The Jeremiah Wright issue is just another in the long line of diversions that effectively distract the American people from the real issues.
It’s incredible that we have been hearing non-stop about one crazy black preacher for the last week. First, the things he has said are not all that outlandish compared to what preachers have been saying for centuries. Organized religion doesn’t have a monopoly on idiocy, but it has more than its share of half-witted spokespersons. Examples abound: Jerry Falwell and his (im)moral majority, Ted Hagey and his pope-hating and God is punishing the gays by leveling New Orleans, Pat Robertson and his proclaiming that God hates Dover, PA, Jim “Praise the Lord (buy Tammy eye shadow)” Baker, and every Catholic Bishop that has ever quietly reassigned a boy fucker.
With all these examples (I haven’t even scratched the surface) of moron preachers, why, all of the sudden, is Jeremiah Wright the issue du jour? It’s actually fairly simple: the right and their patsies, in this case the main stream media (from whom we’ve come to expect this) and secondary beneficiaries Hillary Clinton and John McCain are in need of a new smoke screen.
The old reliable diversions have more or less run their course. People have finally learned that abortion does not lead to baby killing, two guys having sex in private does not threaten heterosexual marriage, Democrats don’t want to take guns from non-felons, and al Kaida won’t attack Manhattan the day we leave Iraq (they may attempt to attack Manhattan, but staying in Iraq increases, not decreases the probability).
Now that the electorate has largely discovered that “tax and spend liberals” actually can balance budgets better than “borrow and spend a hell of a lot more conservatives,” that high stock prices don’t put money in the pockets of the masses, that trickle down economics is exactly that (give huge money to the rich and hope to get a few crumbs that trickle through the largely impermeable sieve), and that tough talking politicians that threaten the world (and the American people) don’t make us safe, the right has essentially run out of ammunition.
Poll after poll shows that the American people are finally on to their bull shit. George (one child left behind) Bush has approval ratings in the 20% range. Vice president Dick is even lower. 100 year McCain is running dead even against two Democrats who are currently trashing each other on a daily basis. Generic polling shows a likely Democratic sweep in November.
Bush, McCain, Rove, et.al. may be corrupt, but they aren’t stupid. If the real news of the day, stories like the “military analysts” hired by Fox and CNN that have been shown to be Bush Administration propagandists (see NY Times and Huffington Post, you won’t see it on TV), casualties in Iraq at a 7 month high (more casualties means that the terrorists are getting desperate because the surge is working), the economy is in the shitter, etc. was given appropriate coverage by the mainstream media, there would be an absolute revolt on the part of the voters, and the casualties wouldn’t be limited to Republicans and Joe Lieberman; a number of quasi populist Democrats would go down with them.
Unfortunately, you won’t see the mainstream corporate-run media (the so-called “librul press”) cover these stories until the voters shut off their TVs and take the initiative to find real news, rather than what the corporate-controlled people handlers spoon feed them. Until that happens, we’ll continue to see an inordinate amount of coverage given to bull shit stories about bull shit preachers (friends, relatives, teachers, distant acquaintances) of (usually Democratic) candidates aired for the unspoken purpose of keeping the electorate in the dark about real issues effecting real people.
Real journalists have been great assets to the populace throughout history. Many positive reforms have been a direct result of a free press. Unfortunately we don’t see many examples of the virtues of a free press today. Instead we see “journalists” who are more concerned with being allowed continued access to information spoon fed to them by self-serving politicians than journalists who seek the truth and report it. They won’t wake up until the public demands it. I can only hope the day is coming.
Joe
http://butlerdemblog.blogspot.com