The Anti-Hillary Hate Machine

The latest wave of attacks on Hillary are about the Clinton Foundation, which, contrary to the right wing claims, is one of the highest rated organizations in terms of its high percentage of donations that go directly to the charitable objectives. It does good work that needs doing, which wouldn’t be done without their efforts and capable direction.

Of course the news media feels itself in a bind: if they report fully on Donald Trump’s lies, bigotry, extremism, and borderline insanity without devoting an equal amount of ink and airtime to Hillary’s small or nonexistent flaws they feel biased. For my money I’d be comfortable if the news media were biased in favor of honesty, competence, moderation and sanity. I wish they would stick to that.

Politifact rates GOP chair Priebus's latest lies about Hillary.

SLATE analyzes the multiple falsehoods in the smear campaign against the Clinton Foundation.

Newsweek looks at the hypocrisy of the unending Hillary Email Smear.

Pensitor Review takes a look back at how the news media gave W and Karl Rove a pass regarding hidden and destroyed emails. The Bush White House was trying to cover up wrongdoing in its purge of insufficiently partisan US Attorneys.

The Hillary health scare nonsense:

SNOPES (the best lie debunker on the internet) debunks the GOP's rumormongering about Hillary's health.

CNN calls this obsession out for what it is, a nonsense conspiracy theory.

The doctor who certifies Trump’s supremely robust health is a nutcase who specializes in colonoscopies. Here are his Trump accolades ranked by degree of ridiculousness: DeadSpin gives a quick rundown of the ludicrous Trump "bill of health" from Trump's personal gastroenterologist. His photo alone is priceless. It's noted that Trump's doctor once tried to copyright the phrase "compassionate colonoscopy." Would Trump appoint this fruitcake Surgeon General?

On Buzzfeed, one of the right wing rate***ers behind the Trump juggernaut speaks his mind. Interesting how the Donald Segrettis and Lee Atwaters and Roger Stones and Roger Aileses, the diehard dirty trick artists, all seem to find a home in the Republican Party.

The sad fact is this wild eyed radical hate mongering right wing fringe is no longer a fringe. It's the heart and soul of the Republican Party. What does that mean going forward? POLITICO weighs in.

They swore to shut Obama down from Day One. They will do the same to Hillary. That is the central idea of modern Republicanism: make democracy fail, make it grind to a halt, make it dysfunctional, make people frustrated and angry at it, make people hate it, then replace it with a dictatorship.

The Alt Right is gung ho on this idea. They hate our democracy because it gives stuff to people with darker skin who live differently than they do. They hate democracy because FoxNews tells them to, tells them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, twelve months a year how democracy is an inefficient mess which should be replace with a sleek modern efficient corporate model called fascism.

What the alt right faithful believe is a con. They think a dictator would take dictation from them. They think the new totalitarian efficiency would serve their needs. Baloney. They are angry people who want someone to kick ass on people and make people hurt the way they are hurting, assuming a bully dictator would prey on people other than them.

The Fear Card

Freedom of speech now protects the sacred right to yell fire in a crowded theatre as long as it is for political purposes. We’re that crowded theatre.

This is what Republicans and the Republican news network are doing these last few weeks before the election. Ginning up irrational fears that Islamic extremists and ebola are on the verge of killing thousands of Americans. These fears are irrational. The danger is remote. Of course we only have scientists and national security professionals to trust on that. Why believe experts when there are attractive blondes on Fox telling us ebola is just outside the door and Islamic terrorists hiding under the bed? Pretending these threats are imminent here in America is shrewd politics. Never mind the ethics or the dishonesty problem.

“Be afraid. Vote Republican!"

Fear is persuasive and the FoxNews strategy is making us into a nation of cowards. Working towards that goal would once have been called unpatriotic, unAmerican, but we mustn’t speak ill of a major network, particularly one that is so obviously losing its mind. It would be impolite.

Neither problem is made any easier to handle when Republicans slash CDC budgets and the budgets of other key government agencies.

Isis is emboldened by Republicans’ persistent and dangerous efforts to undermine and handicap the president and our federal government at home and abroad.

Fear is the GOP’s stock in trade. They have an entire network devoted to creating fear and suspicion and hatred and anger in American viewers.

News media are so intimidated by Republicans they are afraid to call a lie a lie or an extremist and extremist lest they appear “partisan.” Genuine science is diminished when our public conversation has to give equal respect to irrational, unscientific garbage. Honesty used to be considered the best measure of fairness. But money now does our talking for us.

Money is now speech, as surely as corporations are now people. Which has the effect of diminishing the freedoms of the rest of us who are not corporations and are strapped for money. Love money? Want money? Help sell the right wing agenda; money will pour in. Money is the ultimate validation in the new Republican value system. If you own for a living, you are holy. But if you work for a living, be prepared to show your papers. Be prepared to prove you’re a legitimate member of society.