from being proven facts! Just because you say they are doesn't mean it is so.
Has Iraq been a disaster? You bet! Yet do we compound one disaster with another? Because disaster is all I see the left offering today. Same with every other important issue, the left consistently comes down on the wrong side. On taxes, economic growth, entitlements, climate, national security, and immigration, they consistently advocate "solutions" that will harm us even more then our current state. It's not the Right that has ran up gov't spending to all time highs. It's the moderates and the liberals, including those masquerading as the Right. Someone on the Right would never be in favor of running up massive new gov't spending.
This gov't needs a good dose of true conservatism right now.
No it doesn't. Not now. Not ever.
In your vernacular, evolution is a fact. Get used to it.
And let's argue the economy: the right wing arguments are so flawed it'll be easy to refute anything you put forward.
Aparently devolution is fact to. Get used to it! The evidence is right here. Oh, but you'll say I'm "right wing" and I'm easy to refute.
Einstein's formulation of gravity is merely a theory too. So is Quantum Mechanics, so are the basic concepts of Chemistry, Electronics, physics, biology and medicine. How ironic it is that only Conservatives think that throwing the word "theory" behind any proposition makes it unprovable and automatically wrong. Maybe it's their lack of intelligence, bone laziness, or "LA LA LA I CAN"T HERE YOU" denial of reality that makes them think this way. But what ever the reason, their children, grand children, and great grand children as well a American's and the World's Children, grand children, and great grand children will suffer horribly from it. All because they will stand in the way of fixing the problems of today, just to save a few measly pennies.
Pardon me, But I remember a surplus when Clinton left office.
I can't belive that you would even try to say that the Right did'nt have a thing to do with the Debt this country now has. Who was in charge of the Presidency and Congress these last 8 years?
It DANG sure was'nt the left!
This is one time The Moral Majority and Repubs need to take credit for. Bush & Co got us into this mess buy fear and lies, there is no doubt.
Arrogance of "the Decider" got us in this FUBAR and now that the chickens are coming home to roost, they want to deny any wrong doing. Need proof?
Today Bush is blaming Congress for the Economic mess.
This country needs a good dose of COMMON SENSE, not more of the same.
Yeah, it was a surplus right before the tech stock crash, corporate scandals, 911 and a war. It is nearly impossible to be in "surplus" during a war. However, we will rebound like we have in the past...I hope.
Sorry KevMorris,
" Global Warming - at least man made global warming is a 'theory', not a fact. Same with Evolution. "
Like most propagansists you conflate the colloquial use of the word " theory " with it's proper scientific usage. This is not only misleading but fundamentally dishonest.
Assuming your use of " theory " is correct, as in Gravitational Theory, and I'm not saying it's wrong, but I'm not going to jump off a ten story building to find out. Would you?
" It's not the Right that has run up gov't spending to all time highs. It's the moderates and the liberals, including those masquerading as the right. "
Now, let me make sure I get this right. It's not the Right-Right that's responsible for historic fiscal and moral malfaesance but rather a clandestine cabal of covert Lefties who would otherwise have been consistently wrong on every issue but somehow managed to fool everyone into beleiving that they are Right-Wingers in order to subvert their own ideological positions.
Wow, this is indeed stunning convoluted sophistry that, to me, demonstrates the depth of delusion and denial of a bankrupt ideology.
Well said. The right is getting more and more delusional and sometimes scary in their attempts at historical revisionism.
The Right sets the agenda because we allow them to.
You know if the Dem's lose this one, it is because
"we" allowed them to.
It just CAN NOT happen a third time, the odds are against it.
I pray
Here is an enigma...W
That is an enigma, but I won't lose too much sleep over it.
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