Kurtz is a Jackass, but you knew that allready.

Went to see what was going on at the The Whiskey Bar and to my pleasant suprise it would seem that the man is posting quite a bit these days. WoooooooHooooooo. Anyway stumbled into this post, about the adorable fool Howie Kurtz and his penchant for the whitewash of history, to wit: nobody could hear the republicans during the early Clinton years cause they were out of the loop, or something.

I sympathize with Pelosi about the Democratic position being reduced to two sentences in many stories. With Republicans running everything in D.C., the minority party often gets short shrift. The Republicans had the same problem in '93 and '94. Lacking that White House megaphone makes a huge difference.

I don't seem to remember the wailing and pulling of hair, and the gnashing of teeth, that could be heard on every sunday news show. Don't remember any of it; the changing of house rules to hang Rostenkowski in specific, and the Democratic party in general.
I don't remember the "Contract with America" and us snarky kids at the time had most assureadly not referred to said document as "The Contract on America". And I most certainly cannot recall seeing the big-assed, whitetopped, red-faced, gasbag named Gingrich, given every opportunity to enlighten us about the evils of healthcare that might go to niggers and gays in the Military. Sure enough, had there only been a Republican in the WhiteHouse (IMHO there in fact was, but that is for another day),
we could have heard the other side of the story.

I am sure you have the picture, no need to continue flogging the dried up bones of that old pony, but it might be time to flog Kurtz about the head and shoulders with a thighbone from the dearly departed beast. Billmon follows:

Of course: that must have been why Clinton's health care plan was such a PR triumph -- nobody was listening to the Republicans!
......[snip]........
I don't know, maybe the RNC has filled Howie's brain with the memories of Newt Gingrich's niece. But I was there, and while many of my memories may be somewhat dimmed by time and alcohol, on this pointI can assure you: Kurtz once again is spewing complete horse shit -- as even a cursory examination of the coverage will demonstrate.

The reality is that the Republicans had no problem whatsoever getting their POV across in the corporate media during that brief period of Democratic hegemony -- even when they, too, were peddling complete horse shit.

I certainly can't remember the gnashing of teeth, replete with hair pulling (ones own) and wailing, lots of wailing about how the foundation of civilization would be irreparibly damaged if Queers were let loose in the classrooms and Military, The hew and cries about universal health care, because god forbid the niggers get any. I do not recall snarking about the "Contract with America" in calling it the "Contract on America". I most certainly do not remember the big-assed, white topped, red-faced, glowering gasbag, Gingrich holding court and peddling lies, on all the Sunday chatfests, nope I didn't see or say any of it. Allright time to stop flogging the poor and long dead pony, bones bleached in the sun. Better to grab a femur and beat some sense into poor old Howie, about the head and shoulders.

In reality, I spent alot of time bending ears about it at the time. Billmon was a journalist at the time, and I was a bicycle mechanic and amateur Cassandra, telling anyone who would listen, that this Republican Party had shuffled loose of the coil of "Eisenhowerian Moderation". Somwhere, someone (as a gregarious mechanic in a busy bike shop, in a decent sized college town, one tends to make many aquaintances) might be saying to themselves "You know, that guy was on to something".

In any event, I happened across the perfect articulation of something I have tried to point out many times, and if I had a buck for each time a similar version had passed my lips, I could buy some stuff, not a paper, but then again, I am not so smart as to ask for the big bucks™, like Billmon.

I wish I had a dollar for every Republican quoted in the papers or on the boob tube predicting the economic collapse of the United States as a result of Clinton's tax hikes. Or the destruction of Western civilization because of gays in the military. Or the death of morality because of the Whitewater "scandal." Or he postalization of the American health care system because of Hillary.

I'd have enough money now to buy the Washington Post Co. and fire Howie's sorry ass.

Now that would be cool. But it does put a bit of light to the canard of "the Liberal Media". I've been screaming at the TV for many a year, I can't stand conventional wisdom, or listening to those those trying to peddle that snake oil. I knew that the majesty of the fourth estate was in jeopardy when prior to, or during our little Panamanian adventure to "take care of Noriega" (blowback anyone) Tom "Greatest Generation" Brokaw referred to Noriega as "Pineapple Face" during a primetime newscast. I was absolutely shocked, and will never forget that moment.

In fact the cozy relationship that the media have with government was illustrated a number of years later, during the Atlanta Olympics, when Brokaw, talking to Costas about the bombing, said (and I paraphrase) "my sources at the FBI are nearly certain that Richard Jewell is guilty". To Costas' credit he did state something about the presumption of innocence, which was nice, because Jewell had nothing to do with the crime.

But I digress, Clintons masterfull use of his Whitehouse Bully pulpit, kept TheoCorp from making big gains in congress, during the '94 midterm elections, and thanks to that, the Republicans have not held a majority of the seats in the house since, I don't know............Maybe Howie can enlighten me.