Bob Somerby is detecting an interesting change in the way the pundits on the Chris Matthews Show this past Sunday reacted to that odd host's attempts to slam Hillary Clinton...
To Somerby's surprise, they didn't take the usual bait to attack a major Democrat with the typical array of "they're wishy-washy" slander...
And he has an interesting theory as to why that may be the case.
More after the fold...
Matthew's tried unsuccessfully to get Kelly O'Donnell, Elisabeth Bumiller, and Joe Klein to go off on the RNC spin that Hillary Clinton was a disingenuous, two-faced witch who's making an obvious political move of moving to the center, particularly on abortion.
He writes (with my emphasis):
What the "Al Gore doesn't seem very American" f*ck? But the deadly Rule of Three had been met, and Matthews, a professional, limply surrendered. "Enough of this argument," the defeated host said, although there hadn't been much of an "argument." Instead, everyone had simply ignored or rejected the tired old script he'd suggested.
Our long-suffering analysts were quite struck by this unusual discussion. When had it ever happened? they asked. When's the last time a pundit panel passed on the chance to batter Big Dems for their phony, two-faced positions? First, the national press had made fools of themselves accusing Gore of "reinvention." Then, with Kerry, they had more fun exploring his flip-flopping ways. (For old time's sake, they even invented that fake NASCAR "quote," as they'd done so often with Gore.) But suddenly, nobody wanted to say that Hillary was a big two-faced phony. Over on Fox, the script still plays. But the pundits brushed Matthews away.
Our interpretation of this odd moment: We're wondering if a fever has broken. The two-year trashing of Candidate Gore resulted from the press corps' war against Clinton; his ten blow jobs had driven them wild, and they took it out on his vile successor. No, they didn't treat Kerry as badly, but they still were all too happy to adopt the RNC "flip-flop" framework. But here's our guess: At long last, the mainstream press has noticed something: The Bush II reign has been a disaster. And this disaster has been so extreme that they're even dropping their famous preference for a certain tired old script. To our ear, Matthews wanted to play an old game. But Klein and Bumiller just wouldn't go, suggesting that a different day may be dawning for major Dem hopefuls. Unless McCain gets the Rep nod, of course.
So has the mainstream celebrity press corps started to realize how they helped drive the country and political discourse to their present lows?
And is there a change in the wind in how the Democrats are discussed?
The real test, as Somerby points out, will be if press favorite John McCain makes his bid. So, will anybody in the press corps have a shield to protect themselves from the Straight Shooter Trance? We'll just have to see...