A Course of Leeches (commentary on Tom Ashbrook's "On Point"

[arendt]

A Course of Leeches
by arendt
(with apologies to Black Adder)

Driving home last night, I made the mistake of listening
to the libertarian Tom Ashbrook's "On Point" show. He
sucked me in with a line about how hard-right conservatives
were deserting Bush. But, after the first sentence from
one of his guest ideologues, it was clear that this was going
to be a conversation between rival Napoleons in the back
ward of a looney bin - only the looney bin was my
country.

I listened to Richard Vigurie begin by chastising Ashbrook
for calling him a member of the "hard-right". Of course,
Ashbrook caved in to that, and to every other ideologically
extreme statement made by his exclusively extreme right
panel. (The farthest to the "middle" was a pro-Bush pollster
from Texas who insisted that Vigurie and some harridan
from Phyllis Schafly's Eagle Forum were "Washington
elitsts" - to which the harridan replied that it was the first
time she had ever been called an elitist - ROTFLMAO!)

In excluding any left wing voice that might put these crazies
into context, Ashbrook continues to advance the meme that
the only valid part of the political spectrum in America is
between the far right and the theocratic right. (And this is
NPR.) I mean, if Richard Vigurie isn't a hard right rabble-rouser,
who is?

But, to the point of this post, this part of the political spectrum reminds
me of nothing other than a bunch of 16th century quack
doctors who believed in bleeding and leeches; and if that
didn't work, more bleeding and another course of leeches.
It is a very profitable enterprise for the quacks; but a very
debilitating experience for their victims. The extreme right wing
has been fattening on bleeding America for twenty years, and
the patient keeps getting sicker.

Just today we had another Robin Hood in reverse tax break for
the rich/service cut for everyone else. And, the farther right the
court system is pushed by Federalist Society appointees, the more
these people scream about "activist judges". Of course, the illegal
selection of W in 2000 is never mentioned.

These people are medieval. Their retarded and inconsistent logic
is medieval. Their remedies are medieval. Their murderous intolerance,
tribal hatreds, and superstitious ignorance are medieval. Their worldview
is so out of touch with a world full of nuclear weapons, genetic engineering,
and instantaneous communication, that it can only exist in the media bubble
of total unreality.

Richard Vigurie is a rich man because of his cynical exploitation of the
fears of the medieval mob he feeds on and culitvates. The Eagle Forum
is full of highly educated women who hypocritically encourage women
to re-enslave themselves. Tom Ashbrook is a gutless libertarian who
is well-paid for selling out his adolescent Randian convictions.

Someone should give the lot of them a course of leeches and see
how they like it. Or, would the leeches refuse on the grounds of cannibalism?

[papau]

1. Excellent read - well done! I can't handle NPR's onpoint -but I did enjoy

the post!

:-)

[arendt]

2. I should know better, but...

every once in a while, Ashbrook takes out his libertarian
hatchet and takes some real whacks at the whackos in power.
The guy is very well informed (just ran some futurology fest
with Ray Kurzweil), so he's dangerous.

But, his on-air patter is so obviously dismissive to the left
and indulgent of the right that I can't stomach his archly-posed
insults. He has a "Colmes-like" patsy named Jack something
or another who is an editor for ?the Atlantic?. The very fact
that I can't remember his name says it all.

I listened to the show because it was a close to the insane
right as I dare to get. They are literally insane, totally disconnected
from reality. They smeared Bush as a liberal , without a trace
of irony - given they all know we hate the man.

I was on the speed dial of my cell trying to call in the entire show.
Lucky I didn't crash the car.

arendt

[Tesha]

3. That was a "Turn OFF NPR!" moment for me.

You know how NPR always brags about "Driveway Moments" where you
pull into your driveway but leave the radio playing because their
content is so engaging?

Well, these days I find that those NPR driveway moments are far
outnumbered by "Turn NPR off before I barf!" moments. Last night's
"On Point" was just another in a long series of these.

And you're absolutely correct: If the discaussion had been about the
decline and fall of the *DEMICRATIC* party, we would have had at
least 50% of the speakers being Republican spin doctors explaining
how the Democrats were clearly dead, dead, dead. But because it was
about troubles with the Republicans, we only get to hear from the
Republican spin doctors.

BTW, it's fund-raising time at your local NPR station. Be sure to
call them and explain to them that how, now that they spend all
their airtime pandering to the Reich, they can now also get all
their contributions from their new friends because you don't
willingly support the dissemination of Right-Wing Propaganda.

Tesha

[arendt]

4. This has been Ashbrook's shtick forever, but I wonder if the recent...

installation of the GOP propaganda meister as CEO means that
its just going to get worse and worse.

We stopped contributing to PBS/NPR, but its like the Democratic
Party.

The VWRC keeps corrupting and hijacking all the organizations that support
true democracy, but we can't lay a finger on the vast propaganda
apparatus they have created.

Its getting to the point where they will drive the left wing completely
out of the discussion, except as a scapegoat or an insult. I watch
and listen helplessly. When they shutdown the internet on some
pretext (virus, terrorism, massive identity theft), it will be all over.

arendt