To my untrained eye, it appears that Jeff Zucker may had a conversation with Fareed Zakaria about his recent flirtations with pointing out that the Right is a sh*tpile of bigots, lunatics and con men who have come damn near to wrecking this country.

And so, like clockwork, CNN employee Fareed has scurried back to CNN's Both Sides Do It fortress to pule about Intolerant Liberals.

Yeah, just because they've been right about the Right all along (while Beltway media throw-pillows like Fareed Zakaria got it consistently and horribly wrong) those god damn Liberals think they're sooooo damn smart.

Well cable teevee knows just how to fix that kind of hubris!

Step One: Never put any Liberals who might actually spill the beans about being right about the Right all along anywhere near a camera.

Step Two: Instead, round up a handful of Conservative media hacks who created this disaster and have them sit around, scratching their heads and wondering how in the name of Sisyphus things ever got so bad!

From Meet the Press:

CHUCK TODD: Welcome back, panel is here, Charlie Sykes, of course, long-time Wisconsin conservative radio guy and MSNBC political analyst, Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report, Joy Reid, host of AM Joy on MSNBC and Kimberley Strassel, columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

CHARLIE SYKES: And the body-slamming itself I think was not a significant as the reaction to the body-slamming. The way in which so many conservatives, so many Republicans felt that the tribal loyalty demanded that they rationalize this. And what's been happening is this, you know, whether you want to call Donald Trump the role model-in-chief, the fact is you have so many now Republicans and conservatives, and I am one of them, you know, who now model their behavior after this. You know, this thin-skinned nastiness that mimics confidence...

CHARLIE SYKES: Words have consequences. Words have meaning. Ideas have consequences. And it's one thing, to, I think, be upset with the bias of the news media. But, again, we've moved the line now to just pure, raw loathing. And he has stoked those fires...

"...now Republicans and conservatives,"

"...now model their behavior after this."

"...now to just pure, raw loathing."

Conservative media slugs and their Beltway collaborators prospered during the Bush Administration by pretending the Clinton Administration never happened.

"Words have consequences."

Then they spent the Obama Administration pretending the Bush Administration never happened.

"Words have meaning."

Now they are working very hard to survive the Stupid Administration by pretending the Obama Administration never happened.

"Ideas have consequences."

Yes, words and ideas do indeed have consequences. In fact, those consequences are exactly what scares the living daylights out of Conservative media slugs and their Beltway collaborators.

And this (from the Wall Street Journal [h/t to Alert Reader chris3rd summers bro]) --

Civil Discourse in Decline: Where Does it End? The shift away from politeness, decorum and respect is real; and its consequences visible every day.

A Republican congressional candidate body slams a reporter. A Democratic party state chairman hurls obscenities at both the president and dissidents in his own party at a public meeting...

-- is how they circle their wagons:

Crossposted from Driftglass