Howie and the Right-Wing Meme

Bush apologist Howard Kurtz -- who never met a GOP talking point he didn't mind repeating -- opines on "Bush hatred" in his latest WaPo column:

Mainstream journalism, with its traditional parameters, has somehow failed to connect with the notion that there are lots of Americans who walk around sputtering about Dubya -- despite fairly healthy approval ratings for a third-year incumbent. The press was filled with stories about Clinton-haters, but Bush-hating is either more restrained or more out of control, depending on who's keeping score.

As I've pointed out previously, there is simply no truth to the claim that "the press was filled with stories about Clinton-haters." The only serious appearance of the subject in major mainstream media was the 1994 Time story on 'Clintonophobia.' As Sadly No discovered in a Lexis/Nexis search (I posted about it here), there were a total of 18 stories in American newspapers between 1992 and 2000 that mentioned "Clinton hatred."

In contrast, a veritable cottage industry has sprung up around writing about "Bush hatred." A quick Google search reveals 1,980 hits -- the vast majority of them from conservative pundits and bloggers holding forth on the depredations of irrational liberals.

It's quite clear this is the Republicans' chief hope for blunting the wholly legitimate criticism of the Bush administration -- for its grotesque handling of the Iraq war, its failures in the war on terrorism, its miserable economic and environmental performance ... and yes, its theft of the 2000 election. Simply cast all this anger as the mirror image of the same kind of fevered lunacy that beset conservatives themselves during Clinton's tenure -- behavior that the GOP is well aware was unpopular with voters -- and voila! Serious debate easily dismissed!

In reality, this comparison, as I've pointed out, depends on an equivalency that does not exist -- namely, it contrasts Republicans' irrational and groundless attacks on Clinton (from Mena to Vince Foster to Whitewater to the 'black love child') with serious concerns on legitimate topics, all dealing with policy and ethical conduct, all based on established facts.

Kurtz's comparison also stands reality on its head. People who defended Clinton -- or rather, who questioned his critics -- were quickly labeled "Clinton apologists." People who irrationally attacked him were treated seriously or, at best, tut-tutted as "harsh."

One of the primary progenitors of that double standard? Howard Kurtz, of course.