William Rehnquist's death has given the MSM something to write about besides New Orleans. But the tone hasn't changed. Everything is still the fault of the Republicans.
In light of events, James Taranto has posted a rare Sunday column, doubly rare because this is a holiday weekend. He carries a full transcript of Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz's remarks early this morning to Alan Colmes on Fox News about Chief Justice Rehnquist, in which he referred to him as an "activist" justice because of his willingness to overturn acts of Congress on principles of federalism, calling him a "Republican thug." Dershowitz was so over the top that Colmes, no friend of conservatives, didn't even acknowledge him at the end of the program.
Meanwhile, ABC reports polls showing that while the public is plenty dissatisfied with Katrina relief, they are most dissatisfied with state and local government responses and least likely to place the blame on President Bush. Nevertheless, the media still trumpet that Katrina is a political crisis for Bush.
What do these two items have in common? They both illustrate the intransigent bitterness of the left about the current conservative ascendancy in American politics, with special focus on Bush and the justices who voted for his side in Bush v. Gore.
But first, some historical perspective, painted with the broadest of brushes.
Leftist ideology, shot through with foggy Darwinism and diluted Marxism, assumes the historical inevitability of its objectives. Those who drink the left's water are therefore frustrated and resentful that these days the right is winning most of the elections and all of the substantial arguments.
The Left's anger for a generation was directed largely at Richard Nixon because of his championing of Whittaker Chambers against Alger Hiss. Hiss was the poster boy of the left: an east-coast Brahmin, ivy-league educated, serving in that most liberal of government departments, State, and insisting that the Soviet Union posed no threat to the United States. Nixon had none of it, and brought to the country's attention the testimony of Chambers, a Hiss associate, who swore that he had himself been a member of the Communist party, had now left the party, and could confirm that Hiss was a party member and a Soviet operative.
History proved Nixon right. When the Soviet Union fell, KGB papers confirmed that Hiss was working for the Soviets. Well before that time, of course, on his own Nixon had made real trouble for himself. But even today, many liberals will not admit that Hiss was a traitor and Nixon was right.
Now Bush suffers a similar fate, largely because of Bush v. Gore and what created it. The left has not adjusted to the notion that Clinton's presidency did not represent the country's return to proper liberal control of politics but a brief interruption of a long-term conservative swing. Therefore, they will not admit that the Supreme Court merely enforced the law of the land that makes a state's own electoral laws the standard by which its elections are conducted, hence making the Florida Legislature the final determiner of Florida's electoral votes and closing out any further recounts on the deadline set by Florida statute. They further cannot admit that Bush actually won Florida by the narrowest of margins, as proved not only by the initial, official recounts but by every independent recount conducted since. They say that Bush stole the election, or that the Supreme Court, or more particularly five "Republican" justices (or now "Republican thugs") gave it to him.
So now everything is Bush's fault. As Lucianne Goldberg suggests this afternoon, pretty soon they're going to say that Bush caused Katrina to make business for Halliburton.
But much of the public sees through this nonsense. Fox News had stellar ratings throughout the hurricane coverage, no doubt because it was free of the Bush-bashing that is the fabric of other outlets. And now the polls show that they're not willing to blame the president for what are primarily local matters, albeit local matters of epic scope.
So will the MSM catch up with the public? Probably not. This is the only way they know how to fill up their pages and broadcast time. Expect attention to return to Iraq after Labor Day, and expect to hear what a shambles the constitutional process is there and how hopeless the American military position is.
But we'll know what to do with that too.
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