I was in the car the other day, running some errands, and had the radio tuned to our local Clear Channel station, on which some lesser Limbaugh was speculating as to who might be the worst home-grown villain in America. Scott Petersen and O.J. Simpson were high on the list, as was Timothy McVeigh. The host and his callers then went on to bring up names like Al Gore, Janet Reno, Barbara Streisand, and yes, Michael Moore, if only to discuss why they weren’t quite as evil as Scott Petersen, et al. But the consensus seemed to be that they were pretty darned close.
So here’s my question: why do people like Beinert (and the rest of the Sensible Liberals who’ve been weighing in on his recent essay) obsessively insist that Decent-Thinking Democrats denounce Michael Moore, when right-wing crap like what I heard the other day is being spewed on talk radio at pretty much any hour of the day or night? Republicans don’t play this game. You don’t hear Republicans whining about the need for Decent-Thinking Republicans to repudiate Limbaugh, Hannity, et al.
Isn’t it about time mainstream Democrats stop blaming progressives for their own shortcomings?