I've been listening to the news on the radio a lot since I've been stuck in traffic this holiday weekend. Since Air America Radio is repeating stuff for the third or fourth time, I've been listening to the "all news all the time" stations for the reason I'm stuck in traffic.
They've been talking about how Alberto Gonzales would be a bad choice because, get this, "Conservatives" think he's too moderate! In a 'Man Bites Dog' type story, the MSM is repeating the canard that Gonzales is somehow a moderate because conservative groups say so. If it's out there in the MSM that Gonzales is too moderate then when Bush nominates him, the people who listen to the MSM will think Gonzales is a moderate Supreme Court justice nominee and that Bush is reaching out to Demoncrats by nominating this moderate hispanic minority guy.
Links, bile and bold font after the jump:
In and article on the
Associated Press wire about the 1987 Bork hearings, the AP gives this unchallenged assessment:
Senate Judiciary Committee members crystalized the debate over O'Connor's successor, making clear that a hard-line conservative would trigger a furious battle on Capitol Hill that could touch off a Democratic filibuster.
The division emerged amid a conservative lobbying campaign against one possible pick, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a longtime Texas friend of President Bush who is considered too moderate by right-wing Republicans.
emphasis mine.
This is the torture tzar they're talking about. They are purposely casting the person who told George W. Bush that torture is Okee Dokey as a moderate.
I'm not ready for Justice Torquemada and I don't think anyone else is either. Is there a way we on the left can create a 'Man Bites Dog' story about how Ganzales is too liberal? Maybe we need to object to Gonzales because he supports late term abortions or polygamy. We can get Santorum on board if we can make the MSM state that Ganzales supports Man-On-Dog sex.
You have to admire the wingnuts' ability to get the MSM to tell the country what they want the country to hear.
Some links, look for the word "moderate":
Chicago Sun Times
The Guardian, UK
Kansas City Star
The State, South Carolina