Oh, the Incivility of the Racist, Taliban Right!
Though I suspect Reason writers are his most avid readers, Los Angeles Times bloviator Tim Rutten is still semi-noteworthy as the perfect encapsulation of a certain type of persistent and un-self-aware media mindset. You know, the kind that bemoans the "the commoditization of incivility," warns of the dangerous "hatred" of the "lunatic right," urges people (in the wake of the Tucson shooting) to eschew "bitter political rhetoric" in these "hard and dangerous times"…and then says Republicans are "like some secular Taliban." Today's manifestation of that latter tic:
Ever since he took office, [Gov. Jerry] Brown has been trying to sell the Legislature's Republican minority on balancing the budget with a combination of deep cuts and moderate tax extensions, with the latter to be submitted to the voters for approval. It's all gone nowhere because, these days, the California GOP is less a political party than it is a sort of political Taliban taking its anti-tax dogma from talk show imams and Internet heresy hunters.
I understand–though have no respect for–political hacks like Markos Moulitsas and Ann Coulter using formulations like "American Taliban" to demonize their enemies and sell books. But for a self-identified old-skool journalist, whose job it has been for decades to write consciously (and pompously) about the media? That's just an open admission of defeat.
And yet another sign that there's no governing failure in Democrat-dominated California that will not be blamed on Republicans until the last GOPer swims across the Colorado River.
