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Why is the GOP Noise Machine embarrassed by what it's created?

February 04, 2010 11:15 am ET by Eric Boehlert

Namely, it's created a conservative movement in which large chunks of followers think the President of the United States hates white people, is a socialist, and had the election "stolen" for him by ACORN. Folks who also want the president to be impeached, and their home state to secede from the union. 

Those were the results from this week's Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll which surveyed only self-identified Republicans, and yes, there's been a fair amount of conservative teeth-gnashing over the fringe-centric results. But I'm not sure why, because if you're a Republican and watch Fox News and then listen to AM talk radio for six, or nine or twelve hours each week, those are the messages being broadcast pretty much 24/7. 

So why are people now surprised that self-identified Republicans espouse those radical, loony beliefs when the GOP Noise Machine has been mainstreaming them for the last 13 months?  

UPDATED: Adds Markos at Daily Kos: 

[Conservatives have] spent the last year talking about Obama being a secret socialist who wants to kill grandmother, who wasn't born in the United States, who is making common cause with the terrorists because he wants to destroy America.

You'd think O'Reilly and the rest of the wingnuts would be ecstatic, that their message is getting through to them! But when a poll confirms that the Fox News message has gotten through, they're angry?

UPDATED: One explanation for the conservative media's reaction to the polling results is that millionaire hosts at Fox News and on AM radio are shocked people actually believe what they've been saying. Perhaps the RW media's position is that the non-stop Obama hating is really just a game. It's entertainment. And surely, viewers and listeners are in on the joke.

Right? 

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    • Author by overmars jr. (February 04, 2010 11:23 am ET)
      4  
      Why? Because that's what "they're supposed to be". It's all a big game to them.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Major Tom (February 04, 2010 11:24 am ET)
      5  
      13 months? This has been ramping up since well before the election.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by scubcap647 (February 04, 2010 11:41 am ET)
        8 1
        True. But had McCain won the conversation would be different now. The time before the election was merely practice. It was an attempt to derail a campaign. Since the election however, the rhetoric's purpose was to destroy the people's faith in the president.
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      • Author by lynneg (February 04, 2010 1:14 pm ET)
        12  
        This began in 1986 when Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine. The corporate right saw a way through talk radio to monopolize a media outlet that was everywhere, inexpensive for listeners and could reach 10's of million every day all day. When Rush first started they gave his show out to hundreds of stations for FREE. They took the ad revenue instead. Once he was established they bought up hundreds more stations and then plat local Parrot hosts after the national hosts set the talking points and frame the debates.
        Today they control 91 percent of OUR airwaves and spew lies, propaganda, cheery pick facts and choose which stories to focus on. The the local hosts repeat them and then Fox repeats them again.
        It is the recipe used by Joseph Goebells of Nzi Germany
        1. always have an enemy (Obama, Govt, Gays, illegals etc )
        2. Always wrap your message in the flag and be the uber Patriot
        3. Always repeat and repeat your message until it becomes the truth (see talk radio..the primary cancer)
        What all of them have in common is to protect the 4 big industries that control the GOP, Right media
        Big banks (over 50 billion in assets)
        Big oil/ energy
        Pharma/ health Insurance
        Defense contractors (Haliburtons, Blackwaters, private contractors)
        If you listen to Rush for example, he is good at convincing his self proclaimed dittoheads that he cares about democracy and freedom and their rights while he talks them into always protecting the big 4. He does not get paid $50,000,000 for nothing.
        Even if the Polar Ice caps became an ice cube Rush would STILL deny climate change. Why?? He has to. The boys at Exxon et al control his message. He is essentially a high paid corproate whore. We need to expose his game because the biggest losers are the dittoheads, tea partiers and all of us.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Major Tom (February 04, 2010 1:26 pm ET)
          6  
          Since I learned of Limbaugh, and Beck's "Shock Jock" past, I have heard that influence in their programming. I'm surprised I never thought of it like that before.

          One part Dr. Phil, One Part "Morning Zoo", One part Alex Jones, and Viola! the Beckinstein monster. Propaganda masquerading as deep feeling, empathetic, psychological, philosophy, mixed with sarcastic self-righteousness, conspiracies and a pervasive sense of nostalgia for a time that never really existed.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by Limit Corp. Ownership (February 04, 2010 1:28 pm ET)
          5  
          Very well done LynneG!!
          Report Abuse
    • Author by mustardman (February 04, 2010 11:40 am ET)
      3 1
      They did the exact same sorts of things during Clinton so I don't see why anyone is suprised by all this. Only now it's just that much noisier with the internet.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Porkeater (February 04, 2010 11:56 am ET)
        7 1
        Agreed; and the racial element makes it more pointed.
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        • Author by Limit Corp. Ownership (February 04, 2010 1:30 pm ET)
          6  
          Good point and Fox News is a lot more deadly now.

