“So Relax”, This Guy Tells Me…
By Mitch Berg
…because “it’s all in your head that anyone outside of a couple of whackdoodle leftybloggers calls Tom Emmer extreme! Why, the fact that you bring it up implies some sort of mental condition on your part!”
Yeah, I guess he’s right. And anyway, my place is not to question my media/DFL overlords (ptr), is it?
May 5th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Ayebee, what were you saying?
Bwwwwwwaaaaahahahahahahaaa!
May 5th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Sack’s strength has always been subtlety.
May 5th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Hey, this cartoon is why I am maintaining my 5.5 year boycott of that paper. I don’t mind editorials or other opinion items. But to run a cartoon 365 days a year that bashes my people. Would you go to a retail store if everytime you paid for your purchase, an employee called you a f*ckhead?
May 5th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Fair enough. Here’s my take.
Mitch uses the example of Sack’s cartoon to proove that there are people who are are not “whackadoodle leftybloggers” that call Emmer extreme. The direct implication is that Sack himself is not a whackadoodle leftyblogger. The indirect implication is that Sack is an objective rationalist that represents moderate liberals.
Going back to his original post, that the undercurrent of Strip journalism was implying (but of course never outright saying) that Emmer was extremist I can only conlude that Mitch looks to Sack’s political cartoons to judge the predominant philosophy of the Strib as a whole. It is as if he believes that anything published in the opinion section of a paper must be indicative of the core philosophy.
Once again Mitch is using a single example to induce the general mindset of a political philosophy opposed to his own. You yourself once criticized me (and rightly so) for referring to a piece that Hannity used as evidence that Fox News was biased as a whole.
I understand that since this is a rightyblog it isn’t logistically feasable to back up your looser arguments since a majority of your readership will go long with it anyway no matter how thin it is, but just in case there happens to be a few moderates reading I feel its only fair to put forth the dissenting opinion.
p.s. Mitch, I never implied you had a mental condition. As much as I love being the center of attention, perhaps you were referring to someone else.
May 5th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
another thing: it’s a dumb cartoon. General strategy is to appear as extreme as possible in the primaries and beocme more moderate through the generals. If anything Emmer is going to become less extreme and more moderate come November, not the other way around.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
For starters – Emmer may or may not smooth some edges, but I suspect he’s going to spend a lot more time convincing the middle to move right than moving to the middle himself. He excels at it.
But the topic is Sack. You’re right about intra-party strategy – but Sack is trying to reinforce the meme that Emmer is too “Extreme” for “purple” Minnesota. He (and the Strib) are trying to give people an up-front distaste for listening to him (and us) at all.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Sack is a wack-a-doodle, but anyone who reads him pretty much understands where he’s coming from. How about the rest of the Strib editorial policy and the way it filters into the news?
The day after Kelliher’s endorsement, the Strib ran a fairly neutral headline about her achievement, along with a photo of her at the lectern, looking rather professorial. The headline after Emmer’s endorsement was something to the effect of “Emmer wins endorsement; critics respond.” The photo was a head and shoulders shot of Emmer speaking, with what some might describe as an angry or hostile expression on his face. A day or two letter a headline stated that Emmer’s next job is to win over moderates. That may well be true…but it’s true for both,/b> Emmer and Kelliher, or whatever rich white guy beats her out in the DFL primary. Haven’t seen any headlines to that effect, but I’m probably blinded by bias.
May 5th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Sorry, sloppy in closing the tag!
May 5th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
This isn’t an ad bought by Sack; this IS the Star Tribune.
…. …. …. ….
Ayebee, it looks like NW just took you to task.
May 6th, 2010 at 12:13 am
I’m just laughing to myself at how lame the attempt is. For goodness sakes, why didn’t he stick a swaztika on Emmer’s forehead to make sure we didn’t miss the point?
May 6th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I’m just laughing to myself at how lame the attempt is. For goodness sakes, why didn’t he stick a swaztika on Emmer’s forehead to make sure we didn’t miss the point?
No kidding. He also should have had the mastodon standing on the throat of someone labeled “the poor” or something like that.