Liberals Being Really Stupid

For a while now, I've been frustrated with Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler for his barrage of criticisms against rising media stars Keith Olbermann (who is not really much of a liberal and not much of a journalist; he's a loud talker who made his name calling for the resignation of most of Bush's cabinet on a nightly basis in overheated, overwrought language) and Rachel Maddow (whom many libs on the internet love because she's smart and openly gay; her show, however, is a train wreck, as what follows will make clear). As should be obvious from the above parentheticals, while I hold neither Olbermann nor Maddow in much regard, I find Somerby's criticisms equally tiresome, for one reason - he's criticizing both of them as journalists when neither one really is. It's a bit like criticizing Obama as a theologian or Sarah Palin as a philosopher. It makes no sense.

After seeing this over at Crooks and Liars, however, I have to agree with Somerby's insistence that the dumbing-down of our public discourse, a process that began years ago, is not being halted even as the era of right-wing political dominance draws to a close.

Had I been listening to the Thom Hartmann radio show, or watching Maddow - or better yet hosting the program - I would have asked one question of the guest:

How "secret" can such an organization be if we know its members, its location, its agenda, and the relationships among them?

Look, I'm no fan of fundamentalist politicians or their agenda. I am also not a fan of really stupid, breathless conspiracy mongering on the order of "Watch out, the evil fundamentalists are organizing to take away your liberty at this very accessible boarding house where members of Congress whose views are widely known and whose policy preferences are public knowledge gather!"

Stupidity is leaking out all over the place, and it has caught, it seems, even some supposed liberals who should know better.