Who, exactly, are the wingnuts?

In reading this afternoon’s Washington Post update on Press Secretary Gibb’s response to former VP Cheney’s criticism of the President’s policies regarding Afghanistan and the CIA I was struck with the vitriol in the comments section.

The words idiot, fascist, chickenhawk, Mao, Hitler, Stalin, wingnut, Fux news, brain dead, war criminal, coward, ghoul, racist and “Darth Vader” are all used to describe the former Vice President. The Post is supposed to be one of the papers of record in this country, and yet at least in this comments section, it sounds more as if their readership are immature 16 year olds. The foul mouthed cretinism seems to be a theme in the liberal blogs as well. The ad hominem attacks on their political opponents are relentless and use the most vile and hyperbolic language. Is Tourette’s Syndrome more common on the Left than the Right?

Listen to Limbaugh occasionally, it is not difficult to recognize some of his Foghorn Leghorn bombast for exactly what it is; cartoon level entertainment for the masses. The “masses” pretty recognize it as such as well. That he and Fox News pretty much represent the only dissenting opinions in what is otherwise a megalithic media and yet are the objects of such vitriol is a disturbing dissonance in the national discussion. If measured only by the number of publications and media outlets the right would seem to be outnumbered more than the Texans at the Alamo or Custer at Little Big Horn. And I thought America was about fairness. Silly me.

That the president himself has lowered himself into the fray and has attempted to marginalize one of his few media opponents indicates a thinness of skin and intolerance that should be a warning light to all of us. That he first sent his minions onto the morning talk shows to lay the groundwork speaks of a well defined plan of action. That there have been repeated attempts to control and shape the message, including illegally using the National Endowment for the Arts to propagandize his image and policies and the Journo-List to flood the media with the Administration’s message speaks of an Orwellian program to shape public opinion and redefine the truth. Maybe the Nobel has gone to his head already.

That the President then invited perhaps the most biased of his media sycophants into a special “members only” question and answer period only heightens the feeling of leftist bias in the media. Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, E.J. Dionne, Gwen Ifill, Eugene Robinson, Bob Herbert, Gloria Borger, Jerry Seib, and Ron Brownstein have basically shredded any credibility they had left among the vast majority of us. All of them were known as vociferous supporters of the president before. Now they have heightened the comparisons to Stalin’s or Hitler’s pet media during their regimes. At a time when the press has lost most of its credibility, this only confirm many people’s opinions.

It is the leadership of the Left who encourage their followers to scream and rant. It is their followers who accuse their opponents of fascism and teabagging.  I just don’t see the same vitriol from the Right. There is deep and honest criticism, but there is also much more of that main street American decency. Perhaps this is what the president fears most. That, 10 months into his administration, he has lost the respect of the majority American people. Is it any wonder?