Hegemony Watch: "Mainstreaming Crazy"

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 16:53

the job of a book like this isn't necessarily to get people to buy the book, but rather to legitimize some of these existent themes by having it be publicly discussed. It's another way of getting out the word, that's all. They don't care if the media is refuting it or not --- after all it's the "liberal media." Why would anyone think they would tell the truth? in that respect, regardless of the factual pushback, they have already succeeded.

Indeed, they're "debating it" right now on Lou Dobbs. Dobbs just made the point that none of the "attack" books about John McCain are on the NY Times best seller list like Corsi's book and that must tell you something. Mission Accomplished.

She then goes on to make the point that Corsi is a true nutcase--and it doesn't seem to matter--the books sell like hotcakes, because there's an infrastructure out there set to gobble them up.  She quotes Tim Ruttan in the LA Times:

Corsi's book is published by Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster, which hired right-wing political operative Mary Matalin to edit the imprint. Random House has a similar imprint in Crown Forum, and Penguin Group USA has Sentinel. Their business model -- and this is all about business -- is predicated on the existence of an echo chamber of right-wing radio and television shows willing to promote these publishers' products -- however noxious. Beyond that is a network of conservative book clubs and organizations willing to place the sort of advance bulk orders for controversial books that will guarantee them a place on the bestseller lists.

This is what hegemony looks like.  Rightwing foundations have been funding this for years, and rightwing entreprenuers have been making money in synergy with them: creating a far-flung infrastructure that can support any sort of ideological content that's poured into it.  Nothing could be more dramatically different than the way that left is "organized" in America.

Digby continues:

In fact, the default position among Democrats, Republicans and the media is that the only kooks in the country with whom it is unacceptable to be professionally or financially involved with are on the left. And "the left" is defined so broadly that it includes groups like MoveOn and Vote Vets. The right, in contrast, has fully integrated even their extremist fringe into the mainstream and everyone accepts it.

Sure, people are saying that Corsi's book is full of holes. So what? It's "out there" and it's getting more press every day. And in all of that, nobody's calling out Mrs Carville on the fact that she shepherded these extremist lies into the mainstream. (Or her husband, for that matter.) Yet MoveOn taking out an ad that has the word "Betrayus" in it is worthy of a congressional censure.

As long as the villagers are in agreement that the only people who are truly beyond the pale in American politics are on the left, then this will continue. Mary Matalin will still be considered a perfectly respectable person by both the "right" and the "left" (as if there's any discernible difference among the cognoscenti) and there will be no professional or social repercussions. Meanwhile even staid, old organizations like the ACLU suffer from the myth of being some sort of far left fringe organization and Democratic politicians run for cover when the right wing publicly "tars" them with guilt by association.

If you want to know why I think--and have long thought--that Obama is far less than he seems, this is it in a nutshell: he has raised unprecedented amounts of money, mobilized unprecedented amounts of people, generated unprecedented amounts of enthusiasm, and yet has done virtually nothing to challenge the framework of rightwing hegemony that puts us at a perpetual disadvantage every single minute of every single day.  And it's not as if Obama himself isn't suffering as a result.  It's hurting him as much as it's hurting any other politician in America.

A typical case in point: McCain's campaign has brought Phil Gramn back into the fold, but Obama has seemingly left Wes Clark out in the cold.  And it's not exactly like McCain has any shortage of ignorant, extremist economic advisors he could call on, or that Obama has more four-star generals than he knows what to do with.

No.  This situtation is pure, unadulterated madness.  It's not like bringing a knife to a gunfight.  It's like bringing a plastic yougurt spoon to a nuclear war.