That's the headline this Saturday night on the DrudgeReport.com (link to "story" at bottom). Before I get to my point, a bit of background:I find DrudgeReport.com to be an invaluable resource as a news aggregator that groups in one place a whole host of stories to which the so-called "mainstream" (i.e. left-slanted) media is not likely to pay any attention. But make no mistake: Matt Drudge (who runs the website; the one pictured above without the beard) is your garden variety version of what I refer to as the "deranged right-winger" (never to be confused with the "loony left-winger").
Therefore, he himself largely ignores most stories that are damaging to republicans and to fellow right-wingers. Moreover, he links to stories with right-slanted little headlines which I often find (after reading the linked story) to be highly misleading. And as a take-off on one of my favorite lines -- Kids: Never use tobacco or drink whiskey, AND never fail to take the Drudge Report without a grain of salt. It's a good resource to informing your mind, but if it's your only resource on the Net, then Lord help ya! OK then -- I digress.
To my point: Why in the hell would Drudge lead tonight with Castro proclaiming an "impending nuclear holocaust"? Castro is infirm. He's 84 years old. He no longer runs Cuba (rather his brother does). Cuba doesn't even have a single nuclear warhead (thanks in no small part to the last great American president, JFK). Put another way, Castro is irrelevant. No one pays any attention to him anymore. But yet his over-the-top rhetoric lands high atop the Drudge Report tonight.
Why? Well, I think that's pretty obvious. I have to credit a certain genius to Drudge. Just look what the dude's accomplished, building one of the most visited and lucrative websites out there. He's often described by media experts as "knowing his audience," and he sure as hell does. Sure, plenty of non-partisan Independents like me regularly view his site. But we're not his base audience. Rather, his audience is predominantly the folks who make Rush Slimebaugh the most listened to radio host in the country: Yes, the deranged right-wingers, as I call them.
Drudge knows that amongst that particular audience, stories aimed at drumming up foreign policy fear and also pointing to potential "socialist" threats close to home SELL! Which is fine. I respect very much what Drudge has built in terms of his incredibly high traffic page view website. My bottom line, I guess, would be just to point out to all of my fellow non-partisan Independents out there: Drudge Report is a nice resource, but always realize the slant from which it comes, and never allow it to dominate the news and political sites that you visit in your drive to always be informed as you can.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/07/1766036/fidel-castro-at-cuban-parliament.html
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