          The only thing that hasn't changed is the stupidity of the Fox News, talk radio audience.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by MickD (February 04, 2010 12:19 pm ET)
        8 1
        It's more serious now. Remember Fox started in '96 and took a while (Lewinsky exception) to manifest the propaganda. Then BushieCo got a pass for eight years. It's much more vicious and serious now.
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      • Author by overmars jr. (February 04, 2010 12:23 pm ET)
        5  
        I disagree. They have gradually escalated this to unseen levels over the last 2 years.
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      • Author by lynneg (February 04, 2010 1:19 pm ET)
        6  
        Has anyone else wondered how they gwet away with this one
        If a Democrat is President (Clinton, Obama) the Government is the big enemy, but when Bush was President you were unpatriotic and sided with the terrorists if you disagreed with him....Why don't people call this crap out, loud and clear.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (February 04, 2010 1:34 pm ET)
          4  
          Has anyone else wondered how they get away with this one ?


          BY having an audience whose critical thinking skills are almost non-existent. The sheeplike base can ignore a lot of reality if they're hearing what they want to hear. That's my guess, anyway.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by DellDolly (February 04, 2010 3:31 pm ET)
            2  
            They're hearing what they want to hear, that's for sure.

            I'll get an email from some righty, I'll debunk it, many times before Factcheck or Snopes even gets it up and published, and they'll try to nitpick something or another, get shot down again, do it over again a couple of times until the email chain is 3 pages long, and then, once I finally hammer down every nail in the coffin, they'll never admit their error and consider what the error might mean to the fabric of their overall argument against Obama.

            And then they'll get the next bogus email screed, and they'll do it all over again! A couple of them have been smacked down so many times by me that they've stopped passing them on directly to me, but I will see them still in exchanges they have with mutual friends who search me out to help with the dismantling of their talking points. It's like they're immune to reality, not just that they ignore reality. Even when you shove it in their faces, so they can't ignore it, they're immune to its effects.
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            • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (February 04, 2010 3:59 pm ET)
              1  
              Yup Delldolly. I have some wingnut acquaintances who are "friends" on Facebook, and i keep them around for the fascinating entertainment they provide for free.

              I linked to that DailyKOS poll recently on my page ( the one in an item at this site, showing how many Repubs think Obama should be impeached/is a muslim, ACORN stole the election, etc.) and I didn't expect any controversy.

              70+ comments, last I checked. Somebody (who, I've learned through a mutual friend, is chronically unemployed) knows that she'll have to pay $6,000 in taxes under "Obamacare", according to her "research". When pressed for a source, she said her hubby's boss told him.

              She also informed me that there were no terrorist attacks during W's presidency.

              Another old friend was angry about the "Chicago Machine" and that freeloading president who expected his salary to be paid by taxes.

              I wasn't really there much, but a couple of my sane friends were having a ball providing facts and links that had absolutely no effect on the talking points.
              Report Abuse
        • Author by MickD (February 04, 2010 2:33 pm ET)
          2  
          I wonder what David Gregory (for example) would answer if you asked him that question?
          Report Abuse
    • Author by Rsw58 (February 04, 2010 11:45 am ET)
      6  
      I keep wondering how wild-eyed crazy the conservatives in this country will get. But they keep suprising me with more and more bizarre conspiracy theories & charges against Obama. It's almost frightening how far this might go. What's next?---Obama is a space alien who wants to eat the brains of White Christian babies?
      I have a wacky acquaintance from Ohio who truly believes that Obama is the Anti-Christ. No amount of logic or reason can penetrate that Faux News, Am talk radio soaked brain of hers.
      She told me that she prays that Obama is assasinated "before it is too late." You really can't talk sense to brain-dead morons like that. (And what's scarey is that there are millions of others out there just like her!)
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MickD (February 04, 2010 12:20 pm ET)
        3  
        I feel sorry for her with such hatred and anger. It is taking years off her life.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by rumpleteasermom (February 04, 2010 1:49 pm ET)
        2  
        I have a wacky acquaintance from Ohio who truly believes that Obama is the Anti-Christ.


        I want to reassure you that all of us here in Ohio don't believe that crap.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by MickD (February 04, 2010 2:34 pm ET)
          2  
          I love Ohio, I was born there and I love the people there, many of whom are my relatives. I would never generalize based on one person. Ohio rocks, shout-out to my peeps in Steubenville.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by terrapin53 (February 04, 2010 11:55 am ET)
      3  
      don't believe this blog? Go to http://www.CommonSenseAlert.blogspot.com/

      I fight with 3 evangelicals on this blog. They have been so blinded by the right wing talk raido rehtoric it is pathetic. Rush, Glenn, Mark levin. These are the truth tellers. These wingnuts tell me things like they listen to rush and Glenn for their news. Those two read the MSM and then tell you what the MSM is saying, so they do not have to read it. Rush and Glenn would never spin a story (rolling my eyes). These are all founders constitution type guys but it has become obvious their only concern on constitutional matters is taxes. Patriot Act stuff, reading rights to terrorists is all Obama coddling. One guy even told me he does not have to worry about his house being searched without his knowledge because there is no pot in his house. Their bottom line is it is ok to violate the constitution as long as taxes are not involved. To them, social security, medicare, medicaid, and any health reform is unconstitutional. If there is a need the private market will take care of it. Ask them about private market corruption like Enron, World Com, Banking they do not respond. I assume because they have no good answer. Check out the blog above and give em hell.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by egb (February 04, 2010 12:21 pm ET)
          6
        So, now that progressive program known as Social Security, will be contributing to the deficit, where, exactly do you find it in the constitution? Do you think the founding fathers thought the federal government would be forcing people to pay into social security?

