Ken Berwitz

If there is one political truism that is constantly demonstrated and re-demonstrated, it is that when the right personally attacks someone it is immediately condemned in the harshest terms, but when the left does so there is little or no price to pay.

Here is the latest example, via Brian Maloney at www.radioequalizer.blogspot.com:

07 March 2010

Libtalker Malloy Accuses 'Glenn Beck Fan' Of Pentagon Shootings

SMEAR FRONTLOADING

Lefties Master The Baseless Preemptive Attack

After years of refining their technique, lefties seem to have mastered the art of the preemptive smear. Now, political opponents are instantly to blame for virtually any tragedy that might befall the innocent, anytime and anywhere.

The case of John Patrick Bedell, the Californian who was killed earlier this week after a Pentagon shootout, provides the latest example. Though it quickly became clear through his writings that Bedell was more likely a hard-leftist, the "progressive" camp quickly tied him to conservatives.

The Politico even ran a story about the right's "resistance" to such a connection, as though conservatives had a genuine reason to distance themselves from him. The Christian Science Monitor also featured a similar piece at their website.

Although he had no connection to Bedell or the incident, lefties worked quickly to bring Glenn Beck into the mix. Sloppily, HBO's Bill Maher said he wished Beck had been killed at the Pentagon, while longtime libtalker Mike Malloy claimed the shooter was one of Glenn's fans:

MALLOY (04:01): So, a shooting at the Pentagon, uh, a Glenn Beck fan who obviously went beserk and decided to kill police officers at the, at the Pentagon and didn't succeed; at least neither officer is dead yet.

Um, and the perpetrator apparently is not dead yet either, so maybe they can, uh, when they fix him up, they can waterboard him a bit and find out what it was that Glenn Beck said that made him decide to open fire, uh, near the entrance of the Pentagon.

Jesus, God, Glenn, you better back off, seriously. You're pushing the nut cases in this country to the max. Well, that's what you're trying to do, never mind.

Of course, once the details have emerged and it becomes clear they're wrong, apologies are almost never offered. That's why frontloading smears has proven so effective: they're rarely held accountable when the truth is revealed.

The one part of Brian's commentary that I take issue with is his characterization of maher's death wish for Glenn Beck as having been done "sloppily".  It wasn't sloppy; it was vile and dishonest - neither of which would bother someone like maher in the least.  He is one of the leftist elite, and has the luxury of sneeringly, condescendingly looking down on we subhumans who disagree with much of what he spews. 

Frankly, I'm reasonably certain that maher himself disagrees with a lot of it as well.  But he barfs it out anyway because outrageous BS sells, as the longevity of his "real time" show on HBO seems to prove.

Finally, compare the reaction to the comments from maher and malloy (and olbermann,and matthews, and maddow, and schultz, and O'Donnell and Schuster - all of them on MSNBC) to anything Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter say against anyone to the left, and see the difference. 

Then shake your head in amazement when our wonderful "neutral" media claim they are not biased.