How FOX Won and Obama, Clinton, and Democrats Lost

From AlterNet:

FOX viewers also won’t be impressed that Democrats like Obama and Clinton are trying to reach out to them because FOX viewers don’t want to join forces with Democrats — they want to beat them into submission, irrelevance, or extinction. They don’t want to find common ground — they want to amplify differences. It’s shocking to me that after 12 years of constant abuse, Hillary Clinton doesn’t realize that FOX viewers snarl like Pavlov’s dogs at the mere mention of her name. And with FOX’s long history of hating black people from Al Sharpton to OJ Simpson, Obama never had a chance. A Democrat trying to win votes on FOX is like a Democrat trying to win votes at the Republican National Convention, or Sammy Davis Jr. trying to win fans at a KKK rally. FOX viewers are not open to being swayed — these are the same people who still think that Bush is doing a great job.

And

But, more likely, it’s because FOX knows that it already won. This is where so many Democrats who have applauded Clinton and Obama’s decisions to go on FOX have completely missed the point.

By going on FOX without attacking them and calling them out for what they are, Obama and Clinton lost, the Democrats lost, and FOX won. Obama and Clinton will win no votes, and they reinforced and enhanced FOX’s most prized possession — the illusion that they are a legitimate news organization, not a Republican propaganda machine.

Click here for the rest, which includes YouTube video of Hillary's appearance on Butthole O'Reilly's show.

There's a lot about the Democratic Party that I find infuriating, chiefly their long and slow lurch toward the right by way of embracing neoliberalism, which necessarily includes an embrace of the corporate power that has rendered American democracy moot. But I'm also infuriated by their arrogance, their disdain for any real discussion of issues, their timidness in challenging Republican narratives and ideas, and their utter lack of understanding of how political "discussion" actually functions in the cable news era.

Case in point: Obama and Hillary going on FOX. The above excerpt, and the essay from which it comes, spell out in great detail exactly why this was so stupid. The short version is that this is yet another instance of Democrats accepting and legitimizing the Republican political narrative, very much along the lines of idiot John Kerry showing up at the DNC to accept the nomination back in '04, and starting his speech by jumping to attention, making a military salute, and spewing some gobbledy-gook about "reporting for duty." The Republicans wanted the election to be all about fighting Muslims, and the Democrats all said, "Yeah, that's right, it's all about fighting Muslims!"

The only thing Democrats should say when Republicans insist they buy their bullshit is "Fuck off; you're wrong. Here's what it's really all about."

Instead, the two front runners this year continue the Democratic tradition of allowing the GOP to set the debate parameters, to set the national narrative. And I continue my tradition of being outraged by how fucking stupid the Democrats are. Why won't they understand that there is no such thing as civilized debate with Republicans? Why must they even respond?

It's doubly disturbing to see that Obama, the new and different Democrat, has the same mental illness as his political elders.

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