Hugh Hewitt on the Inadvertant Colbertiness of the MSM

Great piece. Hewitt--who is about as center-right as they come--has been an ardent supporter of the Tea Party Patriots, and that fact should put the lie to the smear that the Tea Partiers are a frothing mob of inbred Birchers. I loved the line "They are all Dan Rathers now, except that Dan Rather may, just possibly, get it."

The attention being paid to the cranks and the nuts serves a political purpose of the mere far left, however, so it will continue. This is part of the effort to delegitimize and marginalize the exploding anti-growth-of-government movement. This deeply-felt concern over the viral expansion of the public sector is what has driven the Tea Party Movement, and it is also what will power the pummeling Democrats will receive at the polls in the fall.

In the blink of an eye, just as the federal government was swallowing whole the American health care system, it burped and then tossed down the student loan business. This follows the digestion of most of the American car business and the $800 billion "stimulus" that wasn't. Jabba-the-Fed is feeding.

Americans are stunned by the rapacity of the Democrats. The vast, vast majority of the objectors are mainstream and often previously apolitical Americans. Many are long time conservative activists. A handful of nuts have infiltrated their numbers, and the usual media suspects choose to focus on the crazies and not the millions. Many of these MSMers fretting over the rise of the fanatics use the term "Tea Baggers," which is itself an assault on civil discourse. Or they sneer at rallies which require actual commitment of time and resources, or at hand-made signs that suggest a familiarity with the Federalist Papers. They find red-white-and-blue clothing amusing. Then they turn to cluck at how standards of debate have declined in the House. Very amusing.

And just fine. This is the age in which extraordinary levels of media sophistication on the part of media consumers have stripped the MSM of influence. Old media trees are falling in old media forests, and no one hears a sound. The highly paid anchors are being mocked by those viewers who even bother to tune in. The big names seem wholly unaware of the joke. They are all Dan Rathers now, except that Dan Rather may, just possibly, get it.