        [See http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/108747/next-in-line-for-a-bailout-social-security?mod=fidelity-readytoretire ]

        Some people really do read the constitution and the history of how it was written and why? Read the Federalist Papers and you can learn a lot about how the founders thought.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by terrapin53 (February 04, 2010 12:29 pm ET)
          6  
          egb proves my point. It's all about taxes.
          Report Abuse
        • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (February 04, 2010 12:54 pm ET)
          9  
          Hey egb

          Show me in the Constitution where the Air Force is authorized. Guess we better dismantle the Air Force, that would save a ton of money too.

          Come on, tell me, I'm waiting......
          Report Abuse
        • Author by New Frontier (February 04, 2010 1:03 pm ET)
          7  
          where, exactly do you find it in the constitution?
          Where do you find in the Constitution that a government-launched communications satellite can be used by Fox News to spread Republican Party propaganda?
          Report Abuse
        • Author by DellDolly (February 04, 2010 3:36 pm ET)
          2  
          Do you really think that people on the right haven't already TRIED the "Social Security is unconstitutional" argument before? Better, smarter people than you have already run that up the flagpole, and it failed miserably.

          You dunces who think (I use the word "think" liberally, not LITERALLY) that you have come upon a new argument to use are lunatics.

          It's like global warming deniers who get on blogs like this and say something like "what about the sun", as though climate scientists haven't looked into the ups and downs of sun cycles!!!

          Get a clue.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by lynneg (February 04, 2010 2:47 pm ET)
        3  
        Ask them to try something. At the end of every issue or debate see of the winner or the one being protected by Rush, Beck, Levin or Hannity is one of the following
        . Big banks (over 50 billion in assets)
        .Big oil/energy (invading countries for, cap and trade, green jobs, climate science)
        . Pharma /Health (Part D, big boon for Pharma, Health reform, etc)
        . defense contractors Haliburton, Wars, blackwater, national security
        . GOP
        No matter what the issue is, one of the above is protected by the right wing noise crowd. They are not patriotic Americans, They are patriotic corporate whores. Their listeners should be furious at what these people have done.)
        Report Abuse
    • Author by gg (February 04, 2010 12:01 pm ET)
      3  
      I think this is a case of unintended consequences, the GOP created this monster and now it is turning on them and that is what they are embarrassed by and more importantly scared of.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Unreality (February 04, 2010 1:15 pm ET)
      2  
      It's Professional wrestling. The FauxNoise audience doesn't know how to distinguish between real competition and scripted entertainment.

      The guys on the inside know, and therefore presume those on the outside know, too. Hey, Beck is pulling in $50 million a year, you think he doesn't know?

      The problem is the American people, especially Republican voters, can't distinguish between politics and governance.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by lynneg (February 04, 2010 1:27 pm ET)
        3  
        The sad thing is their audience thinks these guys are American Patriots when in fact they are Corporate Prostitutes and have sold their listeners out.They have duped and manipulated people to protest Govt. instead of the big banks and health insurance companies that have screwed them over pretty badly.
        The truth is we need the Govt to intervene when an industry becomes so powerful and influential that they can cause harm and death to people IE hEALTH Insurance,
        45,000 Americans die/yr. because they do not have it
        83 percent of people waiting in line at free clinics have a job, but can't afford health care.
        75 percent of families that go bankrupt due to medical bills HAD INSURANCE at the onset of their illness.
        If these peopel were thinking straight and not being manipulated by corporate RIGHT hosts they would be DEMANDING that the Government do something about this terrible situation, but instead they are protesting reform and aiming their anger towards the government and letting the insurance companies off the hook... This is the power if you control the message and the Corporate right has been very successful.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by nerzog (February 04, 2010 1:19 pm ET)
      6  
      I mean... come on! What do they have to be embarrassed about?

      [http://www.thegrio.com/assets_c/2009/11/KKK-rally-before-ole-miss-game-thumb-400xauto-5082.jpg]
      Report Abuse
      • Author by goshzilla (February 04, 2010 2:18 pm ET)
        3  
        It was cold outside that day, they were strictly wearing those robes for comfort purposes. *snort*
        Report Abuse
        • Author by eweston8542983 (February 05, 2010 12:14 am ET)
             
          Red and green is a hard color combination to do in fashion stylings. Mitch here fails easily just as the cone cells in my eyes are doing.

          And Jeb... Is that a proper skull and crossbones I see, or a white teddybear looking for some old fashioned lovin?

          OOXXOOOXXX
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