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 Caveat lector 10 January 2002 Our current howler (part IV): Crack-up coming! Synopsis: As Kelly and Sully play Rubin and Hoffman, the Con Crack-Up is now on the way. And then, as always, there’s "liberal bias." William Rusher cranked this out as another year came to an end: RUSHER: The statistical evidence that members of the media are far to the left of general public opinion is overwhelming. As long ago as 1981, a painstaking study by Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman established that never less than 80 percent of the media elite voted Democratic in the presidential elections of 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976. What’s more, 54 percent described themselves as "left of center," and only 19 percent as "right of center." Brilliant, isn’t it? According to Rusher, the evidence for "liberal bias" in the media is "overwhelming." And how does our genius set out to prove it? By giving you data which purport to show how the media voted thirty-eight years ago! With this kind of evidence, you can also "prove" that Lyndon Johnson now sits in the White House. Rusher doesn’t waste his time analyzing coverage of Clinton or Gore. Instead, he reports how the media voted in 1964, thus "proving" that there’s bias today! No one on earth is quite this stupid—except, of course, for talk-show conservatives, who sit at the end of a long stretch of time in which they’ve controlled the discussion. Drivel fills the Times’ op-ed pages every day. Then, talk-show conservatives can turn on Rush (and his clones), and hear three hours, every day, of the Talk Which Will Brook No Dissent. The talk-show right has reigned for some time. And, human nature being what it is, what actually happens here on earth when groups control the discourse too long? That group slides into sheer nonsense. It happened to liberals at the end of the 60s, when simpering nitwits like Abby Hoffman became the public voice of the left. The same thing now has occurred on the right, with the Michael Kellys and the Andrew Sullivans playing the role of Jerry Rubin and Abby. The pendulum has swung the other way. Result? A large Crack-Up is coming. That’s right, gang. By the end of the 60s, there was nothing so stupid that the pseudo-left’s lazy leaders wouldn’t run out and say it. And now we see the same decay infecting the inane pseudo-right. Johnny Walker proves that "blue states" are naughty!!! Decades-old data prove bias today!!! There is nothing so stupid that Rush’s spawn won’t run to a mike or a web site and blab it. And that is why THE HOWLER is sure that a Great Crack-Up is even now on the way. When a movement lets itself get really stupid, the time will come when it gets roundly smacked. Limbaugh has been eating Abby Hoffman’s lunch ever since he first came on the air. Trust us—the sheer stupidity of the talk-show right is begging now for another Great Rebuttal. Andrew Sullivan, with his "N" of 1, is too big a fool to be ignored too much longer. The Great Con Crack-Up is on the way. Sully, if you will, sir—keep typing. Next: We review Bernie’s Bias. Point to savor: "As long ago as 1981," Rusher boasts—not noticing that the lapse in time actually makes his "evidence" worthless. No one else on earth is this stupid. That’s what happens when cabals rule too long.
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