Topic: Media Research Center
Remember the outrage the Media Research Center spewed at Kathy Griffin for the photo of her holding a fake severed head of Trump? She had channeled ISIS, they harrumphed; it was delcared that "Griffin managed to unite people around one cause: decency in political satire" (which it judged that Griffin's image wasn't), cheered that CNN dropped her as a host for its New Year's Eve broadcast over it, whined that the non-right-wing media didn't obsess over it enough (then whined some more), Brent Bozell insisted she did it because "the left believes there is no line that you can cross," then pondered whether Trump deserved it, then joined Tim Graham in complaining that "Griffin has long used smears on conservatives and Republicans to boost her career." and were glad she finally got her comeuppance.
But when Republican Rep. Paul Gosar posted a video lifted frrom an anime series edited (via the magic of superimposed faces) to depict him as killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and lunging with swords at Presient Biden, you'd think that the MRC would be just as outraged, given its pontifications about the limits of political satire regarding Griffin.
Nope. Mostly crickets:
- A Nov. 14 post by Kristine Marsh referenced only in passing "Democrats moving to censure Arizona Republican Paul Gosar over his violent anti-AOC tweet" but refused to issue a judgment about it, instead complaining that "The media will bend over backwards to label all violence the right's fault."
- Clay Waters used a Nov. 18 post to complain about a New York Times article on Gosar's censure by playing whataboutism: "Never mind months of violent left-wing street riots nationwide, multiple assaults on Sen. Rand Paul, an attempted assassination of Republican congressmen at a ballfield. The New York Times is wringing its hands over an animated video issued by a far-right Republican congressman, smearing the entire party as coursing with violence." Waters refused to criticize the Gosar video.
- Another post the same day by Alex Christy groused that NBC's Chuck Todd "tried to paint Gosar as representative of the Republican Party as a whole" -- but he wouldn't even describe the content of Gosar's video, let alone issue a judgement on it.
- On Nov. 19, Curtis Houck huffed that MSNBC's Joy Reid was "warning of a 'dark Republican future' with the censure of Congressman Paul Gosar," but he too refused to describe what Gosar did that got him censured.
- The MRC's whitewashing was complete by a Dec. 6 post by Nicholas Fondacaro, who described as merely "controversy-prone," like fellow GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (whom the MRC has also been whitewashing).
And that's pretty much it, aside from references in transcripts that MRC writers didn't even bother to highlight.
Remember this hypocrisy the next time the MRC melts down over some random liberal outrage that needs to be exploited to push its agenda.
