This is a big week in American history. 150 years ago Tuesday the first shots were fired in the Civil War. The media has been covering the commemorations of the historic battle of Ft. Sumpter that really wasn’t much of a battle at all, the Confederate soldiers from the south took less than two days to defeat the Union soldiers from the north.

I talked about this historic week with a media friend of mine and mentioned how difficult the sacrifices were in this nation at the time. I said, “Republican President Abraham Lincoln was nearly defeated by the Democrat who ran the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis.” First my friend questioned the political party of Davis, then he said, “Why do you always have to enter politics into this?” Hmm, the Civil War was rather political—so I took the occasion to point out how the media likes to ignore the politics when it doesn’t work to their favor, but love to enter politics when it suits their needs. I mentioned the tragedy in Tucson where the media made up its own politics to fit its template.

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Well, the April 19 edition of TV Guide has finally used the liberals’ ultimate weapon of last resort, to defend the indefensible in an article entitled “Is TV Starting a New Civil War?”  The weapon?  ”They all do it.”

In a U.S. torn by dissent over health care, immigration and Barack Obama, rhetorical rage is the new norm. Just turn on Fox News and MSNBC. Partisan talkers like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity on the conservative-leaning FNC and Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz on their liberal counterpart MSNBC inflame their eager fans with colorful, merciless and sometimes misleading attacks on the opposition.

A generation ago, no matter how divided their politics, Americans got their news from the same source—“the lame stream media,” to quote Fox contributor Sarah Palin. Almost the entire country was watching back in 1968 when CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite declared the Vietnam War not winnable. Four years later, he was deemed the most trusted man in America.

The advent of politically partisan cable news networks changed the game. If people want to hear that Obama is heroically rescuing our financially strapped nation—or that he’s driving it into bankruptcy and socialism—they can turn to the network that suits their ideology and soak in the vitriol.

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A post entitled “Can Alinsky’s Tactics Work on the Right?  Should They?” by Christian Hartsock in Big Journalism, along with local battles between ultra- conservatives and other conservatives over using Alinsky’s tactics to further the cause, brings to light that the matter of “factioning” (breaking apart into rival groups) has become a concern.

As an engaged Republican on the inside of politics for more than a decade now, I have seen pro-life activists faction and thus kill good bills for the sake of credit.  I have seen primary candidates lie about other candidates in order to win races they should not have won.  I have seen one person’s opinion smack down another conservative’s attempt to do right over side issues irrelevant to the goal.  This never produces real winners, and forces duplication of efforts for conservatives fighting the good fight.

The good news is that if conservatives are clashing, that means that the natural law of division is engaging, because there are enough conservatives to fight over how to defeat the left.  That is a convenience reserved only for groups that are strong, and winning. (more…)

Since President Obama’s elevation to Intergalactic Superstar Caesar in   November 2008, the media has been busy writing obituaries for the GOP. Most of these unwelcome mourners have offered nuggets of advice along the lines of, “Why don’t you try being more, you know, like us? More—what’s the term? Oh yes, more moderate. Conservatism is so last season.” The day after Obama’s  election, the Huffington Post gleefully announced “GOP Civil War Begins[!!!!!!]”

Being the tenderhearted folks they are, the liberal MSM diagnosed the real problem for us: “[I]f there’s a real crisis in the House right now for the Republican Party, it’s the gradually diminishing voice of moderation.” Over a year later, MSNBC was still going strong with the GOP civil war theme, warning that an ideological purity test “threatens to derail moderate Republican candidacies in heated 2010 Republican primaries already underway.”

Obviously, there have been and are ongoing arguments about the direction of conservatism and the Republican party. The 2008 election would’ve shaken the confidence of Alexander the Great, had he been a political candidate instead of a slaughtering conqueror. But the media is missing the real story again. The story now isn’t the demise of the GOP moderate. It’s the sudden downfall of last season’s debutante, the “moderate Democrat.” (more…)

Some among the heaviest of Obama Kool-Aid drinkers are awakening to the performance gap between the campaign myth of Obama versus the reality of his inability to govern. America’s Fourth Great Awakening has begun.

Historians widely recognize three Great Awakenings. The First Great Awakening (1730’s-1740’s) spread across the United Kingdom and the Colonies with a religious fervor among what became the mainline Protestant denominations: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. The Second (1790-1840’s) witnessed Christian conversions, camp meetings, and evangelical excitement giving birth to the Holiness movement and, indirectly, the spread of a new sect – the Mormons. The Third (1840’s-1900’s), interrupted by the Civil War, was a period of religious enthusiasm that fostered social activism, as illustrated by the Social Gospel Movement.

Today, we’re entering the Fourth Great Awakening. It’s the revival of the Obama Kool-Aid drinkers from their stupor of infatuation with candidate Barack Obama. Mort Zuckerman is their new poster boy, and his newfound sobriety is clearly painful for him. (more…)