Caught this quote from Phil Gingery (R-GA), and it got me thinking a lot about something I tend to whine about frequently: that big divide between “liberal” and “conservative” in terms of perception. Read the quote.

“Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience,” he said, begging forgiveness. “Every day, millions and millions of Americans — myself included — turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and determination.”

Realize that, as headache-inducing as that is to many of us, it’s a perfectly acceptable thing for a sitting Congressman to say. Until recently, the “legitimacy” of Limbaugh/Hannity/et al was never questioned, and if you were sitting in the Capitol building there was no problem with you listening to Rush and getting your news from Drudge. So I took the same quote and changed it a little:

“Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore and Ed Schultz*, and other liberal giants are the voices of the liberal movement’s conscience,” he said, begging forgiveness. “Every day, millions and millions of Americans — myself included — turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and determination.”

Imagine, just imagine what would happen if a Democratic Congressman hopped on television and said something like that. They would instantly, and I do mean instantly, be excoriated and torn to shreds by every single Republican and conservative in the media. Words like “radical”, “fringe”, and “socialist” would be thrown around 10 times per sentence.

It’s no problem for Republican politicians to consider extreme-right talking heads “mainstream”,  the networks will keep all the Malkins and Becks around no matter how inflammatory (and frequently factually incorrect) their statements are, but you’ll be lucky to find any voices beyond “pretty liberal” in the media.

A gun-totin’, no-gay-unions, Bible in the courthouse, ban all abortions kind of Republican would have no problem getting mainstream media support, but Barack Obama, who isn’t for gay marriage, hasn’t called for socialized medicine, and is a practicing Christian, is called “incredibly liberal”. I cannot imagine what would happen if someone like me were able to get my voice out there.

*I would have said Al Franken in place of Ed, but since he’s actually in office now