If you've been following the news cycle, you probably heard the other day that St. John McCain, the GOP's standard bearer walked into a flap by repudiating the warm up done by a Wingnut Radio star, Bill Cunningham McCain has since been savaged for Conduct Unbecoming a Republican - actually apologizing for something.
McCain sought to distance himself from Cunningham's reputed use of Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. (Dog whistle politics anyone?) Well, today NPR's All Things Considered Robert Siegel interviewed Cunningham for his side of the story.
This is a must-listen interview, if only because it's a perfect example of Up is Down, Black is White projectionist logic from the Right Wing Echo Chamber.
(more)
Listen to the interview, and it is a remarkable example of how the Right Wing Echo Chamber works - never admit anything, pretend the utmost respect and civility, and always turn attacks around. Say it over and over again, and keep repeating it in defiance of the facts until they get tired and go away. (The guy's ego is certainly on display, too.)
You'll also hear just how much the 'conservatives' really hate McCain and are looking for any excuse to turn on him for not being 'pure' enough.
You can tell Siegel is having a hard time keeping a straight face as Cunningham relentlessly spins away from every tough question and keeps upping the sheer chutzpah, saying he now thinks Clinton would be a better president than either Obama or McCain; he even claims she might appear on his show.
What's pathetic about this is the way Siegel reacts as though this is just a joke, nothing to be taken seriously. It's that attitude on the part of the media that has allowed creeps like Cunningham to poison the airwaves, by treating it as 'entertainment'. To quote Shakespeare from Hamlet,
O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damn'd villain!
My tables, - meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark. (1.5.105)
And also in America in this year of our Lord 2008
Cunningham puts on display the mindset of the people who've been running this country for the last 7 years. Let's hope the rest of the country finally hears and understands A) how crazy these people are, and B) how dangerous they are.
If you want to contact NPR about this interview, try this link.
UPDATE: What Digby Said. The press plays along as always.