The theme of Brent Bozell’s Dec. 28 column is the purported “Obama culture,” and he begins with a massive leap of logic:
The year 2012 was a depressing time for people who are already pessimistic about the state of our common culture. Conversely, the re-election of Barack Obama, in large measure made possible by the heavy financial support of Hollywood, projects the optimism of the cultural Left. They anticipate increased blue-state voting patterns in favor of gay “marriage,” legalized pot, gun regulations, and what next? Legalized prostitution? Euthanasia subsidized by Obamacare?
Only in Bozell’s fevered brain can one make a direct line from gay marriage to state-sponsored euthanasia.
Bozell also name-checks purported avatars of the “Obama culture,” but only one has any connection to Obama, and all of them came to prominence under previous administrations, most of them Republican:
- Roseanne Barr’s eponymous sitcom began in 1988, during the Reagan administration.
- Howard Stern similarly gained national prominence as a radio DJ during the Reagan years.
- Seth MacFarlane’s first show, “Family Guy,” began in 1998, during the Clinton administration, but after it grew popular in reruns and DVD sales, Fox brought back the show in 2004, during the Bush administration.
- Bill Maher has the only indirect link to Obama that Bozell cites (donating $1 million to Obama’s super PAC), but like Barr and Stern, his career began during the Reagan years.
So much for that “media research” Bozell’s Media Research Center does…