The wingnut media smear machine has, over the years, acquired a surface legitimacy that permits it to condone outrageous, even violent or treasonous, behavior that would be immediately seen for what it was, and summarily condemned, were it coming from any other source.
Case in point: the William Ayers "controversy." Reasonable people can see this as a non-issue, but politics does not live by reason alone, to say the least. In their blindness, the MSM have allowed the legitimization of a right-wing worldview that is both false and dangerous. As a result, they simply do not see the patterns of violence and treason, or the advocacy of same, that are actually quite frequent in right wing circles, and frequently condoned by "responsible" conservatives who should know better.
Case in point: G. Gordon Liddy, who plotted, unsuccessfully, to bomb the Brookings Institution, and served 4 1/2 years in prison for the Watergate break-in, is not regarded as a criminal by the wingnuts - no, he's a freaking hero. He has his own, popular radio talk show. John McCain has praised Liddy, and referred to him as "an old friend." McCain has appeared on his radio show, during the campaign, as recently as May.
Case in point: The Alaskan Independence Party, founded in 1973. Its founder, Joe Vogler, once stated "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." This man vanished in May, 1993. According to the NYT (10/15/94), it turned out that he had been murdered; convicted thief Manfred West confessed in the summer of 1993 that he had killed Mr. Vogler in a plastic-explosives sale gone bad and had then buried him. Surely, Todd "Jefferson Davis" Palin knew about this when he chose to join the AIP in 1995 and remain registered as a member until 2002. Surely, Sarah Palin must have known about this, might even have read about it in a newspaper, when she spoke at the AIP convention while running for governor in 2006. And, when she addressed their convention in Fairbanks early this year by means of a videotaped speech.
Case in point: John McCain, in a 69-30 Senate vote, voted against a Federal law to prohibit bombings, arson and bloodshed at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses. This was not some obscure rider to a bill on some unrelated topic, this was a stand-alone bill (NYT,11/17/93).
Case in point: John McCain served on the board of directors of the US Council for World Freedom, which has been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League as "a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-semites."
All these cases are well-documented, sometimes accompanied by audio or video-tape. So, why aren't we hearing much about them in the MSM? More importantly, why is the MSM incapable of connecting the dots? In my opinion, the MSM is intellectually incapable of seeing the wingnut crowd for what it is. These people are not "responsible conservatives," yet their "respectable" voices in Congress cannot afford, literally cannot afford, to see them for what they are. They are willfully blinded because the Limbaughs, the Liddys, and their ilk, control or influence a huge chunk of votes, the heart of the so-called "base." Meanwhile, the MSM has abdicated its role as critic, dumbing itself down, no doubt in sync with the corporate interests who own them, increasingly concentrated in a few hands.
And so, there exists no "social narrative," no preconceived frame of mind, into which these bizarre behaviors can fit. But there is clearly a pattern of reality here, a pattern of crazy, violent and even treasonous behavior, condoned by the right, and condoned by McCain/Palin. For those who have eyes to see, the pattern is far more egregious than anything that can be concocted from a few tenuous links related to a few radical idiots from the 60's.
And we must get people to see this with open eyes. This is not some long-term project in political education. No, we must do it NOW because, my friends, we are going to get Swiftboated by this Ayers business if we don't. This is the mother of all Hail Mary passes for the Republicans. McCain/Palin have nothing else to run on.
To paraphrase Roger Daltrey of the Who, "We won't get (fooled) Swiftboated again." We, won't, because the MSM will inevitably pick up on something so true, so obvious and so consequential, not because it is all of those things, but because they cannot resist a titillating narrative, if it is relentlessly forced into public discussion. It will be forced by ordinary people, by blogs, by 527's, by some of the campaigns. In short, BY US. We must do this. Yes we can. Yes we shall.