That question occurred to me today: Why are conservatives so intent on going after NPR? Their other targets make sense. ACORN devoted itself to organizing poor people to assume greater political power, in large part by voting. That's bad for Republicans. Even if abortion makes up a tiny portion of what Planned Parenthood does, it does perform lots of abortions, and it also helps women assume more control over their reproductive lives, through things like contraception. Conservatives don't like that. Labor unions are the only countervailing power against corporations and also devote lots of money and organizational muscle to electing Democrats. So obviously, Republicans have an interest in undercutting them.
But NPR? Anyone who listens to it knows that its news coverage is even-handed to an obsessive degree. I have no doubt that most of the people who work there are liberal in their private beliefs. But do conservatives think that another civil and friendly discussion between E.J. Dionne and David Brooks is doing their side some kind of terrible political harm that must be stopped? That Fresh Air is weakening our fight against Islamofascism? That Car Talk is undermining traditional moral values?
Of course not. So the only reason I can come up with is this: Liberals really like NPR. They do. And since conservatives hate liberals, they consider targeting the things liberals like to be a good use of their time and resources. There really isn't any political benefit to it. It's just something that will piss off liberals, which is an end in itself.
