In the wake of the shootings in Virginia, there’s been a lot of talk about civility in the political sphere. Media Research Center director of media analysis Tim Graham’s response: hold my beer.
Graham takes an unnecessary, gratuitous and mean-spirited shot at Rachel Maddow’s looks in a June 14 post attacking her interview with Rolling Stone:
For her part, Maddow proclaims she is a “cheerleader for the American media,”an interesting choice of words since she tries very hard not to appear feminine.
What is the purpose of saying such a thing, Tim? What does that add to the conversation? Why do you think you should be taken seriously as a media critic when you’re so eager to denigrate someone simply for refusing to conform to your idea of femininity? And as a chubby white guy, Graham hardly has any room to complain about the looks of other people.
Indeed, there’s no reason to read the rest of Graham’s critique, especially after his first attack on her was the above line, which appeared in the second paragraph. (Not that was anything different than Graham’s usual anti-media blather, of course.)
Graham exemplifies the arrogance of the right-wing media — he doesn’t believe he should hold himself to the same standards he insists on imposing on the “liberal media.” He has no principles, only a partisan agenda that he tries to enforce through intimidation and not reason.
Hate and thuggishness does not make for a principled organization. Graham hasn’t figured that out yet.