Outrageous Outrage
I am outraged, outraged, over Rep. John Parker's recent tirade against Republican Ed Butcher. Butcher, enjoying fairly innocuous political debate, referred to Rep. Eve Franklin's comments as "nonsense," evoking Parker's response. Parker, by attempting to stifle free political speech, insults all Montanans' fundamental rights, and ignores the oath he swore. And his apparently perceived need to defend a female colleague in a time of trouble, reeks of blatant sexism. What, John, she's not capable of defending herself? This whole thing...
Oh. Wait. I'm not really outraged. In fact, I like John Parker. Even though he's a Democrat, I have supported him in his races.
What I am sick and tired of, though, is this whole Democrat/Media playbook. Outspoken or colorful conservative tagged as extremist, racist, misogynist, you name it. Waiting Democrats pounce every time this person opens mouth. Dutiful press reports it, often on the front page or as the lead story.
Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, had offended someone — again.
Whoops. I guess I should have included the quotation marks: "Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, had offended someone — again." There goes the press, filling its role.
We get the playbook...really. Marginalize, trivialize, attack and weaken. They did it to my friend, Rob Natelson. Every time he opened his mouth, the left pounced: "extreme" "beyond the pale" "offensive" "inappropriate."
Are we to believe that the left never criticizes the GOP's positions as nonsense? Someone remind me again why this is front page news?
Yeah, it's nonsense alright.
UPDATE: I had the opportunity to discuss this whole affair with Rep. Parker, and I am absolutely convinced that there is more to the story than reported by the Tribune (Feature that!) I should emphasize that am really more concerned about the process, in which the print media is a big player, to marginalize outspoken Republicans. John Parker's incident just happened to provide a good jumping off point (and a really good picture!)
4 comments:
If anything, I'd be outraged at Rep. Franklin. What is she talking about? How does the "divine right of kings" come into play here at all? Strictly speaking, that does sound like "nonsense" to me, just as Butcher said. I think it's fair to criticize the guy when he says something out of line -- which he has, to be fair -- but this is preposterous.
But Travis, why would you be "outraged" about anything. Blaming this on Franklin for her remarks could be perceived as just as silly as the initial dustup.
The biggest amount of nonsense in all of this is Eve Franklin. I wonder if Parker can explain what in the hell she was talking about.
So the AP makes a God out of the Governor and a schmuck out of Butcher. At least we come in knowing the preconcieved notions of the Press. Journalism has become as corrupt as politics.
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