Escape from the Cocoon

Patterico links to what he ponders as being perhaps “The Greatest Blog Post Ever Written?”

That might be hyperbole . . . but then again, it might not.

I’m in an odd position. In the last few months, I’ve had one foot in the left wing news stream and one foot in the right. My media duality began when conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart hired me to work with him on the Pigford ‘black farmers’ settlement story. I’m a pro-choice, pro-single payer, anti-war, pro-gay rights independent liberal with years of work in print and film backing those positions. Breitbart hired me to bring a different perspective to the non-partisan issue of corruption in Pigford.

Since then, I’ve written both here for the left-leaning Huffington Post and at Breitbart’s right leaning BigGovernment.com. I’ve ended up reading a lot more conservative sites and dealing firsthand with a lot more conservatives than any time since I attended a high school dedicated to the principles of Ayn Rand about 30 years ago.

. . . .

Since working with Breitbart, my position on political issues hasn’t changed but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m deeply disappointed by the virulent, lockstep attitude I see on the left. My experience in the last few months tells me what I would not have believed possible; on any number of issues (including Pigford, by the way) I’ve seen liberals act much nastier and with less factual honesty than the conservatives… and this includes on issues where I disagree with conservatives.

Who is saying these things? It is Lee Stranahan at the Huffington Post, a lefty for whom I have never had anything but the utmost respect. So much so that, when he was looking for a way to get in touch with Andrew Breitbart, I not only made the introduction but told Andrew that this was a lefty who was honest and whom he could trust. The rest is history in the making, as Stranahan is involved with Andrew in unveiling the massive fraud that is Pigford.

And as he has become more familiar with Andrew in particular, and conservative sites and conservatives in general . . . all of a sudden, this lefty has started to see just how ugly the left can be. Just one more example:

Just before writing this article, I did a Google search and it’s stunning to find out that the right wing media really isn’t exaggerating — proven death threats against politicians are being ignored by the supposedly honest media.

The only thing is, it isn’t stunning. It’s commonplace. We conservatives are used to seeing big stories be given the cold shoulder by Big Media, for no apparent reason except that the story might benefit Republicans. For example: why does any story about cutting spending not put the cuts in context against our stunning debt and deficit, for example, caused by our unsustainable runaway entitlements?

Can’t run that story. It might benefit Republicans. Let Fox News do it.

Hey, the New York Times is busy rejiggering its book sales rankings to play down conservative authors — so just imagine how much real news that, as Patterico writes, “might benefit Republicans” goes down the Gray Lady’s memory hole, to keep that epistemic closure both inside the office and out as hermetically tight as possible.