When I saw the video clip of Meghan McCain saying, “No one knows what war is like other than my family” I knew that she meant to say “No one knows what war is like BETTER than my family.” So I didn’t write about it on our blog.
Then I saw that conservatives are actually acting outraged over this “lipstick on a pig” nonsense. And it smacked me in the face: the hack gap had struck again.
The hack gap is the difference between political observers and writers on the left and on the right. Those on the left (most, anyway) give the benefit of the doubt. They have a sense of shame. They are willing to consider the validity of something before running with it. And they don’t try to disguise obviously phony outrage as genuine outrage.
As this “lipstick” thing illustrates (as well as any example you can find with five seconds of searching), the right doesn’t operate the same way. And that’s one of the reasons why it wins.
And let me add that I’m aware I occasionally complain in this space that the left doesn’t play tough enough. And I’m aware that by not writing about the Meghan McCain clip, I would appear to be committing the sin for which I criticize others. But I’d like to believe you can get tough without being disingenuous. And besides, our readers would revolt if I treated an obvious verbal slip by a candidate’s child as indicative of something more serious. The fact that Limbaugh’s audience eats that sort of thing up doesn’t necessarily mean ours does.
The takeaway? The left has two problems: a lack of hacks and a lack of a market for hacks.
Update: Mike Huckabee refuses to be a hack.
