Saturday, January 28, 2012

Perhaps Palin Is Right About the Media and the Establishment

Sarah Palin has rolled out another Facebook post. She very succinctly gets to the heart and soul of the Tea Party movement: hatred of the media, the establishment, and any other non-Tea Party group. The Newt-Palin wing of the party long ago gave up the allusion that they somehow are even slightly concerned about actual policy and governance. For these folks, conservatism is identity politics. It's always us versus them.

Andrew Sullivan agrees.
Palin's Facebook screed is a classic of the backlash genre. For her, all mainstream media is the same - which means Brian Ross and National Review are now in cahoots. And she is trying to reframe the race as one between the Tea Party base and the Republican Establishment. Somehow, a former Speaker who called the Ryan plan "right-wing social engineering" and pioneered the individual healthcare mandate is now the Tea Party insurgent. But this was never about issues; it was about identity and class. And that's what makes it so dangerous for the GOP.
Actually Palin is hitting on something here about the establishment. Perahps Romney fans need to take in the lesson.

The problem in the Republican Party is that we have had a media (including Palin) that makes money off of misinforming its viewers and an establishment that has been afraid to stand up to them. Now that Gingrich has risen in the polls, the establishment is trying to reverse its timidity and put the genie back in the bottle. Palin and the rest of the Talk Radio Complex have too much at stake to allow the establishment to win which is why Palin is speaking up now. Nevertheless, if the establishment ever wants to lead a reality-based political movement, then it will need to stand up to the Talk Radio Complex a lot more often a lot sooner.

I have been anti-Conservative media from day one. As I write this, I am listening to Fox News unashamedly refer to "Obama's socialist agenda" and his "tax increases." That is an egregious lie. 

You can't enjoy the red meat for three years and then all of a sudden stand against it when it is inconvenient. Rombots, I hope you guys learn this lesson.

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17 comments:

Terrye said...

I don't like Andrew Sullivan and I think that a lot of what he says about Palin is nonsense..but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I used to think that talk radio and conservative media in general would be good for conservatives, but in the last few years I have been forced to acknowledge that they have their biases too...they just do not admit it.

Palin can yak about the establishment all she wants, she herself was more than ready to be a part of it and so was Gingrich. And in fact Gingrich stands for the kind of crony capitalism and influence peddling that Palin supposedly opposes.Now I wonder how much of what she has said is even true. Or if it is all just about power and influence.

I have heard Rush and Levin and Hannity say things that I honestly thought were untrue. I have watched people on Fox news shamelessly shill for Gingrich without any apparent sense of professional standards.

And here is Palin an analyst on Fox complaining about the media..the irony is stunning.

Anonymous said...

PALIN=JOKE

Palin is propping Newt up so he can become nominee and lose to Obama and she will then plan a run for 2016. She knows Romney may defeat Obama and may hamper her 2016 chances.

Mitt Romney is NOT the establishment candidate but the establishment choice because the establishment want an outsider to fix this mess, not another establishment insider like Newt Gingrich. Newt is no outsider folks, I have to laugh when a washington insider like Newt Gingrich is trying to be the outsider. If Palin is so anti-establishment, why did she run for VP under John Mccain, an establishment? Sarah Palin is all about Sarah Palin, She clearly has 2016 in her new search for stardom, and Mitt Romney is in her way, so she makes claims like " I think Obama wants Romney" when clearly polls after polls show Romney as the best to defeat Obama. Then she sends out Todd Palin to endorse, and finally tells South Carolinians to vote for Newt. The motive is obvious, Newt loses bigtime against Obama, Sarah has 4 years to plan her 2016 run.



MIZZ

Anonymous said...

Great post.I completely agree. People have to remember that the media like FOX are owned by billionaires like Murdoch who have profited greatly under the Obama administration. If someone like Romney won the presidency, their ratings would decline.

Anonymous said...

If Romney came out in Florida and told Palin to either put up or shut up, his poll number would soar.

Alan said...

Again we hear the diatribe against "the establishment," but nobody seems to want to define it.
What is the establishment?
Who is a part of it?
Do members of the establishment have regular meetings to collude about their next move?
Who is their leader?
The term 'establishment' is simply a convenient boogieman that uber right-wingers rant about but never define. Who is the establishment? Name names! If anyone is the establishment, it is Limbaugh, Levin, Hannity, and Fox News.

Machtyn said...

My dislike of Fox started when O'Reilly just would not get off the sex stories. Then my eyes were opened by just how badly Fox misrepresented Romney in 2007/2008. Since that time (more than just the 3 years mentioned in the article) I have recognized their bias, their decisions to run certain stories, their inability to fully report on a topic.

Granted, they will report extensively, with bias, on subjects that would have normally been ignored by the rest of the MSM (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS). They do have that going for them.

Fox News - Unfair and Imbalanced
Fox News - We Manipulate, You Capitulate

Ohio JOE said...

