A Bad Start

It doesn’t take much these days, apparently, to get me started off on the wrong foot.

Case in point: I woke up early this morning and decided to watch Washington Journal, something I haven’t done in at least a month or so, primarily due to the fact that I’ve been staying up to all hours of the night and sleeping in. I shouldn’t have. Watched WJ, that is. The normal WJ drill for the first hour of the program is to cover the newspaper headlines while the host takes calls from viewers. And here’s what set me off, Gentle Reader: the first four or five calls…from Dems, Republicans and Independents…were from the frickin’ Truthers. And they were well-prepared Truthers, at that, armed with URLs of Truther web sites, quotes, “evidence,” various and sundry rants about Bu$hitler, Cheney, Neo-cons, yadda, yadda, yadda. This went on, literally, for the first 20 minutes of the program.

Brian Lamb, C-SPAN founder and the normal host on Fridays, must be on vacation. Mr. Lamb doesn’t entertain Truther rants gracefully, if at all. I’ve seen him play with Truthers on occasion, picking at their arguments, shooting holes in their “facts,” and what-not. But generally speaking, Mr. Lamb simply disconnects them once they begin their rants with a curt “Thanks for your call,” followed by “click.” Not so this morning. I only saw one call summarily disconnected by Steve (this morning’s host) and that was when the caller’s language became abusive towards the administration. The rest of the callers were allowed to rave on. This is wrong.

It’s wrong because C-SPAN is providing these idiots with a national platform for their gibberish. It’s wrong because listening politely encourages them. It’s wrong because C-SPAN becomes a minor “accessory after the fact” and serves to perpetuate the madness. I’m all for freedom of speech, generally speaking, but I have my limits. You can publish all the conspiracy theories you want on your blog or on a web site devoted to such drivel. You can rave about Neo-con crimes on a street corner if you so desire. But you should be cut off at your knees when you begin spouting this crap on the premier public affairs network in the US of A…no ifs, ands, or buts.

Shunning works. And Truthers should be shunned.

Related: “Zogby poll: 42% of Democrats think Bush either caused 9/11 or let it happen.” Just in case you missed it yesterday.

I am thoroughly depressed. How can one shun 42% of the entire Democratic Party? (OK, I know it’s just another frickin’ poll, and polls lie often distort things, for any number of reasons. But still…)