[Nietzsche Family Circus]
Matt Yglesias and Kevin Drum both ponder the Fairness Doctrine this morning, and ask variations on the question: what in world are these people freaking out about? Turns out, I wrote a fairly long post about this a couple weeks ago, but then figured it was a little too esoteric and not particularly relevant in the broader context of the election. So I didn’t post it. But two folks I enjoy reading are asking about it, so what the heck. Here it is:
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If you only got your news from a certain slice of the media, you would think that Democrats are on a rampage to re-instate the Fairness Doctrine (dead for nigh 20 years). One Democratic Senator (Jeff Bingaman, from New Mexico) recently made a quick comment in support of it. He has since clarified that while he does support it, he has no desire to introduce it as legislation.
Meanwhile, there’s article after article which asserts that this constitutes absolute proof that the Democrats will institute it. The same goes for other attempts to demonstrate the threat. Obama says explicitly that he doesn’t support the Doctrine, but he’s probably lying. Democrats make an entirely entirely separate argument about media consolidation, net neutrality, and other issues. Conservatives declare that it’s all pretty much the same.
This is a perfectly representative specimem (beware – it’s a link to WorldNet). The evidence for the massive Democratic effort to push the Doctrine is…
1. The Democrats won’t allow a vote on a bill to make it slightly harder to bring back the Fairness Doctrine (which, remember hasn’t existed in two decades and which Clinton, that noted lover of right wing media, could have reinstated at any time if he had wanted to)
2. Far right pundits speculate that they really really want to reinstate it
3. There is no #3
And it’s not just blogs and freepers. That preposterous Wall Street Journal editorial I wrote about last week includes an obligatory “OMG Fairness Doctrine” reference. And Peggy Noonan wrote her version this week.
In fact, after spending 10-15 minutes of searching I failed to find one single example of a news story or commentary on the subject that wasn’t from someone raising the issue solely for the purpose of going after the doctrine. The few references to specific Democrats who support it invariably come from places like Human Events, Newsmax, Fox News, etc. who cite the (always passing) reference as proof of the basic threat to humanity. See for yourself with a quick Google News search. In short, as Jack Balkin points out: “Many, many people on the left, myself included, think it is bad policy and oppose it. Perhaps more to the point, so too do major contributors to both political parties. And if virtually all the major players in the telecommunications and media industry are against it, it’s unlikely that Congress would revive it.”
So what’s the deal here? Why all the madness? I think there are two reasons why they’re all going nuts on this issue. First, it lets them win an argument (since there is no one trying to defend the other side). And second, it plays into their impulse to presume the absolute worst about the opposition. The fact that there is literally no evidence that the Democrats care about this in the slightest only *helps* your case. See! you get to say they’re lying about their real interests! Sure, Obama has promised he won’t re-impose it. But are you going to trust that one? They may claim to not care about this at all, but it’s really a ruse to trick us.
The question ceases to be what might actually happen if Obama wins. It becomes what their worst nightmare might be. And it’s rooted in the premise that Obama (and the Left in general) have utterly no interest in improving the state of the country at large. Rather, they are small-minded, power-hungry, and vindictive. Rather than pursuing the broad policy changes that they have run the campaign on, they will instead pursue a series of irrelevant (except in the minds of the far, far right) issues for which they have no mandate.
I’m tempted to say this is simply a case of projection. It’s the sort of thing they would do if they were ever in power, so they assume everyone must think the same way. And I do believe there’s some truth to that. But I also think there’s something larger going on here. For example, this is decidedly not a uniquely right-wing phenomenon. Some of the wackier elements of the Left, for example, went truly off the deep end in their hatred of Bush (as if there weren’t plenty of perfectly mainstream reasons to dislike him). There are, however, two significant differences.
First, those people were (generally speaking) considered to be distinctly radical elements. No one in the mainstream (even at the far left edges of that field) took them (or their arguments) seriously. Democratic strategists didn’t sit around talking about how to best structure “Bush = fascist” campaigns. This time around, however, these folks are playing a huge part in the general GOP messaging. William Ayers, ACORN, “Obama is a Marxist,” and so on. This is the core of McCain’s strategy right now.
Second, in 2004 the country was relatively divided on the issues. Which means that there was plenty of ammunition for a broad-based progressive case against Bush. This time, however, the public has expressed a clear desire for genuine health care reform, progressive tax policies, preserving the moderate position on abortion, etc. Which explains why the Right seems to have gone off the deep end. It’s a tacit admission that on fights of any significance the right has very little to stand on. The traditional “reasonable” attacks are toothless right now. So you retreat into your corner, work harder and harder to convince yourself of all of these lunacies, and then emerge into the daylight occasionally to harangue 6o million-plus for their (in your mind) insane embrace of a Black Panther Stalinist. Meanwhile, the country shrugs, and goes back to watching their 401k shrink or their employer warning of cutbacks.
It’s a weird dynamic and I can’t think it’s a helpful one for the GOP. I’m sure they don’t need me concern-trolling for them, but that’s just my opinion.