Could Someone Ask The New York Times to Tone Down Its Violent Rhetoric?

posted at 6:34 am on March 8, 2011 by directorblue
[ Media ]   

One would think that the self-proclaimed “newspaper of record” could do better than resorting to the hysterical, shrill and uncivil hyperbole laced throughout its op-ed “Holding Firm on the Budget.”

After all, weren’t these the very same kooks that lectured the Right about “civility” and “tone” after the horrific Tucson attacks?

After letting a highly destructive budget fight fester far too long, the White House finally stepped in late last week to negotiate with the House, which wants to eviscerate nondefense spending. Senate leaders still seem shell-shocked by that breathtaking ruthlessness, and have pleaded with the administration for help in pushing back. The White House needs to do so, and firmly.

Last year the administration acted as referee in a similar situation and got mixed results. It allowed Republicans their cherished goal of keeping taxes low on the richest 2 percent of Americans, and even gave multimillionaires and billionaires new estate tax benefits. President Obama won an extension of jobless benefits and a cut in payroll taxes that could boost the economy.

…But this is not a moment for another difference-splitting deal. The House wants to carve $61 billion out of the government for just the next seven months, which would throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work and kill off scores of vital functions.

The Times’ intellectual dishonesty is legendary due, in no small part, to secretions like this one.

And its spendaholic hubris is highlighted by Mary Meeker’s recent report that, without a hint of political enmity, paints a picture of impending fiscal calamity for the United States. That, of course, the Times chooses to ignore — just as it ignored the most important book in a generation, a monumental bestseller focused on American history, law, philosophy, jurisprudence and economics.

This era’s editions of The New York Times are useful only as curiosities: museum pieces that serve to warn future generations against journalists joining with the government to promote lawlessness, theft and oppression.

Cross-posted at: Doug Ross @ Journal.

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