Posted on 05/16/2007 10:29:15 AM PDT by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
I mean no disrespect to the dead, but I take the British view of obituaries, which is to try to capture the true public significance of the person who died, not just his good qualities. The truth about the Rev. Jerry Falwell is that he was a character assassin and hype artist who left little positive impact on the United States-and little negative impact either, for that matter. Besides founding Liberty University, he won’t be remembered as nearly as influential as he’s made out to be.
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According to lore (and much of the coverage of his death), November, 1980 found Falwell at the peak of his powers. That was the month Ronald Reagan was elected president, after having met with Falwell and other members of his brilliantly-named organization, “The Moral Majority.” While Falwell might have contributed slightly to Reagan’s margin of victory, he was not even close to being instrumental in his election. With incumbent Jimmy Carter bogged down with the Iranian hostage crisis and double-digit inflation and interest rates, Reagan won with 57 percent of the vote—a huge landslide. At best, the Moral Majority added a point or two to Reagan’s totals. More likely, it contributed nothing. Exit polls showed that Carter bested Reagan among Southern Baptists, 50-46 percent. And abortion ranked well behind foreign policy and economics among issues that mattered most to voters that year.
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Falwell’s power was hyped not just by him but by a media establishment that needed a consistently conservative voice—not to mention a “guest” who could usually be counted on to show up at the studio on time and say something provocative.
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(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
General public reaction to news of Jonathan Alter’s death, when it occurs, will undoubtedly be “Jonathan Who?”
Exactly. Jerry Falwell will be remembered LONG after any of the drive-by media who covered his life.
The “truth” about NEWSWEAK’s Jonathan Alter
is that he is scum.
Lefties love to spit on the graves of those who have just died.
Another tender eulogy from the sensitive, all-caring media. Can’t wait (for more than one reason) to see what they say of Madam Hitlery’s demise some day. I’ll bet liberal bells will ring for years.
Coffin dancing seems to be a favorite sport of the left.
I’d love to get Howard Dean’s take on the death of Jerry Falwell, especially after all of Dean’s blather about inviting more evangelical Christians to the Democratic Party.
Makes you wonder if this hit piece will encourage any more sales of Newspeak in the South or flyover America, for that matter. What is the MSM thinking that causes their sales to plummet.
Lets face it the truth about Jonathan Alter and Newsweek is that both are anti-American and left-wing. Both in my opinion are supporters of the enemies of the American People, hate Christians and want the government to be in complete control of all things to include putting Christians in camps and closing them down, just like their Gods did in Germany and Russia.
Oh, for the days when one of Falwell’s sons could ask Mr. Alter; “Pistols or Swords?”
Tell this scumbag what you really think of him. Let Newsweek know that you expect journalists to be somewhat respectful of the dead.
What else could anyone expect from newsweak or that commie alter? His main job is writing that conservative-bashing “Conventional Wisdom” junk.
What I don’t understand is that if his impact was so insignificant, why did he bother to write about him and why do liberals have such an obsession with him ?
Oddly, I thought the New York Times obit was fair, and considering the source, he could not have expected as good as obit as they gave him. Alter is a little man and he has the complex that goes with it. But to be fair to Alter he was probably giving the few readers that Newsweek has left what they wanted to read. It is also probably fair to say that the moral majority and those that respected Falwell never read Newsweek, not even in doctor’s offices for free.
Alter must be in a tizzy that he can’t go on Imus and make fun of this on the radio.
I hope Mr. Alter’s cancer is in remission.
But, boy, he sure is one angry SOB, isn’t he?
Good Lord, Jonathan, is this type of vituperative writing some kind of therapy, or what?
Take it easy.
Great point!
Ditto LS:
Proverbs 10:7-8
7The memory of the righteous is a blessing,
but the name of the wicked will rot.
8The wise of heart will heed commandments,
but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
But I will do so anyway.
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