Live from the Republicans' Self-Made Gehenna: Wisconsin wingnut Charles Sykes notices that he and his fellows have created a monster:
Olivier Darcy: "Interviewed @SykesCharlie recently for story on conservative media:
We've basically eliminated any of the referees, the gatekeepers. There's nobody...
Let's say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it's a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that: 'By the way, you know its false.'
And they'll say, Why?: 'I saw it on Allen B. West.' Or they'll say: 'I saw it on a Facebook page.'
And I say, The New York Times did a fact check.
And they'll say, 'Oh, that's The New York Times. That's bullshit.'
There's nobody--you can't go to anybody and say, 'Look, here are the facts.' And I have to say that's one of the disorienting realities of this political year. You can be in this alternative media reality and there's no way to break through it. And I swim up stream because if I don't say these things from some of these websites, then suddenly I have sold out. Then they'll ask what's wrong with me for not repeating these stories that I know not to be true.
When this is all over, we have to go back. There's got to be a reckoning on all this. We've created this monster.
And took, I'm a conservative talk show host. All conservative hosts have basically established their brand as being contrasted to the mainstream media. So we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media. And by the way, a lot of it has been justifiable. There is real bias. But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there. And I am feeling, to a certain extent, that we are reaping the whirlwind at that.
And I have to look in the mirror and ask myself, 'To what extent did I contribute?' be honest, the bias of the mainstream media has been a staple for every conservative talk show host, every conservative pundit for as long as I can remember. Going way back into the 1960s with William F. Buckley...
