Just like I think he is over playing how much of this simply coming from the right. Cable news is part of the problem but the real extremism comes from talk radio (both sides) and the internet. Many of these fairly well known websites have become virtual hate groups. Look at the comments you see at places like red meat or Kos. These people only talk to people like themselves and work themselves into a frenzy convincing themselves that the other side is not only wrong with ideas but that they have evil intent.
Yep. Fairly scary.
I think part of the answer is we need to stop giving the fringe so much voice. Obama may be in part a victim but I think he also needs to take a large share of the blame. Part of his strategy has been to make the republicans appear as a dead end group of extremist who only know how to say no. That is why he call Rush a party leader and why his staff draws so much attention to groups like the birthers. For all of Bush's faults he didn't waste time and give credibility to the truthers. Attacking and insulting dissenters is also not an effective method of bring down the tone in this country. If the left has problem with the tone these days they really should look at what comes out of their own mouths and ask how that is affecting tone.
Friedman is left on some issues, right on others. It certainly isn't just the left that has a problem with the tone. And yes, certainly Obama is guilty of this as much as other politicians - when considering his position he ought to be setting an example instead.
The biggest role I think the media is playing in the escalating levels of partisanship in this country is that they lost the faith of the American people. Polls show that Americans trust the media about as much as they trust the politicians they cover. Grossly biased coverage from places like the NYT is a major factor in that loss of trust.
What, you think only right-wing Americans have lost faith in the media? It's not new that the media take sides in the political debate and that many newspapers are slanted left or right of center. What *is* relatively new is the way every careless phrasing or mistake from a politician is immediately reported all over and analyzed, every insignificant incident is blown up into a massive fuss and scandal, politicians are expected to have an opinion ready on everything that happens, and so on. The reason why cable news is mentioned often as a big culprit, is the 24/7 aspect. To some extent that also counts for talk radio I suppose, but afaik most radio pundits just have a show once a day, or even just a few times a week, much like printed newspapers are published daily - websites, including newspaper websites, are definitely in the 24/7 category. The difference is that 24/7 TV reporting speeds things up by so much: things are reported almost in real-time, politicians have to have their reactions ready right away, no time to reconsider the phrasing or check some basic facts first. And of course that to have watchable content for all those hours of TV each day, the channels go on and on about whatever the scandal of the day is.
Where Did "We" Go?
- 01/10/2009 09:30:12 PM
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How do you change this though?
- 01/10/2009 10:51:10 PM
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Pelosi is part of the problem
- 01/10/2009 11:10:45 PM
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that was hyperbole, as he's said OVER AND OVER
- 02/10/2009 06:21:16 PM
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really which elected leaders on the right talked about death panels?
- 02/10/2009 06:41:05 PM
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Dumb column from Friedman.....read a history book.....
- 01/10/2009 11:15:46 PM
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I disagree, obviously.
- 02/10/2009 12:11:48 AM
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No, it hasn't always been like this; I think Watergate changed it, and maybe Vietnam.
- 02/10/2009 02:13:07 AM
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remarkably, i agree with the troll
- 02/10/2009 06:27:40 AM
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Partisanship, yes, but this is more than that.
- 02/10/2009 06:57:14 AM
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i see things at a different level than you do
- 02/10/2009 07:31:24 AM
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Personally, I think you're seeing the cart rather than the horse, but that's just me. 
- 02/10/2009 08:14:46 AM
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- 02/10/2009 08:14:46 AM
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Not true
- 02/10/2009 12:32:58 AM
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why did we fight the Spanish American War and the War of 1812 again?
- 02/10/2009 04:18:56 AM
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You just completely undermined your point
- 02/10/2009 06:22:54 AM
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I think the role of cable news is over played
- 01/10/2009 11:29:26 PM
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Possibly.
- 02/10/2009 12:02:05 AM
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To many people distrust the media for it to be just the right who distrust them
- 02/10/2009 04:15:50 AM
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i agree that the fringe has way more power than it should, but...
- 02/10/2009 06:38:41 AM
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I think Friedman puts it very well when he says...
- 02/10/2009 11:24:02 AM
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did I read this correctly?
- 02/10/2009 03:00:33 PM
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As I already told you, this is not about "the left" complaining.
- 02/10/2009 03:38:15 PM
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it didn't become an issue until it started hurting the left
- 02/10/2009 04:44:29 PM
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Eh, many aspects of it have been criticized for a long time.
- 02/10/2009 09:12:22 PM
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also, about clinton, since you say you were too young to remember...
- 02/10/2009 06:47:45 AM
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really because my memory goes back further then that and things were nasty then to
- 02/10/2009 03:04:58 PM
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