"In a U.S. torn by dissent over health care, immigration and Barack Obama,
rhetorical rage is the new norm. Just turn on Fox News and MSNBC. Partisan
talkers like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity on the conservative-leaning FNC and
Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz on their liberal counterpart MSNBC inflame their
eager fans with colorful, merciless and sometimes misleading attacks on the
opposition.
A generation ago, no matter how divided their politics,
Americans got their news from the same source-"the lame stream media," to quote
Fox contributor Sarah Palin. Almost the entire country was watching back in 1968
when CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite declared the Vietnam War not winnable. Four
years later, he was deemed the most trusted man in America."