We really need to call this what it is: a serious problem

Grouchy old union types might call this "class media". Or, God forbid, "capitalist media". As John Kenneth Galbraith reminds us, the words "capitalism" and "capitalist" are hardly used in respectable discourse any more. Instead we speak of "the market system". I'm kind of fond of the venerable old 60s term "Establishment media", myself. Whatever you call it, Peter Daou is channelling the Daily Howler. The Triangle: Matthews, Moore, Murtha, and the Media Daou Report Salon 01/25/06:

What's the common thread running through the past half-decade of Bush's presidency? What's the nexus between the Swift-boating of Kerry, the Swift-boating of Murtha, and the guilt-by-association between Democrats and terrorists? Why has a seemingly endless string of administration scandals faded into oblivion? Why do Democrats keep losing elections? It's this: the traditional media, the trusted media, the "neutral" media, have become the chief delivery mechanism of potent anti-Democratic and pro-Bush storylines. And the Democratic establishment appears to be either ignorant of this political quandary or unwilling to fight it.

... And this has nothing to do with deflecting blame - the Kerry campaign should have known that their enemy [in the Swift Boat Liars for Bush affair in 2004] wasn't a vindictive crackpot like John O'Neill, but the many 'journalists' and media outlets who rammed the story down our collective gullets.

This has been the message the Howler has been pounding on for years. (He's become a bit bitter about it, it seems.) But he and Daou are right about this. Putting an end to preventive (i.e., illegal) wars, saving Social Security from the Social Darwinists, and preserving science education from the flat-earthers will require the Dems to tackle this problem in a much more serious way.

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