SocraticGadfly: Alt-right antics nothing new — Bush, Rather and typewriters

October 13, 2016

Alt-right antics nothing new — Bush, Rather and typewriters

The newest round of Clinton email leaks by Wikileaks does nothing to surprise me. It does confirm what many of us long suspected about her Goldman Sachs speeches, that she's a moderate (triangulator?) like Bill, and more.

Nor does the alt-rights spoofing of the actual leaks, complete to inventing fake Scribd transcripts, claiming that an actual racist email which may or may not have looped in John Podesta was sent by John Podesta (hey, alt-right techies, you're idiots indeed if you think sensible people will believe Podesta uses a ".nl" email address) and more.

Remember a dozen years ago, when Dan Rather appeared to finally have the goods on Shrub Bush's fake Air National Guard experience? Remember the alt-right then arose from sewers to try to throw shade on typewriter or word processor carriages, fonts, pitches, etc.? I mean, some already established alt-righters, or fellow travelers like Erick Erickson, actively promulgated this. Others like "Gateway Pundit" Jim Hoft, got their start off this.

Remember how CBS eventually showed it had no balls and threw Rather under the bus then pushed him out the door? And directly canned Mary Mapes to boot?

That's where we're at today, only a different form of damage control. The spoofing against Clinton is just covering The Donald's more grotesque sexism.

And, yes, I do blame CBS. (As well as, somewhat, Mapes, and to a lesser extent, Rather.)

Mapes should have exercised a higher degree of journalistic skepticism. Rather, once he became aware she had not done so, should have done so himself.

That said, these were NOT fireable (Mapes) or de facto fireable (Rather) offenses.

But, when CBS overreacted, the alt-right knew that it could nail more coonskins to the wall.

And today, then, when the alt-right does spoofing, it gives the MSM and Hillbots the semi-sized opening to claim that everything coming out of Wikileaks is fake.

So, to a degree, I blame CBS for the current election.

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