Tulsi Gabbard has done the unpardonable: criticized US global hegemony
Media Analysis
David Bromwichon August 3, 2019
Side by side images of Tulsi Gabbard and Kamala Harris at July 31 debate in
Detroit. AP images.
The Timesfull spread hit piece on Tulsi Gabbard is a new low, even for the
Times. It is yellow journalism half disguised as human interest, with a few
random points of political information.
Headline: "Unorthodox Campaign Shows Isolationism May Have a Hold."
Opening sentence: "Tulsi Gabbard is running for president of a country that
she believes has wrought horror on the world."
Their initial strategy was simply to starve her out - no coverage, no
candidacy. Now, because she's still in and lately told a truth that weakened
the Timeschoice Kamala Harris, they are giving her the Bernie 2016
treatment: i.e. this candidate is outlandish, absurd, unaccountably
heartless (her sister fell off a horse while the story was being written and
her reaction was lacking in warmth), mystical (she spoke at a solar panel
dedication event), a tool of the wicked (she points out that Syria never
went to war against the US) - and possibly a Russian agent.
Among Timesreaders, fewer than one in 50 is likely to be a supporter of
Gabbard, but turning off voters is the secondary purpose of such an article.
The primary purpose is to shape attitudes at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR,
the Washington Post, and the Timessister publication The New Yorker.
Legitimize flat-out condescension and contempt in the influential outlets
and you keep her numbers down, since people won't hear her voice at all.
A war veteran, an experienced and respected lawmaker, and a woman of color,
but she commits the unpardonable error of criticizing worldwide US hegemony
and so they follow the corporate reflex: make her a laughingstock.
Postscript.Gabbard stands up to an MSNBChack who tries to overwhelm her with
pro-war talking points. MSNBC is part of the perpetual war machine, as is
the Times; they backed the Iraq war, and they'll do the same for the next
war, whether it's in North Africa, east Asia, or Ukrain
