Ok, I realize that this has been covered in a few diaries and I haven't posted a diary in a while. This is something I've been thinking about for a long time about this website and how we operate. So if this is repetitive, I apologize and we can delete the diary, but here goes.
Here in the DailyKos community, I think that we all have a clear understanding that we have a completely dysfunctional, destructive political party in the United States. We all know that already. When we speak these things to one another, we're not learning anything new. From a solution based approach, sharing those things here within this community, in my opinion, doesn't achieve anything. Reinforcing the fact and understanding of how crazy the Republican party is within our own community doesn't do anything to eliminate them from power. It does nothing to get rid of them from our halls of government. We're all already going to vote for Democrats (I assume), whether they're more center, left, or progressive ones. We're all going to vote for Democrats, the "better" ones, or any Democratic candidate that will get rid of the Republican candidate.
Mission of this website being what it is, putting anybody other than a Republican in the halls of our government will benefit the majority of people in this country, and that's a victory to me. So why keep talking about Republican insanity and depravity here on this website? It doesn't seem to achieve the goal of getting them out of office.
Who do I think is the real target then? What should we be going after to achieve our mission?
My belief is that we should be going after the media that covers our current state of affairs by committing the following grievous errors.
(1) Giving a voice to Republicans who should no longer have a voice on the main stage. I'm talking about those conservatives who were wrong on the Iraq War, who have been wrong about health care, who were wrong about the economy, wrong on terror, etc. etc. etc. If you have been consistently wrong about policy after policy for the last 30 years as a party, the consequence should be that you aren't allowed back on the air or in print or any sort of main stream media. Right now there is no consequence for being wrong and being a conservative. Why does Jon McCain keep being invited on? Why does Lindsey Graham keep getting on TV? Why does Rudy Guliani still get interviews?
(2) Media that doesn't do their research and call out conservatives when they lie or are wrong needs to be called out. Media outlets that are lazy on conservative lies need to be called out. Media outlets that simply ignore conservative lies need to be called out. Every time a conservative goes on the air and lies, they need to be called out for it and if the media doesn't do it, we need to be on their asses. Every time a conservative goes on the floor of congress and lies, we need to call out the media when they don't cover that lie. There are no consequences for lying and the media continues to allow that.
(3) We need to call the media out when they allow "both-sides-erism". The American public doesn't need a fair and balanced debate on something that is fact. The media shouldn't be giving a Republican representative the floor to spout on and on about how healthcare isn't working, when the fact is that it is. The media shouldn't be giving a conservative guest a voice to lie about climate change, when the facts on the issue are clear. The media should be called out when they try and promote balance on an issue that doesn't need it. There is no balance between the two parties, one is insane and the other isn't. Both sides aren't equivalent, and the media should be harassed if they report as such.
We on DailyKos already know about Republican depravity. The media is responsible to tell the masses that don't. The media should be responsible for telling the truth and not allowing our representatives to lie, and they simply don't do that. Meanwhile we expend endless energy on calling out conservative craziness, while our mainstream news, print, and radio outlets should be the ones expending that energy. And when they don't? We need to call them out ourselves and force action towards change on that level. Both sides haven't been wrong about policy. Both sides aren't crazy. Both sides aren't consistently lying to the public. So lets call out the media that keeps inviting the lying crazy uncle to the dinner table.
Maybe once Republicans no longer have a voice for their insanity at the table, and when the people start to see clearly how nuts they are, then we'll see them lose their seats of power.