DISQUS

These women know exactly why they're angry. And they have good reason to be. While I think it's counter-productive to essentially call someone brainwashed like Ronnie did. It is quite perplexing D that you can't see the connection.


It has nothing to do with reality. It's about making people see what you want them to see. And it does work. Ask Michael Dukakis(Willie Horton) and John Kerry (Swift-boating). Ask Al Gore (Creating the Internet).



But that's the point of the exercise. You say it enough people will start to believe it. Particularly people who don't watch the news regularly and aren't savvy. Fantasy becomes reality. You can't assume everyone is as sophisticated as those who read this site. Some folks will fall for anything.

First off, Russert was hardly a tool of the right wing. He was a Kennedy Democrat who worked for two
of the most liberal politicians of the past half century (Pat Moynihan and Mario Cuomo) before he joined NBC news in the early 80's. One of his best friends is James Carville, hardly a right-winger. He comes from a generation that felt that politics didn't have to be personal which enabled him to be friendly with folks on the other side of aisle.



I've been an avid watcher of MTP for over a decade and can say that he was every bit as tough on democrats as he was on Republicans. I think some of the folks on this thread are having trouble making the distinction between a commentator/pundit and a journalist. I love Olbermann and Matthews (yes, I said that I like Hardball) but they're pundits. Nothing wrong with it. Russert was a journalist. It wasn't his job to project his opinion onto a story. It was his job to ask the tough questions and give his subject the opportunity to answer. Let the public be judge of whether they're telling the truth.



If you want to call him to task for not being harder on Bush-Cheney on the leadup to the Iraq War that's your right. But the fact that he was duped by them was more of a reflection on the administration deception than on Russert.