"The problem in the Republican Party is that we have had a media (including Palin) that makes money off of misinforming its viewers and an establishment that has been afraid to stand up to them." Ah no, you got it back asswards, it is the establishment that is misinforming voters.

Terrye said...

Ohio Joe..who the hell is the establishment anyway? Who is the bodeyman that Newt and Sarah are supposedly trying to save us from?

Three and a half years ago people like Levin and Rush and Hannity and Laura had only good things to say about Romney,now to hear them tell it, he is the anti Christ..

As for Palin she has been yakking about crony capitalism and the Tea Party for years and who is she shilling for? Gingrich, the influence peddler, the crony capitalist, the man who has stabbed conservatives in the back time and again who has made millions off of Washington DC...and now it is as if he is just a poor little guy being picked on the big bad establishment..whoever the hell they are.

I am tired of this demagoguery. That is what it is.

Misinforming voters my behind.

Terrye said...

Sarah Palin is out for herself...it is just too bad that her followers are too damn brainwashed to figure what the other 75% of the people in the country already know about her.

Anonymous said...

Please remember that Ohio Joe is now the establishment too.

http://www.rightspeak.net/2011/12/i-have-rejoined-dark-side.html

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't Sarah run now and put a stop to all the problems of the world? She said she could beat Obama. Truth is, Sarah knows Obama would beat her by the biggest landslide in the history of elections. Sarah will say or do anything if the price is right, it's now and always has been about Sarah.

Romney 2012!

Anonymous said...

I heard Dennis Praeger talk to someone the other day who kept calling Romney the "establishment candidate." Dennis, who has made no endorsements and even defends Gingrich on his adultery, slowly and politely took the argument apart. He kept asking the man who the establishment is. Is Chris Christie and/or Anne Coulter part of "The Establishment?" Romney has actually never lived in Washington, and he has spent most of his time working in the private sector; how can that be "Establishment?" Dennis also kept pointing out that it is irrational and hurts the party to label everyone who endorses Romney as, "The Establishment" just because they like him. The man eventually hung up saying that he would think about Dennis' points. We have got to keep reminding people that Mitt is the ONLY candidate who has never lived in Washington; including Barack Obama.

It also reminded me of a similar problem my sister and I have had. When you tell some people that you support Romney, you are immediately dismissed as a "moderate" in spite of your beliefs or the core of who you are. This is a losing, divisive strategy in the GOP, and we have got to stop doing it.

Pablo, about "conservative" media. I have been very disillusioned by the way many of them behave. Still, the only answer to these problems is MORE freedom of speech, not less. This is an argument from Dennis Praeger, by the way.

I remember back in the days when the liberal mainstream media had everything their own way, AND IT WAS NOT GOOD. The only thing that is good about "The Good Old Days" is that they are over! Adding more conservative outlets to the media has been a good thing and will prove to be a good thing. See how you have just been able to share your (more) progressive viewpoint on a conservative site, and you are able to try to influence others with your thought process; adding more voices is the right thing to do, and we will just have to trust that it is for the best.

AZ

Machtyn said...

http://www.johnziegler.com/editorials_details.asp?editorial=211

John Ziegler is a class A jerk. But he is also right most of the time. And he put to words my thoughts much better than I could have regarding Sarah Palin's recent post.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Alan who said it is Rush, Palin, Levin, FOX etc that are the establishment. I might ad the elite establishment. They are the ones who get to decide who is moderate and who is conservative. Who is estabishment, and who's the outsider. They are the ones trying to cram Newt down our throats, even though every last one of them know he's not tea party, he's not conservative, and he doesn't represent traditional values!

I think sometimes they really do want to blow this party to smithereens, because that's sure how they are behaving right now. Shameless hypocrites all.

It took me a long time to realize what Pablo was telling us--that these people are only in it for themselves.

It gives me great pleasure to see these clowns on board with Newt. Their reputations are ruined, IMO. I am as happy as a clam right now.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

My eyes have been opened... I would be fine to go back to the all leftist media again rather than have our side be so very dishonest.

I am so disillusioned as I watch people I once thought were really good people and conservative and everything... completely throw that out the window to carry out a campaign to twist everything into an unrecognzible version of the truth.

I am appalled that I did not catch on sooner.

But what to do now. It isn't like we are going to start getting real truth out of Fox.

And CNN will soon turn to cheer leading Obama...

So what do we do?

Anonymous said...

Salem Communications. That is who is behind much of the disinformation campaign about Romney.

They are the establishment we need to fight. They are the borg.

Anonymous said...

Sarah Palin is irrelevant. The Tea Party is irrelevant.

The importance of both were EXAGERATED by the Liberal News Mafia to drive a wedge between differing groups of Republican voters. Period!

Palin's opinions, therefore, are worthless as she is even more irrelevant to the Republican Party than Ron Paul (a Libertarian) is.

At one time Palin actually believed the "SHE" had the power to turn the Republicans into the extinct 'WHIGS' party. Palin also has flirted with a 3rd Party run and "SHE" has warned us not to dismiss Ron Paul.

She is an irrelevant KOOK.