Last night Chris Matthews choked up talking about Joe Biden's family, basically saying it was a miracle that the Democrats could field an ordinary Joe like this with a sprawling northeastern Catholic family. Two nights back he repeatedly said "we" when talking about the leftish Kennedy wing of the party taking on the centrist Jimmy Carter wing back in the '70s, when Matthews was blooded in politics.
It's no exaggeration to say that Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were getting out their tomtoms over Biden's references to Cheney, saying that our long national nightmare is over. The lovely Maddow seemed on the verge of professing a leftwing anti-Iraq-adventures Glenn-Greenwaldish agenda but a little uncertain how much she could say. (While Olbermann is every second trying to turn MSNBC into the sloganeering Fox of the left, which would demolish its journalistic reputation).
This morning on NPR Linda Wertheimer seemed to break up a little when she had John Lewis on talking about his speech to the sea of people at the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago.
There's a reason these people are emotional: these are the inestimable social achievements of the progressive spirit in American society. Liberating the blacks, women, gays (I think Maddow is gay), and giving voice to populists like Matthews and Biden–these are Democratic Party achievements. They will be recapitulated tonight in Barack Obama's ascension, our leftwing Jesus. And I say that without irony, there is undoubtedly a spiritual idealistic cult movement behind him, and it's inspiring to watch, I feel privileged to be walking along behind this train in the dust.
Eric Alterman frequently argues that the media aren't liberal. They're liberal. Overwhelmingly, the media are drawn from blue-state elites who are pro-choice, anti-second-amendment, pro-gay, pro-black, pro-affirmative-action, Bush-haters. Privileged people like me. Our moment is arrived.
These media workers also tend to be spineless and to put their access to power and hefty pay over their values. In that sense Alterman–who has a spine– is right. They are consensus liberals. They went along with the Iraq war without raising their voices. They look on ordinary Americans as a sea of conservative middle-class couch potatoes and they're afraid to take those people on in earnest. They will lift not one finger on behalf of the oppressed Palestinians because of the Jewish presence in the Establishment. But let me say it again: their core values are progressive, and even the spineless are now coming out of the woodwork.
We can argue about why this is so sociologically, and how much it's changing. And yes I know: David Brooks and other conservative professionals have joined the media, Fox News, Matt Drudge is anti-abortion and he's the most powerful journo in America. But by and large the media are still leftish. And tonight's our night. Have fun guys.
