So, “Media Matters” has fallen to quibbling [1] over who first started using a particular phrase denigrating their biggest supporters?
Summary: In a syndicated column, Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed to have “coined the term ‘San Francisco values.’ ” In fact, the term “San Francisco values” has been used to attack political opponents since at least the mid-1990s, and Newt Gingrich appears to have popularized the phrase during the 2006 midterm election cycle.
It appears to me, that their biggest complaint right now is being tagged with a set of values which are staggering in their unpopularity in the remainder of the country. I can’t help but wonder if their problem isn’t that the phrase is being used at all, because it’s uncomfortably accurate.
It’s not much of an overstatement to say that the phase “the San Francisco treat” has taken on an entirely new meaning these last twenty years or so. I say that with pity and with sympathy toward the company forced to use it as a marketing slogan.
Honestly , I’ve never thought much of Bill O’Reilly anyway… and doubtless for reasons quite different from those of the clowns at Media Matters. But for all that, if you read the sidebar of that page you’ll see that O’Riley is a favorite target, particularly for repeatedly making Democrats look like the fools they are… which is the only thing in my book as makes him tolerable.
So… ask yourself; what is the purpose of this little hit piece on O’Riley? Is it to discredit O’Riley, or is there real complaint aimed at discrediting the IDEA and the linkage between Democrats and the wildly unpopular social values coming out of that neck of the woods?