Or something like that. That headline certainly makes as much sense as this deranged PC-rant from National Progressive Radio by way of the ancient leftist publication The Nation: “Why the Far Right Hates Soccer,” by Dave Zirin. Just when you think the lunatic fringe can’t get any nuttier, along comes this:

Every World Cup, it arrives like clockwork. As sure as the ultimate soccer spectacle brings guaranteed adrenaline and agony to fans across the United States, it also drives the right-wing noise machine utterly insane.

“It doesn’t matter how you try to sell it to us,” yipped the Prom King of new right, Glenn Beck. “It doesn’t matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn’t matter how many bars open early, it doesn’t matter how many beer commercials they run, we don’t want the World Cup, we don’t like the World Cup, we don’t like soccer, we want nothing to do with it.”

That darn right-wing noise machine, upset over a little thing like lethal soccer riots! But you know — you just know — it goes deeper than that, and we all have a sense of where this is heading, don’t we: (more…)

There’s a concept, often applied to intelligence operations, called “mirror thinking.” This refers to the assumption that everyone else acts in the same way you would and is motivated by the same things that would motivate you. When the old media rushed to judge James O’Keefe after he was arrested outside of Senator Landrieu’s office, the “spying” allegations and “Watergate Jr.” label seemed to say more about the reporters covering the story than it did about the protagonist in this alleged drama.

When the Landrieu story broke, my immediate reaction was: “O’Keefe is yanking somebody’s chain again.” Andrew’s post seemed to confirm that assumption, and now comes O’Keefe’s statement that confirms it.  It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out.

But, the reaction in the old media was quite different and most revealing. Journalists saw somebody arrested who is a part of a political movement they don’t care for and quickly applied mirror thinking. What was O’Keefe up to? It had to be something sneaky and nasty, because that’s what they do to embarrass their political opponents. (Just ask Sarah Palin). But – hah-hah! – the kid took it too far. Gotcha!

Perhaps the old media could learn a lesson from Felix Unger: (more…)