Howard Fineman's Newsweek piece on Jerry Falwell provides more evidence that the MSM simply cannot even pretend to be unbiased -- even after someone has died.
Aside from the unflattering picture of Falwell (I realize authors don't pick the photos), the entire piece is unbecoming. About the only good thing he can say about Falwell is that he influenced America (though Fineman adds that Falwell was never really the conservative movements, "most pivotal inside player ...")
But what interests me most is the insinuation that Falwell was nothing more than a P.T. Barnum-style "showman." Here's how Fineman describes one of Falwell's meetings in 1980:
It was like a revival meeting—co-written by George Orwell and staged by Lynyrd Skynyrd. With lights dimmed and ominous music echoing in the hall, the stage was framed by giant photos of America's enemies (back then, the Soviet Union). In the spotlight, Falwell warned that Armageddon was at hand, unless God-fearing voters ousted Jimmy Carter (a born-again Christian himself, but never mind) and the rest of the Democrats. Hope lay in only one place: with Reagan and his GOP disciples. When the lights came up, there they were, standing and waving in the audience: not the Gipper himself, but a lineup of Alabama Republican candidates.
... "Co-written by George Orwell?" Come on!
Here's the catch-22: When conservatives don't learn to market our message, we are labeled "old," "out-of-touch," or "boring." And when conservatives do become good at marketing our message, we are denounced as charlatans -- and the message -- no matter how deep and sincere -- is dismissed as mere prestidigitation.
Fineman ends his piece by saying: "Now Falwell is in a Better Place. I'm not sure that's true of the country."
Ugh!