…politically active Democrats are often mystified how so many people seem to have so many wrong ideas in their heads.

It’s interesting that they’d be so mystified. It’s not as if Democrats (over-the-hill, presumably) aren’t guilty of generating and distributing their own collections of urban myths riffing on themes like “Bush/Republicans are dumb/evil,” etc.

Maybe we should just round up all these over-the-hill political types and revoke their email-forwarding privileges.

Posted by Jon on 16 August 02007 @ 10am

My favorite ever was Hanoi Jane allegedly betraying US POWs in North Vietnam by turning over to their captors pieces of paper they’d secreted to her. Although no one deserves to have calumny heaped upon them, one can understand that the whole propgandizing, condemning, and denouncing was worth at least a pout.

http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp

Posted by Judge Smails on 16 August 02007 @ 11am

It’s interesting that they’d be so mystified. It’s not as if Democrats (over-the-hill, presumably) aren’t guilty of generating and distributing their own collections of urban myths riffing on themes like “Bush/Republicans are dumb/evil,” etc.

Understand, though, that no such e-mail forwarding culture exists among Democrats. This is a phenomenon that’s unique to aged Republicans or, at least, conservatives.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 16 August 02007 @ 12pm

I don’t doubt you. How do Democrats disseminate their urban myths? Daily Kos diaries? (

Posted by Jon on 16 August 02007 @ 2pm

How do Democrats disseminate their urban myths?

We use CNN, NPR, The Washington Post and the New York Times, which, as everybody knows, remain at our disposal for such purposes.

Posted by Harry Landers on 16 August 02007 @ 5pm

I’m picking up on your sarcasm, Harry, but c’mon. I think fair-minded people have to acknowledge that the organizations you listed are left-of-center. How could they not be when the people that make them up, no matter how much they may believe that they’re objective, are overwhelmingly liberal?

Tell you what, when a major network offers Karl Rove his own show like the ones that Tim Russert (former aide to the late, great Sen Pat Moynihan), Chris Matthews (former aide to Speaker Tip O’neil and Pres. Jimmy Carter), George Stephanopolous (former aide to Pres. Bill Clinton), and Bill Moyers (former aide to LBJ) have, we can talk about the absence of bias in the media.

Posted by Judge Smails on 16 August 02007 @ 7pm

J.S., Democrats likewise believe that fair-minded people would agree that those same media outlets are all right of center. And a great many studies have shown that the media, on the whole, is neither liberal nor conservative.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 16 August 02007 @ 10pm

“I think fair-minded people have to acknowledge that the organizations you listed are left-of-center. How could they not be when the people that make them up, no matter how much they may believe that they’re objective, are overwhelmingly liberal?”

I think that’s the most cherished urban myth from the right wing. They will never give it up, facts be damned.

Posted by Janis Jaquith on 17 August 02007 @ 10pm

Given the list I provided of confirmed Democrats in high profile media jobs and the obviously absurd notion that that a GOP aide like Rove would ever have his own show, your response seems to be: Nuh-uh. Eloquent in its brevity, but you don’t really have a lot else. Poll after poll shows Big Media is dominated by liberals. When was the last time the NYT or WaPo endorsed a Republican for President? I could look around and find dozens of examples of reporters self-identifyig as Democrats at 3 and 4 times the numbers who claim to be Republican. However, given your apparent unwillingness to part with the chestnut of media objectivity it seems like a waste of time.

Posted by Judge Smails on 18 August 02007 @ 9pm

J.S., we’ve talked about this so many times on this blog that it’s just tiresome to run through it again. Here’s the first result when searching.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 18 August 02007 @ 10pm

J.S. are you serious? All three cable news networks carry shows with right wing hosts. In fact, I can only think of one overt lefty on cable news these days and that’s Keith Olbermann. The whining from conservatives about the media is so tiresome. Does anyone really believe that these huge media corporations care about anything other than making money? Money is the bottom line with news media these days (unfortunately). If anything the media’s ‘bias’ is simply toward being lazy and greedy.

Posted by Triscula on 19 August 02007 @ 11pm