Random Thought

We know how liberals are treated by Fox News. MSNBC and CNN haven’t been quite as bad, but now they’ve given up all pretext of being anything but openly hostile to liberals. CNN has just hired Glenn Beck, who (“jokingly,” of course) condoned the murder of Michael Moore and called Cindy Sheehan a “pretty big prostitute” and a “tragedy pimp.” And of course MSNBC, though they keep around token Keith Olbermann, lets their other on-air personalities mock gays and compare Michael Moore to Osama bin Laden with impugnity.

Personally, I think progressives should forego donations to candidates during this mid-term election and instead contribute into one big pot the express purpose of which is to purchase either CNN or MSNBC or start a whole new cable news network altogether. And yes, I know it’s heresy to suggest not supporting candidates, but the reality is that even if the Dems did manage to scrape out a thin majority in the House and/or the Senate, the tone of the media is not going to change. Unless, of course, it becomes more hostile to liberals. (And, frankly, it would send a pretty clear message to the Dems that they need to start paying more attention to their progressive base.) As a long-term strategy, openly progressive ownership of a major media outlet is undoubtedly a better investment for liberals than the 2006 midterm elections.

I’d love to see some enterprising progressive with even a small public platform start such a campaign. I suspect such a grassroots campaign, if even moderately successful, would catch the eye of big donors, who would either contribute to the cause or increase contributions to Dem candidates to make up for the difference. Or both.

Just a thought.