If one takes the talk of the authoritarian personality seriously, it has a lot of implications for the republican's behavior on the web.  As followers who seek out strong authority figures, they don't use the web the way we do.  And at this point in the election cycle, where there is no clearly annointed leader, they do not know who to follow.  They may have preferences among McCain, Romney, etc., but they do not see their role to participate in choosing who should lead.  They are waiting to be told who to follow.  Hence their contributions to the repubs at this point are much lower.

Matt, what you have to realize is that different actors in the propaganda landscape occupy different spaces.  Fox and the WSJ rally the right wing base. The Times and the Post, on the other hand, demoralize, confuse, and fragment the liberal opposition.

Three paragraphs in, it became obvious he is a concern troll.  I just stopped reading.  Everyone at the Times and the Post seems to be a concern troll.

Jim Wallis is like Joe McCarthy.  He has a list of names in his pocket, but he won't produce it.  Sheer dishonesty.

Schumer and the beltway dems are already trying to horn in here.  Just got an email from the DSCC asking for money to "help" Tester.  I sure hope Tester can win without Schumer's "help."  Make sure to give any $ you want to Tester directly or through ActBlue, NOT the DSCC!

"Utopic"???   Try "utopian."

Since when is the Post "blue-state media?"  D.C. isn't even a state, and its run lock stock and barrel by concervatives.  Go across the river and you're in Virginia, hardly a blue state.

The Post was currying favor with the GOP and thought  a little nepotism would be good.  How do liberals have anything to do with this??

Hyperwankerific indeed.

What political price?  The denial of confirmation for Alito.  Here is a president who broke the law, claims he is above the law, and wants to appoint someone who is willing to say he is above the law.

Bush should not be rewarded with a confirmation of Alito.  He should pay a political price, as Specter says.  His nomination of Alito should be rejected.

Thge Dems, if they ever find their backbone, can use Specter's own words against him in the Alito debate.  Whether they laid a glove on Alito in the committee hearings is irrelevant.  They have 45 votes, and can filibuster if they simply decide to do so, and Specter's words give them ample justification.

This will force the repubs to do their sacrosanct "up or down vote" and increase pressure on the cracks in the republican ranks.  

I doubt it will get this far, however.  The nomination will probably be withdrawn before Nov. 7.

Oh, I'm sorry.  The scales fall from my eyes.

No, I never paid money to be "trained."

Sorry if I interfered with your income.

You do need to get paid, after all.

Who do you think you are?  A little Lenin?

Not only am I arrogant, I'm ungrateful.

Thank you for illustrating your own point so well.

I don't think so.  

If you can think for yourself, you don't need framing to tell you how you should think about things. You think critically, analyze assumptions, seek other points of view, gather facts, read widely, and come to your own conclusions.  You don't and shouldn't think in terms of labels like stern father or nurturing mother.

If you can't think for yourself, how are you going to learn to frame things for yourself?

But your reply was very good spin--excuse me, framing.

It matters not what progressives say, because it will be distorted, lied about, and shat upon by the media.  Given that reality, nuance and framing are rather irrelevant.

This debate is a waste of energy.