If the past decade has taught us anything, it’s that Republicans and their media Wurlitzer are able to say and do the most outrageous things imaginable, be proved absolutely wrong by any reasonable standard, and not be held to account by the mainstream media---or even, for the most part--- the Democratic Party. Prominent examples include Bill Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, Andrew Breitbart, Douglas Feith, Tucker Carlson, Dick Armey, Tony Blankley, John Podhoretz, Erick Erickson, Richard Perle, John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Newt Gingrich, and Sarah Palin.
"How in the world," you ask, "can these people keep getting re-elected, keep getting book contracts, keep getting hired to pontificate, and keep being taken seriously when they have accumulated such a track record of being horribly, stunningly, consistently, relentlessly, and willfully WRONG?"
"It is unknowable how long that conflict [in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." – Donald Rumsfeld, February 7, 2003
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." -- George W. Bush, September 2, 2005
"The fundamentals of our economy are strong." – John McCain, September 15, 2008
"Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq could detract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confronting the threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror." – George W. Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
"A terrorist fist jab?" -- E.D. Hill, Fox News, June 6, 2008
The Right-Wing Wurlitzer
The GOP communications machine is a wondrous thing to watch, carefully and meticulously constructed over several decades. It hums along with amazing efficiency, relying in no small part on the message discipline, the talking point craftsmanship of its leadership, and a carefully-designed structure consciously developed over several decades. Providing legitimacy to these partisan messaging outlets is aided by a 40-year tradition of Republicans blaming a so-called "liberal media" for their voices being under-represented in the press. (This, of course, ignores the fact that since systematic deregulation in the 1980s, the vast majority of media outlets are corporate-owned, publicly traded, and dominated by a handful of corporations).
The dissemination of these messages is carried out by an array of dutiful actors: politicians specifically trained to stay on-message, think tanks, talk radio, Fox News, right-wing blogs, lobbying organizations, PACs, religious organizations, etc. When Republican elected officials lose an election, step down, or seek to cash in, they’re welcomed into this supportive network of partisan message peddlers--- often heavily bankrolled by large corporations, wealthy donors, religious groups, trade associations, and right-wing newspapers. It’s known as Wingnut Welfare, because most of these concerns operate at heavy losses--- the Moonie-owned Washington Times, for instance, has a circulation under 70,000, has lost money every year since it opened in 1982, and is in the red for nearly $2 billion dollars combined over its existence.
Maybe they don't care about money. And maybe it's not malicious, a crime, or a moral failing to simply be 180-degrees, dead wrong most of the time.
But shouldn't their power be compromised if they're caught in outrageous lies? Shouldn't they be completely discredited if they engage in wholesale fabrication? Shouldn't they be taken to task if they repeatedly engage in the exact same fear-mongering, scare tactics, and demonization decade after decade? If they claim the mantle of, oh, I don't know--- fiscal responsibility, getting government off our backs, freedom, personal responsibility, and supporting the troops--- and then you find that every time they're in power the debt skyrockets, we're being bugged, the government wants to start telling women what they must do with their bodies, and injured troops are returning home to squalid VA Hospitals, when will people finally get the message that they are liars and charlatains and carnies and con men that should not be trusted?
"[Medicare] would mean the end of freedom in America." – Ronald Reagan, 1961
"Our economy depends on the peace and security brought by our investment in defense." – Dick Cheney, September 14, 1992
"By passing these reforms, we will save the American taxpayer another $14 billion next year, and stay on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009." – George W. Bush, January 31, 2006
"I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk." – David Adelman, 2002
"Huge mistakes were made, and I want to be very clear on this: They were not made by neoconservatives, who had almost no voice in what happened, and certainly almost no voice in what happened after the downfall of the regime in Baghdad." Richard Perle, 2006
"Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single democratic primary. I'll predict that right now." – William Kristol, December 17, 2006
"Go fuck yourself." – Dick Cheney, June 25, 2004
"Mission Accomplished." – Sign placed behind George W. Bush, May 1, 2003
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." -- George W. Bush, September 2, 2005
"Today, we are all Georgians." -- John McCain, August 13, 2008
"This is good news for McCain." – Larry Kudlow, October 13, 2008
And an even better question is: When will Democrats start getting tough on these liars and start reminding voters of the lies and broken promises they've gotten from Republicans for decades?
Unbelieveable.