I love Ann Coulter. Someone said it brilliantly, ‘don’t mistake Ann’s sarcasm for hatred.’

PS Whoever votes pro-choice has the blood of Gods’ children on their hands.

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/Media_10_02_03_Report.pdf

So what’s your story? It looks like you’re merely justifying your own biases by selectively decrying “immorality” when you disagree with somebody’s politics and saying “it’s totally separate” when your folks violate ethical standards (for example, Rush’s drug use, cheating on his various wives, illegally tampering with prescriptions, etc.). I’m sorry to be so confrontational here, but I’m tired of seeing the pretense of moral indignation that keeps masquerading as theological or ethical concern in these threads. So what do you really believe? I just want you to be honest about when you’re applying a standard and when you’re willing to let it slide. And, by the way, I’d also like to suggest that a double-standard is no standard at all.

And what Belinda wrote is true: according to a non-partisan study by the University of Maryland, those who got their news from Fox were more than 3 times more likely (80% of viewers vs. 23% in the most extreme example) to hold inaccurate perceptions of the facts of the Iraq war (for example, they were more likely to believe that weapons of mass destruction had been found; they haven’t according to all of the military commanders) than those who got their news from other media sources. Fox viewers were twice as likely to hold inaccurate perceptions as those who got their news from CNN. The people with the most accurate perception? Those who got their news from NPR/PBS. You can check out the study yourself at .

Why should this difference in perceptions occur? Could it be that Fox really isn’t delivering the same quality of information as the other sources? Nah. That can’t be it. It must be some liberal conspiracy…

Do you want to know the real story? CNN, Katie Couric, and the rest are generally “moderate” (though understandably next to Fox they look “far left”). They may not hold the same moral values as all or even as most Christians. But Tim, you said that we needed to keep those things separate on that other thread. So I’ll hold you at your word on that. If you want to keep Jesus out of it and just talk politics, let’s do that: Rush is not a moderate. He’s on the right (though not the traditional right since he’s unconcerned about spiralling deficits, mismanagement of government resources, the rule of law, and most of the other issues held by traditional conservatives; technically, he’s a “neo-conservative,” but my guess is he’d throw that over too if it didn’t make him cash). And he does have a counterpart on the left–but it’s not Dan Rather. It’s Michael Moore.

(And, by the way, to all of you suggesting people should just listen to Rush for 6 weeks to “get him,” I’d like to make a counterproposal: I’ll do it if you’ll watch all of Michael Moore’s movies one-per-day for that same period–though my guess is that neither one of us will really benefit from that since listening to people at the outer poles of an argument rarely brings people toward consensus in the middle).

But here’s an even better proposal: Unlike some here, I don’t think you can keep the sacred and secular separate. I believe that Jesus is lord of all things–including our politics, our government, our structures of justice, our culture… everything. So I’m not content to apply standards only sporadically. Here’s what I propose: Let’s situate Rush and Michael (and Katie and Dan and Fox News and CNN and the Republicans and the Democrats and everything else) next to the witness of Jesus for 6 weeks and see how THEY hold up. If they don’t equally make us more sensitive to the poor and disenfranchised (remember what James identifies as “true religion”), more drawn to Christ’s model, more able to recognize our neighbors among those we despise, more loving of our enemies, then maybe we should try something else. Maybe instead of using Jesus to justify our particular biases we should situate our biases next to the model of Jesus and see what happens…

Rush and Michael Moore share a lot of the same gifts. Both are great at making comfortable people feel more comfortable. And both are great at making people more aware of distinctions and differences and less certain of their opponents’ shared humanity. Jesus wasn’t so good at either one of those things… But he was good at calling people–some to his grace and mercy, some to account for their hypocrisy, and all to a radical reenvisioning of themselves through lives of service and sacrifice. Sometimes his message was beautiful; other times, it was pretty hard to take. He told people what they needed to hear (as opposed to what they wanted to hear). He calls us to do the same.

“Chis Matthews scares me. As does Dan Rather. And CNN. Ever notice that folks that regularly listen to these folks and this network are adamant about only listening to them. It’s like if they listen to another network, they might hear things (truth) that they don’t want to hear.”

What truth are you talking about? The “truth” that Dan Rather and CBS came up with that was proven false? Sure, Fox does lean to the right. They are ONE network. One. How many others are out there?and just about all of them lean to the left so take your pick.

And why does everyone take a “right” or “left” approach these days? You’re right - it didn’t use to be that way. It’s very sad when politics is so rampant in the church. One of my favorites is “Morality Matters - Vote Republican.” That makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. This is from a website of a christian. I find it very offensive.

JM, I thought the same thing when Mike posted that about Rush. It’s quite funny how people would blast Rush then go on to praise people like Rather, Couric, NPR and the like as if they can do no wrong either.

Regarding Couric, one observer noted: “Katie Couric is the perfect fit for a newtwork that condones fabricating news to fit their agenda.”

Ann Coulter was right when she referred to Couric as the “affable Eva Braun of morning TV…she hides behind her Girl Scout persona in order to systematically promote a left-wing agenda.”

The eschaton must be near.