... when you're too deranged for Jonathan Kay?
AFTERSNARK: Advertising his Newsweek piece as a "Newsweek Web Exclusive," Kay writes (among other things):
Like all populists, tea partiers are suspicious of power and influence, and anyone who wields them. Their villain list includes the big banks; bailed-out corporations; James Cameron, whose Avatar is seen as a veiled denunciation of the U.S. military; Republican Party institutional figures they feel ignored by, such as chairman Michael Steele; colleges and universities (the more prestigious, the more evil); TheWashington Post; Anderson Cooper; and even FOX News pundits, such as Bill O'Reilly, who have heaped scorn on the tea-party movement's more militant oddballs.
One of the most bizarre moments of the recent tea-party convention came when blogger Andrew Breitbart delivered a particularly vicious fulmination against the mainstream media, prompting everyone to get up, turn toward the media section at the back of the conference room, and scream, "USA! USA! USA!" But the tea partiers' well-documented obsession with President Obama has hardly been diffused by their knack for finding new enemies.
Curiously, Kay also shows up in his more normal environs of the National Post, opining (among other things):
Barack Obama and his Congressional allies are the main targets. But the villain list also includes the big banks, China, Middle Eastern oil producers, bailed-out corporations, James Cameron ( Avatar is seen as a veiled denunciation of the U.S. military), Republican Party chairman Michael Steele, universities, The Washington Post, Anderson Cooper, and even FOX News pundits such as Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, who've heaped scorn on the Tea Party movement's more militant oddballs. (One of the most bizarre moments of the convention came when blogger Andrew Breitbart delivered a particularly vicious fulmination against the mainstream media, prompting everyone to get up, turn toward the media section at the back of the conference room, and scream "U. S.A.!U. S.A.!U. S.A.!")
Apparently, Mr. Kay uses a definition for the word "exclusive" with which I am unfamiliar.
Mark Steyn would be proud.
Kay's doing something useful for a change by doing investigative reporting on these conspiracies. I listened to a podcast a while back of an interview he had with some obscure American liberal radio host on 9/11 truthers and I was mildly impressed.
ReplyDeleteMost of my problems with the mainstream media would disappear if they just got rid of op/ed's altogether. Or at least forbid conservatives from writing them; by definition, they are too under-exposed to the diversity and complexity of the real world to have an opinion worth reading.