Because it's election day, and because I've been mulling it over in my head for a few days, I'm going to get up on my soap box and put my 2 cents in on the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear.
I say, with one caveat, hoo-rah for you, Mr. Stewart. You said a lot of things that needed to be said. And yes, both the left and the right are guilty of demonizing the other side, gross exaggeration, and in trying to spin everything so that it makes "them" look bad and "us" look good.
Now for the caveat: Mr. Stewart, you talk like the guilt is equally shared across the board. It is not. You make comparisons between Fox News and MSNBC as if they are mirror images of each other, polar opposites, different only in the slant of the politics. The implication is, the right may have Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, etc., but the left has Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. And while this is true in the sense that Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hanity, Malkin, etc are on the right, and Olbermann and Maddow are on the left, that is where the accuracy of that comparison ends.
First of all, to compare Rachel Maddow to any of the talking heads on Fox or to Limbaugh is kind of crazy. Ms. Maddow always conducts herself with grace, humor and aplomb, treating even guests with whom she vehemently disagrees with respect and dignity. Even the unsavory "pray away the gay" Richard Cohen was treated with respect as Ms. Maddow called him out on some of the more outlandish statements he has made in the press and in his writings, and pointed out to her viewers that he has been disbarred from the APA and is not licensed to practice psychological therapy by any American or other licensing body.
Admittedly, with Keith Olbermann, the comparison may be a bit more fair. A bit.
