...such little regard...

“One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal.” —Bill Moyers

This is a fascinating report, with a bit of history on how republican leaders in the 60s decided to marginalize the delusional wing of their party (Birchers), and how today's "leaders enable them.
Questioning WorldNetDaily's cred Sept. 4: Far right website WorldNetDaily has apparently cooked up a lot of Obama conspiracy theories. From birthers to deathers, the Website consistently aims to give credibility to these already debunked theories. Can anyone, even moderate Republicans, reign in on this "fringe right?" Guest host Ana Marie Cox is joined by New York Times book review editor Sam Tanenhaus.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Benen: HARWOOD DIDN'T PULL HIS PUNCHES....

For all the complaining I do about media figures who buy into conservative spin or embraced forced neutrality, it's only fair that I praise a reporter who gets it right.

On MSNBC yesterday, John Harwood was asked about conservatives who don't want children to hear President Obama encourage kids to do well in school. "I've been watching politics for a long time, and this one is really over-the-top," Harwood said.

He explained, "[L]et's face it, in a country of 300 million people, there are a lot of stupid people too. Because if you believe that it's somehow unhealthy for kids, for the president to say 'work hard and stay in school,' you're stupid. In fact, I'm worried for some of those kids of those parents who are upset. I'm not sure they are smart enough to raise those kids."

Also yesterday, Harwood, in a separate appearance, went on to call this an "idiotic controversy," pushed by "clowns." He added, "It is the stupidest thing that I've ever seen in 25 years of covering Washington."

John Harwood, I should add, is not generally considered a firebrand. He's the chief Washington correspondent for CNBC and a political writer for the New York Times, and apparently, some right-wing controversies are so breathtakingly inane, Harwood feels compelled to tell viewers the unvarnished truth.

Good for him.

This is going too fast for Tom Frank. Think about that.

Class(room) struggle over Obama speech Sept. 4: Republicans seem to be up in arms about President Obama's planned back to school speech to students. Some school officials are already deciding not to allow the speech to be played in their schools. Why is there so much uproar? Guest host Ana Marie Cox is joined by Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Benen: THE NEW GOP MESSAGE ON EDUCATION...

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked this morning for his thoughts on the right-wing fit over the president's speech, encouraging kids to do well in school. "I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids to study hard and stay in school," Gibbs said.

That's true. The problem, of course, is that the "silly" season never ends.

That said, the DNC's response was much more amusing.

"What this absurd episode shows is that the GOP can in fact come up with new ideas. For example, it's now clear that the new Republican education platform will argue against personal responsibility, hard work and staying in school."

Right. The president wants to share a simple, straightforward message with the nation's students: work hard, play by the rules, excel in school, and take responsibility for your success. Angry, paranoid, right-wing activists are desperate to make sure children don't hear that message.

If the situation was reversed, and it was Democrats criticizing a Republican president's speech to kids, the pushback would be obvious: the left rejects basic, pro-education messages. That, or they're so closed blinded by partisan rage that they don't want Americans to hear innocuous messages from the Commander in Chief during two wars and an economic crisis.

Why do conservatives hate America?

NYT Editorial: Respect Your Children

The American right has directed many silly and offensive attacks at President Obama. But so far nothing compares with the news that right-wing demagogues on talk radio and the Web, along with Republican Party officials, are trying to stop children from hearing the president urge them to stay in school — because, they say, that is socialist propaganda.

Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise after a summer in which town hall meetings on health care have been turned into mindless shouting matches, where protesters parade guns and are cheered on by elected officials. Not only Sarah Palin, but people who know better — like Senator Charles Grassley — have been tossing around the fiction that Mr. Obama is planning to institute “death panels” to speed the infirm elderly to their ends.

Still, it was startling to read in Friday’s Times about the overheated and bizarre response to Mr. Obama’s plan to give a speech in a Virginia school next week that schools around the country also can show.

The White House says Mr. Obama will talk about the importance of education — hardly, we hope, a controversial topic. But the article said that in a growing number of school districts, especially in Texas, parents, talk-show hosts and some Republican officials are demanding that schools either refuse to show it or allow parents to keep their children home. The common refrain is that Mr. Obama will offer a socialist message — although nobody said what they meant by that.

There is, of course, nothing socialist in any of Mr. Obama’s policies, as anyone with a passing knowledge of socialism and its evil history knows. But in this country, unlike actual socialist countries, nobody can be compelled to listen to the president. What is most disturbing about all this is what it says about the parents — and the fact that they have such little regard for their children’s intelligence and ability to think.

This is a terrific video of our newest Dem Senator in action with an unruly crowd.

Benen: WHAT BACHMANN THINKS SHE KNOWS...

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is aware of the fact that she's a controversial political figure. It's understanding why that seems to be giving her some trouble. Bachmann told a conservative radio talk show yesterday that she's certain she's become the target of criticism because Democrats fear her ... as a presidential candidate.

"Also with women politicians, they want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman, and so they're doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don't have a prominent national voice. But the thing is, the people in our country, they don't care who the voice is, they just want someone, they want to know that someone is speaking out for them against what will certainly bring about the destruction of our great country if we continue to go down the Obama path."

Well, that's one possibility. The other is that Bachmann is mad as a hatter, and she's frequently ridiculed because no one can find a nuttier member of Congress who says so many ridiculous things on a regular basis.

Of course, the idea that Bachmann has presidential ambitions, and believes Democrats fear her as a credible national candidate, only reinforces the point that she's not all there.

That said, Bachmann has acknowledged that she would seek national office if she believes it's what "the Lord was calling me to do so." Rep. Jim Oberstar (D), one of Bachmann's colleagues from the Minnesota delegation, said this week, "I don't think God's talking to her anymore. I think she's hearing other voices."

Benen: THESE 'STORIES' DON'T EXIST IN A VACUUM...

NBC News' Chuck Todd seems amazed by the "controversy" surrounding President Obama encouraging kids to do well in school.

Finally, here's one more thought about the entire controversy over Obama's education speech on Tuesday: Since the White House has said the text of the speech will be available for 24 hours before he delivers it and since they altered the lesson plan language, why is this still a controversy?

The ability of the conservative media machine to generate a controversy for this White House is amazing. In fact, this is an example of a story that percolates where it becomes harder and harder for some to claim there's some knee-jerk liberal media bias. (Does anyone remember these kinds of controversies in the summer of 2001?) The ability of some conservatives to create media firestorms is still much greater than liberals these days. How effective is the conservative media machine? Just ask Van Jones...

To a certain extent, I'm amazed by a lot of this, too. The outrage surrounding the president's message is truly insane, and the right's ability to manufacture "controversies" out of nothing is almost impressive, in a brain-numbing kind of way.

And while I don't mean to pick on Chuck Todd -- indeed, his point is to rebut the silly notion of a "liberal" media -- I'd love to see him consider this in more depth. He realizes there's no longer a genuine, newsworthy story here, and expresses amazement that the right can "create media firestorms" whenever they want. What's more, Todd realizes the left can't do the same thing.

But here's the key: Chuck Todd and his colleagues help decide what does, and does not, become, a media firestorm. More to the point, the only "controversies" that gain traction are the ones Chuck Todd and his colleagues give attention to.

Todd's post seems to argue, "Wow, can you believe people are talking about this crazy, nonsensical story that conservatives cooked up out of nothing?" It fails to acknowledge Chuck Todd's role in helping promote the crazy, nonsensical stories that conservatives cook up out of nothing.