Charlie Pierce

It seemed that just about everything that could be written about the phony Swift Boat liars had already been written. And then I came across Charlie Pierce's post today on Eric Alterman's Altercation. Pierce has a way of getting right to the nub of an issue, and he doesn't disappoint here.

By all standard measures, this story should be over, and these people consigned to that same Phantom Zone where was dispatched that poor guy who wrote "Fortunate Son" in 2000. Can any fair person maintain that John O'Neill and the rest of the Chuck Colson Flotilla have any more credibility at this point than poor Hatfield had?

However, they live.

Why?

Television.

The print media, God love it, has done so thorough a debunking of these guys that you'd expect to hear a couple of them on Art Bell's program late one night. But because the "issue" and the "controversy" make good television theater, they must be kept alive. Which is why, the next time you see, say, Norah O'Donnell, down by the phony barn on the phony ranch, and she tells you how remarkable it is that the ads are "having an effect" despite the fact that the actual buy was so low, you should feel free to excuse yourself and go vomit in the corner. The original ad contained substantially less truth than the Hitler Diaries, but it was run anyway, over and over again, in news pieces about the "issue" and on argument shows dealing with the "controversy."

Bless Charlie Pierce, and please go read his whole post. Perhaps one way to salvage our democracy would be to prohibit CNN and MSNBC and CNBC from broadcasting except in the case of a certifiable national security crisis. The rest of the time they could be restricted to showing "Leave it to Beaver" reruns. That would leave a lot of news "consultants" unemployed, but it would be excellent for democracy and for the national blood pressure.

This is what happens when sneering schoolyard invective is reckoned to be actual talent because it comes with a Q rating. (Have a nice day, Tucker.) This is what happens when you run scared. Truth, literally, comes to matter not at all.