7mesh.com

In previous posts I’ve suggested right wing media outlets such as Fox News (particularly Roger Ailes) become fixated on the smallest of minutiae in order to blow it up into a huge story. Their latest fixation: Obama’s choice of mustard for the burger he ordered out at Hell Burger in DC. They claim with a straight face that his choice of spicy mustard makes him an elitist.

Watch it:

This happened on the same day the other big news story was former Bush-era Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge signaling he would not run against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) in the upcoming primary in the state on Pennsylvania as a Republican. While conducting an interview on Chris Matthews’ Hardball program on MSNBC.  Mr. Ridge said he believed the Republican party had become too ‘shrill’. In it he also acknowledged the drive underway to cast moderates out of the party.:

Ridge, who hails from the moderate wing of the Republican Party, also called on the GOP to be less judgmental – particularly on social issues – to work its way back into the majority. “Our message became shrill. We became very divided over these social issues, and at some point in time, we’ll have to be a lot less judgmental,” Ridge said.

Watch the entire interview here:

The timing of the ‘Dijongate’ fuss is not without question, when the big news story of the day was clearly Republican Tom Ridge not running for Senate and calling out his peers in the party for intolerance. Note that Mr. Ridge did not give the coveted first interview to what normally would be a sympathetic Fox News; rather he gave it to rival MSNBC news, viewed in media circles as more liberal to Fox News’ hyper neo-conservatism. This is also very telling.