George Rebane

Republicans continue to miss the boat on understanding the mind of America’s main street.  On the internet and broadcast media Republican mavens are self-assured that Democrats are heading for an election disaster, since they can smugly point out all the failures and follies of leftwing public policies.  But that doesn’t mean a thing when it comes to what a majority of America’s voters believe, think, and how they will most likely vote.  Every poll shows that the Left’s lamestream media have been very successful in convincing people to believe in a state of our nation and economy that simply is not so.  Very few listen to or even understand the esoteria validating open market capitalism and its public policies that Republican pundits so confidently continue to spout to their chorus.

What comes next and what should come next in Iran?  We don’t know which group of ragheads is in charge in that Islamic republic (hah!), but the effect of their incoherent responses to a negotiated conclusion continues to ropa-dope the administration.  I have laid out in detail (see ‘The 7apr26 Iran Cease-fire?!’) what our ongoing response should be to their obvious prevarications and delay tactics.  Well, finally that part of Rebane Doctrine is being echoed by Victor Davis Hanson (here), a Stanford don and one of our celebrated conservative commentators.  More rightwing puubahs will soon be similarly advising President Trump to not depend only on his blockade of Iranian shipping.

[5may26 update]  Blurring videos is further evidence that broadcast news programming has taken another step backward in how they present news to consumers.  This is especially egregious at outlets like Fox News (remember “… fair, balanced, and still unafraid”).  They are scared to death of getting sued if they show a face or even a politically incorrect graphic that someone used to make a statement.  This morning New York’s latest anti-semitic vandalism was reported showing extensive pro-Nazi graffiti on temple walls and Jewish homes – only we didn’t get to see the actual messaging since Fox decided to blur every graffiti on the video shown with the news report.  As consumers we are not allowed see such news, why?, apparently because some people might be offended or someone may sue. Modern times.

Commentators and news reporters should reflect different standards when delivering their verbiage on the air.  When reporting a news item, reporters should always reference their sources that corroborate what is being reported which should be free of the reporters’ opinions.  But opinions are the sum and stuff of a commentator’s commentary and reflects the value of his view of the world.  When a commentator prevaricates with wishy-washy statements that camouflage his opinions, then he is not delivering an honest and robust product.  Overuse of words such as ‘may’ instead of ‘will’, and carefully inserting ‘alleged’ where certainty is required are dead giveaways of commentary gone soft.