The Way We Live Now

Or rather, the way they live in media-land: an hour of this morning's On Point was devoted to Republican efforts to eliminate federal funding for PBS and NPR. I usually enjoy On Point, but the devotion of an hour to this topic was typical of the media's absorption in non-issues. The Republicans tried to pull the plug on public broadcasting in 1995 and it didn't work. And that was when they controlled both the House and the Senate.

Bottom line: no Republican wants to go home at election time and find out he's known as the guy who killed Elmo.* Of course, the fact that NPR & PBS are even being discussed illustrates Republican unwillingness to tackle actual issues. They claimed to be concerned about the deficit and they waste time on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which takes less than 1 % of the federal budget?

And then there's the other "issue" of an NPR fundraiser being taped by Operation Veritas saying the truth about the Tea Party and making nice with people he thought were donors. Calling a bunch of racist fanatics racist fanatics and schmoozing with people who might give his employer money? Clearly this is a man who doesn't deserve employment.



*Well, maybe Rand Paul does.