US progressive bloggers have been busy confronting the right-wing machine’s manipulation of the media to make the folding of Solyndra into a big deal when in reality it just isn’t. Over at Hullabaloo, Digby does her usual fine work in dismantling the right-wing strategy of escalating this non-story. She also shines a light on the pliable media in the hands of the conservative spin machine.
So this goes, once again, to the problem of right wing tropes being the default standard because liberalism is the ideology that dare not speak its name. If people understood the role of government in economic crises as being something other than “please save us by cutting spending” this would not be the problem that it is. Unfortunately, the entire population has been indoctrinated into this concept (which I recognize is easy to do) and so they are extremely skeptical of something like stimulus to begin with — and are quite ready to believe that the whole thing is a crooked game.
What makes it most delicious for the Republicans is their ability to manipulate the press into focusing on alleged Democratic corruption (not that it doesn’t ever exist, mind you) while successfully obscuring and stonewalling the very serious, high dollar corruption of the GOP. It all works together like a well oiled machine to paralyze liberal action. And the centrists, like vultures, are there waiting to leap on whatever opening either side gives them to portray themselves as the “pragmatic” “moderate” “common sense” alternative, which somehow always seems to end up being that which benefits the wealthy status quo.
Please read the whole thing. It’s worth it.
