More Bullshit From The Mainstream

Anyone even slightly familiar with this blog knows how I feel about the notion that both sides are to blame for the current state of DC politics.  If you are not familiar with my position on this, then look here, here, and here and you'll get the idea. 

Bottom line for me:  How can you seriously blame both sides for this when one side -- namely, the GOP -- has not only admitted it is the cause of Washington gridlock, but openly brags about being the cause of it?

Well, Dana Milbank from the Washington Post is pushing another version of the "it's both side's fault" horseshit, and he uses yesterday's presidential press conference as the backdrop:

[T]he performance was *** a reminder of why Obama isn’t noted for his interpersonal warmth — a topic Jackie Calmes of the New York Times asked him to address when she mentioned the criticism that he and his staff are insular and that he doesn’t socialize.

It’s tempting to wonder whether Obama could achieve more if he could establish personal connections with Republicans on Capitol Hill. But Obama disparaged the notion behind Calmes’s question — that a better bedside manner could help his agenda.

“I like a good party,” the president informed her after attesting to his “friendly guy” status. “Really what’s gone on in terms of some of the paralysis here in Washington, or difficulties in negotiations, just have to do with some very stark differences in terms of policy.”

That may be true, but until recent years, sharp disagreements were smoothed by personal ties. On Monday, by contrast, Obama showed unrelenting hostility toward the opposition, accompanying his remarks with dismissive shrugs and skeptical frowns.

What do I say about Mr. Obama's "unrelenting hostility," "dismissive shrugs" and "skeptical frowns"? I say it's about fucking time.  That's exactly how you deal with an opposition party that has become so radicalized that it now routinely opposes ideas it once supported and purges from its ranks any member who states that he or she would be willing to merely negotiate with Obama.  Richard Lugar comes to mind.

The problem isn't that Obama acts too coldly toward his opposition.  The problem is that the Mainstream Press has no interest in reporting what may be the most underreported story in recent political history, namely, the radicalization of the Republican Party over the last few years.  Ronald Reagan would be considered a liberal traitor to the newly-radicalized GOP.  Members of the Mainstream Press are simply too scared to report on this huge story, mainly because they fear repercussions from the GOP if they do. 

And that is why we have gridlock in Washington -- the Press is too scared to do its job.  Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein said it best last year when they wrote:

We understand the values of mainstream journalists, including the effort to report both sides of a story. But a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality. If the political dynamics of Washington are unlikely to change anytime soon, at least we should change the way that reality is portrayed to the public.

Amen -- but needless to say, Mann and Ornstein were, right on cue, crucified by the Radical Right for taking this position.  And that is why we get stuff like the aforementioned Milbank crap.