Broken feedback loop for Democrats and Iran
Jack Risko of Dinocrat.com notices that President Ahmedinejad of Iran and the Democratic Party may suffer from a similar problem: misinterpreting the biased antique media as somehow representative of the feelings of Americans.
The MSM have succumbed to fear of the Islamists and will not show the cartoons, as we and others have noted. Iran may take the obsequiousness of the MSM and spineless bodies seeking to codify media censorship, like the EU in Brussels, to be an indication of popular sentiment and popular will. That would be mistake that could lead to serious consequences, in our view, because the power of the MSM is limited, as is its value as a measure of public opinion.
The MSM have been kowtowing to dictators, thugs, and bully boys at least since the NYT's Walter Duranty kissed Stalin's boots in the 1930's, so their current behavior should be no surprise to anyone. For example, Eason Jordan had CNN cover up for Saddam and Kim Jong Il, as did boss Ted Turner. Similarly, according to Wretchard, Europe's elite and its leaders have now fallen 'too far behind the curve of popular opinion' in their failure to recognize and respect the anger of ordinary Europeans at the shenanigans being tolerated from the Islamist bullies. So Iran may be getting a false sense of how far it can push matters, based on EU elites and MSM coverage of the West.
There's a lot more, so be sure to read this shrewd post.
Thomas Lifson 2 10 06