"Yesterday, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, who is strongly identified with both the fiscal- and social-conservative wings of the GOP, wound up cautioning some conservative constituents at a town hall gathering not to "catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good." Coburn's plea for viewer skepticism came in defense of his courtly aside about Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom he characterized as "a nice person." When a wave of grumbling followed, Coburn stood his ground, asking the crowd "how many of you all have met her?" before proceeding to chide them for echoing the Fox-branded view of Pelosi as a poor specimen of humanity. The Coburn episode was especially striking, since he happens to be one of the most stalwart conservatives in the Senate, netting a 96-point rating on the 100-point scale furnished by the American Conservative Union. Other conservatives who are closer to the traditional GOP mainstream have lately raised similar red flags about Fox's broader political impact. David Frum, the former American Enterprise Institute fellow who was recently let go in the wake of a widely circulated blog post he wrote criticizing GOP legislative tactics on health care reform, has said that "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we're discovering that we're working for Fox." Frum spelled out what he meant by that remark in a weekend appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources": "What that means is that Fox, like Limbaugh, has an interest in pushing the Republicans to the margins, making people angry," he said. "When people are angry and alienated, they don't vote. They succumb to feelings of helplessness." Bruce Bartlett, a Frum sympathizer, argues that the network's elevation as the premier source of conservative information has also closed the right off from healthy debate. "Fox News is a Republican, conservatively biased organization," Bartlett told Yahoo! News. "Now conservatives don't need to get into the New York Times, or on CBS. They've got their own news network, and all they really think is, 'How can I get a positive mention from Beck or Limbaugh?' or 'How can I get my boss onto Fox News?' " http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1514
I think people on the right are getting worried about FOX News'/Tea Partiers' penchant to dub anyone who isn't an extreme zealot a "RINO" or a "false flag Republican." The atmosphere that FOX is creating for the right wing is that any moderate gesture is contemptible and worthy of demonization and ostracism. I doubt all, or even most, Republicans want a party defined by Palin, Bachmann and Limbaugh. At the very least, it won't win elections.
The Fox response to the new arms treaty that Obama just signed with Russia is a great example of this. This new treaty is an extension of what Ronald Reagan signed years ago. There are many prominent Republicans that are supporting this but to hear the spin that Fox is putting on this we've just rolled over and showed our belly to the world. We're doomed!!!
Ha. We'll see about that come November. I have a feeling that millions of conservatives are dying to let their feelings be known at the ballot box.
It really seems like we are long overdue for another turnover on our party system. It seems like a lot of Republicans are disenfranchised with the party, and more people are finding themselves in the middle of the road, rather than siding with the far left or the far right. While I find myself fiscally conservative, or an anti-federalist, I don't see much in the GOP that I can relate to. I didn't particularly like the Libertarians either though. In a Poli Sci class last year we had a Gubernatorial candidate for the Constitutionalist party come in and talk to the class. She clearly had no interest in taking questions or talking with us. She had a few points she wanted to hit about third parties and that was it. I wanted to know why we needed a myriad of third parties. If they really want to provide an alternative to the GOP, why not work with the Libertarians and come up with a unified front? Seems kind of stupid. As long as there are two or three parties trying to pull people away from the GOP, there will never be enough support to diminish the GOP's control or the Democratic parties control.
I don't think so.....the reason is that the most vocal opponents of everything Obama has done are hardcore right wingers who turn off most of the moderate voting base. Most moderate republicans I know dislike the Tea Party crowd as much as I do.
the mother of the man standing trial for making umpteen death threats on Nancy Pelosi blames Fox News. According to her he's had a history of mental illness, the court will be testing him to see if he really is bipolar. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/08/pelosi-threats-fox-news/ threats on elected officials seems to be rampant these days. While not 100% the cause of this, certainly the programing/vitriol on Fox does seem to be actively attempting to rile people up. How does this sit with the FCC? How should it? STOMP
You're confusing two issues: dislike for the Tea Party, and dislike of Obama's policies. Someone can find the Tea Party objectionable, but still find Obama objectionable, too. I know lots of moderate Republicans who can't wait to vote Obama out of office.
Personally, I am surprised that the lesson the Republicans seem to have taken from the presidential election is that they should turn even harder to the right. I think its a mistake and a misreading of the public mood. People do in fact seem to want a little more government - to reign in banks, to regulate a few things, etc. The tea baggers seems like a group that fit the Bush era better. Katrina was the beginning of the end of the high water mark for no-government conservatism. Its good for we Dems though.
yeah, I'm just worried that the tea-party/libertarians will still think they are a majority somehow and get even more 'pitch-fork' on washington.
Here's a pretty good indication of "the public mood" since Obama took office: The "blue state" of Virginia elected a Republican governor. The "blue state" of New Jersey elected a Republican governor. The "blue state" of Massachusetts elected a Republican to fill Ted Kennedy's seat in Congress. Notice a trend?
No....I call it a case of poor candidates.....the democrat in the Kennedy race was a complete joke and had the charisma of a rock. As for the other two I am willing to bet that there were a few more significant factors besides the fact they are democrat for the losses. There is no question that people's frustration with the current political process is going have an effect, just not as much as a lot of Republicans think.
