| How Those in Power Want Anything but | | | | Moore's film brought in well over $100 million, |
| Bipartisanship | | | | making it a blockbuster. The film's consistent line |
| In Barack Obama's recent State of the Union | | | | of attack against Republicans and focus on |
| address, the president urged bipartisanship to heal | | | | partisanship drove a wedge between the two |
| a deeply divided and struggling nation. "What the | | | | camps--at a hefty profit. |
| American people hope" he pleaded, "what they | | | | FOX News, a nascent news organization formed |
| deserve - is for all of us, Democrats and | | | | in the late 90s, grew into a powerful force over |
| Republicans, to work through our differences; to | | | | the decade, with talking heads like Bill O'Reilly and |
| overcome the numbing weight of our politics." | | | | Sean Hannity delivering charged, vociferous |
| As a candidate, Barack Obama urged | | | | attacks against the Left Wing media and Left |
| bipartisanship as a means of navigating the | | | | Wing agenda. The network's top star, Bill O'Reilly, |
| problems facing the nation. He explained that "we | | | | now earns over $10 million a year. Its rising star, |
| are not Red America or Blue America, but the | | | | Glenn Beck, is now on track to make $18 million, |
| United States of America". Regardless of the | | | | which includes his $3 million book deal. |
| speaker, the words remain true. However, over | | | | MSNBC, recognizing the profitability of partisanship, |
| the last decade, those in control of wealth have | | | | was quick to respond with its own set of talking |
| found that bipartisanship does not pay. In fact, | | | | heads eager to attack the Right and Right Wing |
| what pays is bitter partisanship. | | | | social views. The oft-praised by liberals, shunned |
| We saw glimmers of the soon to be profitability | | | | by conservatives, Keith Olbermann, is making a |
| of hate during the Clinton years. Rush Limbaugh, | | | | estimated $7 million. And Rachel Maddow, the |
| as an entertainer, (or infotainer, depending on | | | | left's enduring crush, brings in over $1 million a |
| your perspective) reaped millions of dollars by | | | | year. |
| vilifying the other with charges like "feminazi". His | | | | Dig a little further and you will find both left and |
| effective brand of anti-Clinton, anti-government | | | | right wing online news sites generating millions in |
| and anti-liberalism allowed him to bring home | | | | profit, such as the Huffington Post, a political |
| millions of dollars a year. His current take is $33 | | | | tabloid magazine. This is only scratching the |
| million a year. | | | | surface of what surely amounts to a billion dollar |
| The scope of this hatred, one could argue, was | | | | industry. |
| more limited. Congress, while unwilling to pass | | | | America wants and needs centrism. But these |
| health care reform, managed to work together to | | | | monetary figures show a deep rooted problem in |
| craft bipartisan legislation that allowed them to | | | | achieving that goal. Monied interests, and the |
| balance the budget, eliminate unnecessary | | | | viewing public, is partly to blame for a disfigured |
| programs and fix Medicare, among other | | | | Washington. To continue to promote, engage in, |
| legislative victories. | | | | and pay for the political hate game will result only |
| Enter 2001, after a nasty electoral dispute, and | | | | in a more divided Congress and divided nation. It |
| those looking to profit from partisan rancor | | | | doesn't take a genius to see that political |
| multiplied exponentially. Michael Moore, a beloved | | | | divisiveness and backbiting is not just a profitable |
| Left Wing filmmaker produced "Fahrenheit 9/11", a | | | | market, but a hugely profitable market. This |
| film attempting to connect the dots of the Bush | | | | system produces millionaires, all to the detriment |
| Administration's ties to big oil and their supposed | | | | of millions of Americans who no longer have |
| plans to dupe the American people into engaging | | | | access to the American dream they rightly |
| in a war with Iraq. Passed off as a documentary, | | | | deserve. |