IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT! We seem to be mired in a culture of greed. But is there anything wrong with it?

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2011
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Why we continue to type (knowledge is consensual): A familiar old political card was played on Monday’s O’Reilly Factor.

CBS News has just hired Norah O’Donnell to serve as its White House correspondent. In response to this underwhelming news, Mr. O and his guest, Brit Hume, played the most reliable card in the entire deck. “Obviously,” Hume declared, the mainstream press corps will favor the Democratic candidate:

O’REILLY (6/20/11): Joining us from Washington, Fox News chief political analyst, Brit Hume. So Brit, am I wrong the media is going to play a huge role in the upcoming election?

HUME: No. The media always have an important role in these elections. But I think it will be utterly secondary, Bill, to the conditions in the country both real and perceived. The media may have some effect on how the conditions in the country are perceived.

[…]

O’REILLY: CBS hires Norah O'Donnell. Norah O'Donnell—and for those viewers who don't know her, she worked at NBC News, a lot on MSNBC. She has called President Obama quote, "a pragmatic centrist". She has called Newt Gingrich a racist.

The woman has a long track record of left-wing opinion. And now she is the primary Washington correspondent, White House correspondent in the election year. And you're telling me that the media isn't going to have a big, big sway on this thing?

HUME: Well, they will have, they will— Obviously, the president will get friendlier coverage from, from the mainstream media—

O'REILLY: Norah O'Donnell!

HUME: —than will the Republican nominee. That's been true for a long time.

Twelve years after the war against Gore, it remains the safest card in the deck. “Obviously,” Obama will get friendlier treatment than the GOP nominee, Hume declared. “That's been true for a long time.”

Obama may get friendlier treatment next year, though such things are usually hard to measure. But it’s amazing that this card remains so useful twelve years after the trashing of Gore. This remains a highly reliable card due to the consensual silence of the career liberal leaders who have agreed that they mustn’t discuss the journalistic history of the Clinton-Gore years, including the press corps’ astonishing treatment of Candidate Gore.

These children have betrayed your interests—and they’ll continue to do so. (It’s not that they don’t know the truth. They do know, as we’ll show you tomorrow.) Here at THE HOWLER, we discussed the war against Gore in real time—and over at our companion site, we’re recording the full history of that remarkable two-year episode. We strongly recommend the newly-completed chapter 5 of our on-line book, How He Got There. This is a long but brisk account of the press corps’ reaction to the news that Naomi Wolf was advising Candidate Gore. (To read chapter 5, just click here.)

For an excerpt from that astonishing chapter, see THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/17/11. But we strongly recommend that you complete a long hard slog through the whole gruesome chapter. People are dead all over the world because of the conduct described in that chapter. And the kids have agreed to keep still.

We know—we liberals love our tribal leaders! We like to pretend that they’re on our side, that we’re part of a wonderfully pure moral team. But why are Mr. O and Brit still able to play that card with such fervor? Due to the continuing silence of the career liberal world! That said, we hope you’ll consider contributing to this site to help us document the history of that remarkable campaign for the White House. Someday, the liberal world may not lie in the hands of today’s career players. How He Got There will give those future citizens one key to the shape of their world.

Knowledge is consensual! You can’t force people to acknowledge or discuss even the most obvious truths; your liberal leaders will never tell the truth about this recent history. Nor will they discuss the history contained in the Lyons and Lyons/Conason books—books which record the journalistic history of the earlier Clinton years. Such leaders! As they maintain their silence, they keep themselves “viable within the system.” Mr. O is thereby empowered to keep playing that famous old card.

Truly, the use of that card never ends! Here’s Mr. O a bit later on Monday, speaking with Bernie Goldberg about O’Donnell’s hiring. Eventually, Bernie made a flamboyant statement. Can you spot the high irony here?

O'REILLY: Now, just talking to Brit Hume about CBS hiring Norah O'Donnell to be the White House correspondent. And we said, "Well, you know, this woman has a long track record of liberalism."

[…]

GOLDBERG: Right. When the new management took over [at CBS] a few months ago, they held a big, big staff meeting. And Jeff Fager, the head of CBS News, said, “If you have an agenda find another place to work.” That's a good thing to say. I've known Jeff Fager for—

O'REILLY: And he's a good guy. He's a good guy.

GOLDBERG: Right. And he cares about this kind of stuff.

O'REILLY: He does.

GOLDBERG: So maybe—so maybe he told her, “Hey, keep your liberal opinions to yourself when you're at the White House.” But Bill, there's a much bigger, much more important point to make. No network would hire, as its chief White House correspondent, someone as far to the right as she is to the left. Because if you're even a little to the right, you're going to stick out in the newsroom.

Is Norah O’Donnell way far “to the left?” To judge from her work, not that much—although she has indeed played a few silly games as she got herself in line with MSNBC’s pseudo-liberal templates. But did you note the irony here? According to Bernie, no network would hire a person this far to the right to serve as its chief White House correspondent. In fact, one major network already did: ABC News, when it hired Brit Hume back in the 1980s!

The press corps always favors the Democrat! It’s amazing to see that this card still plays twelve years after the war against Gore. (Let’s not even talk about Candidate Kerry.) Your career liberal leaders, through their rapt silence, have kept this potent point alive.

Over at our companion site, we’re recording the actual history. We hope you’ll consider a contribution to this ongoing project. In chapter 6, the die will be cast. Looking ahead to a more truthful day, the full story should be recorded.