It's like GOP Reefer Madness
November 20, 2008 3:50 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
We're talking about the right-wing obsession with Fairness Doctrine, and how the conservative media, much to our amazement, continues to elevate the relatively minor media-related debate into a tip-top priority for the GOP.
Writes Steven Benen, who shares our sense of wonder:
Everyone from obscure right-wing bloggers to Rush Limbaugh to Washington Post columnists are prepared for a fight that isn't going to happen.
And yet, the nonsense doesn't stop. Perusing the news this morning, there are still more conservative columnists railing against the "plan" to bring back the fairness doctrine, and unhinged propaganda about the "unprecedented government assault upon the First Amendment" that is allegedly on the way.
The New Republic's Marin Cogan asked around, trying to find Democrats who actually support bringing the fairness doctrine back, or media-reform liberals who might push for action on this. Cogan couldn't find any.
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Well, that's the point. This is a tactic to be able to claim, at least to themselves and their base, that they are capable of getting things done. They will claim they stopped it from happening, even stopped it from being considered, and this just shows A) how tough they are, and B) what a center-right nation the USA is.
It's a tactic, like 99% of what they do.