Swift Boat Tea Party

Thanks for the Memory to Michelle Malkin.

Borrowing insight from Belmont Club and Thomas Sowell, and then synthesizing it into her own piquant analysis, Michelle points out that this controversy represents a very serious threat to the mainstream media's pythonesque (and by that I don't mean Monty) grip on the minds, if not the hearts, of the American public.

For generations the media has constituted a de facto totalitarian regime ruling the realm of discourse in America. But the natives have been restless for years, as evidenced by the popularity of talk radio, the amazing success of Fox News, and most recently, the blogging phenomenon. The Powers That Be knew there were rebellious factions out there, but they managed to maintain control, managed to supress or ignore any story or information they did not approve.

But the Swift Boats issue has changed that. Despite the media's best efforts, the story got out. And ironically, it may have been the actions of their own Viceroy, John F Kerry, that finally made the difference. If Kerry hadn't so actively tried to supress this story, it may have gone nowhere. But by attacking it, he acknowledged it, and the genie was out of the bottle. Now the media must deal with a story they didn't generate, and their damage control efforts are in high gear.

While they may eventually succeed in this effort in regards to this story, the damage is done. A precendent has been set, and like the first shots in any revolution, what matters is not always who wins this skirmish, what matters is the fact that the war has begun.