Frank Rich Carries the Baton forward from Krugman

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Friday I steered you to Krugman. Tonight, add Frank Rich to the mix. Finally, we are seeing the opinion writers of trad med take a long overdue stand against the media which not only enable, they egg-on their rightwing followers into violent acts.

The examples are legion of how the establishment media have played along with the hatemongering tactics, giving the cover of their brand [MSNBC-Buchanan, anyone?] to the vilest of hate speech.

Oh, and as long as we're doing examples, Frank Rich ably takes on Fox, Limbaugh and the rest of the Usual Suspects, but how about stuff like NBC and Matt Lauer? I thought Letterman's joke was a stupid joke, too. But I also spoke out about Limbaugh's jokes about Chelsea Clinton back in the day. But in their $$$$-focused eyes, giving Sarah Palin a platform to shovel her insinuations against Letterman was probably some convoluted way to tear down Conan's competition at a critical time. Never mind that it tears down public discourse.

Meanwhile, you have hatemongers like Jon Voight with the seal of approval of Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Confederacy of ReTHUGS making not so subtle comparisons to assassinated historic leaders.

Frank Rich applauds Shep Smith, but the rest of the Fox screeders continue right on course, along with hate radio, taking no responsibility for that which they themselves have created. And the other media who play right along with their own he said-she said, left-right, screed'n'scream format, well, they too, as Rich notes, when something dire happens, can't say they weren't warned.

Are we headed for the requisite media handwringing about "maybe we should have..." Or will the media actually fulfill their First Amendment responsibility and call the hatemongers who and what they are.

In the blogosphere, our hair's been "on fire" for a long time on this issue...but until strong voices in the Republican party and the establishment media stop playing Condi "who could have imagined..." and start speaking out, we're headed to another disaster... Or are there only cowards in the shadows among 'em, having lit the conflagration now running from the forest fire?
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crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette