Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman has a timely article today, "It's All Benghazi," in which he calls out media "commentators" for taking seriously manifestly fake "scandals" and "controversies" that are ginned up by the right (Benghazi, IRS, Planned Parenthood, etc.):
Sometimes I have the impression that many people in the media consider it uncouth to acknowledge, even to themselves, the fraudulence of much political posturing. The done thing, it seems, is to pretend that we’re having real debates about national security or economics even when it’s both obvious and easy to show that nothing of the kind is actually taking place.As Krugman points out in his article, the Hillary Clinton e-mail "scandal" is reminiscent of numerous false "scandals" during the Clinton Presidency, where the media (including his own newspaper) worked with Rethuglican opposition research hacks to damage the Clinton Administration, instead of performing due diligence in the public interest.
But turning our eyes away from political fakery, pretending that we’re having a serious discussion when we aren’t, is itself a kind of fraudulence. Mr. McCarthy inadvertently did the nation a big favor with his ill-advised honesty, but telling the public what’s really going on shouldn’t depend on politicians with loose lips. (emphasis added)
"Again, none of this should come as news to anyone who follows politics and policy even moderately closely. But I’m not sure that normal people, who have jobs to do and families to raise, are getting the message. After all, who will tell them?"Not our broken media.
BONUS: No More Mister Nice Blog's Steve M. tells us the Republicans are partying like it's 1998, with accompaniment, once again, by the "mainstream media."
BONUS II: Digby on the media's "beclowning" itself.
BONUS III: Steve Benen adds more to the indictment of the media in this trainwreck.
