Our “anthropology lessons” continue!

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014

Liberals defeating Democrats and the people they serve: In a rational world, no one would be discussing Campaign 2016 at this point.

We don’t live in a rational world. We live in a world where Hillary Clinton’s book tour—the book concerns her years at State—was turned into a referendum on the size of her speaking fees and on her deeply troubling comments about her deeply troubling homes, which are two in number.

A code of silence kicked in at that point among our liberal heroes. With the exception of Gene Lyons, we’ve seen no one say a critical word about the jihad which formed in the past few weeks.

In the past few days, we note that two of our bravest writers have risen to criticize Edward Klein, a visible crackpot who is out there trashing the Clintons again.

That said, no one is going to challenge or discuss the peculiar behavior of Diane Sawyer, a very powerful mainstream player. And no one will ever discuss the jihad churned by the Washington Post.

Dave Weigel doesn’t play that game, which could be bad for Dave Weigel’s career. The rest of us accept this conduct, as we’ve done for the past twenty years.

In 1999 and 2000, it was the conduct of the guild’s career liberals which ended up sending Bush to the White House. Fifteen years later, various overpaid career liberals have started their games again.

They’re repeating familiar talking-points about Hillary Clinton—the same familiar talking-points their colleagues once mouthed about Candidate Gore. Even as this occurs, the Koch brothers are pledging big bucks to take Candidate Clinton out. For whatever reason, TV stars like Krystal Ball seem to be trying to help.

In short, it would almost take an anthropologist to explain the peculiar customs of the press corps’ “corporate liberals.” All this week and next, we’ll be taking an anthropological approach to their tribal rites.

If you think the Balls can’t get a Republican elected again, you’re living on the dark side of some distant planet. Ball’s forerunners sent Bush to the White House. Ball and the rest of her overpaid crowd could easily do it again.

(That said, their hair is perfect!)

Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be our first choice if we were designing the perfect Democratic candidate. That said, Ball’s recent commentary would be our first choice if we were asked to design a recurring, low-IQ nightmare.

In 1999 and 2000, Frank Rich did the work of Karl Rove. (We’ll review his conduct later this week.) In the summer of 2014, Ball is doing the work of the Kochs.

It would almost take an anthropologist to explain such practices. All week long, we’ll examine the morés of these tribal players.

This conduct is permitted: Because Edward Klein is a visible nut, timid pseudo-journalists feel free to criticize him.

To see Dave Weigel do so, click this. At Salon, the posturing push-back was performed by Jim Newell.

It’s safe to push back against Edward Klein. Diane Sawyer is powerful.