NPRepublican

photo Rbt. Miller, NY Post

There's been more than enough discussion about how Fox News is a propaganda arm of the GOTP.  NPR, on the other hand, has a pretty decent reputation as being a serious news outlet.  I was riding home yesterday from work and listening to some chat and analysis about the state of the New York governor's race.  I'm not sure who the conversationalists were--one was the usual NPR anchor in the afternoon, the other was either a GOP pol, or a supposedly "neutral" political analyst.  The names don't matter.

The analyst (let's call him Analyst) said that this year the social issues are not of interest, e.g., "no one" cares about abortion or gay marriage (his two examples)--nope, it's all about economics.  Then the two fellers lit into a conversation about the GOTP gubernatorial candidate, Paladino.  Andrew Cuomo, his Dem opponent, is suddenly realizing that he's got a serious challenge, precisely because Andrew Cuomo has been in government and is thus in the cohort of folks "they" want to toss out.  Our intrepid NPR guy (Guy) agrees.  Conversation continues along those lines, and possibly even as we speak.  I cut off the radio and told myself never to send another dime to NPR.  It was after work.  My feet hurt.  Who knows, I might reconsider.  Or maybe not.

Seems to me Guy's job is supposed to be journalism.  Perhaps you're familiar with the GOTP candidate for Governor of one of the top three states in the United States, not to mention the home of Ground Zero?  This character, a Tea Party favorite, has sent around racist emails featuring photo-shopped race jokes about President Obama and his wife Michelle.  His defense?  "I'm in construction."  He's also promising to stop the "Mosque at Ground Zero" if he's elected.  Well, how convenient, then, that all social issues are "off the table," as the Analyst has previously stipulated in the conversation.  Apparently that means that Guy can't point out to NPR's listeners that this GOTP candidate is a radical racist who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the levers of power (and possible he shouldn't be running a bulldozer either).

How can it be that Guy let's this contradiction stand?  On the one hand, no social issues allowed.  On the other, GOTP'er is actually running on social issues, with only a thin icing of economics to mask what's really going on.  The social issues are, for the still unaware, that there's a "N****R" in the White House, and that the muslim religion has a "foothold" in the United States.   This is the social program the GOTP is running on generally, by the way.  Here's how Paladino campaigns on the "social issue" of "Muslims At Ground Zero":
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Candidate-has-plan-to-stop-mosque-587733.php 
It's not rocket science, this here "journalism." 

So where's Guy.  Where's NPR?  I don't know, but I thought this was a journalist's job, to see through the "frame" and help us out.  What we get on this particular interview is just puff.  Poor Cuomo might get defeated by this populist champion of sensible economics.  It's actually very depressing.  And that's a political act too, isn't it?  Depressed folks tend to stay home in November.   You have to wonder.  I think it's time to put the wallet in the front pocket, like I do when I go to the State Fair.

Update.  Here's my basic premise--no one, in either major party, should find racist themes acceptable--and if a major party candidate is using race or xenophopia, he or she should be called on it.  It's a journalist's duty, and it's not partisan.   Apparently, for the GOTP, the "Southern Strategy" is still quite acceptable.