When right-wing papers talk, legislators listen

Must be nice being right-wing.

All you have to do if you're right-wing is just jot down some gibberish, publish it, and public officials are hooked on every word you say. You don't have to provide facts or statistics to back up your claims.

If a right-wing newspaper says something, that's considered as good as having a million cameras proving it.

For several years, Massachusetts has had a popular program that lets unemployed welfare recipients find jobs. It provides recipients with donated cars and state-funded car insurance so they can get to work.

The state only spends a few thousand bucks per person - but saves more than that in the long run.

But the far-right Boston Herald cried foul. The Herald's story was dutifully picked up by Drudge Report.

After seeing the articles blasting the program, lawmakers are now trying to eliminate the program entirely, despite its successes.

The Herald's reason for criticizing the program isn't any outrageous waste associated with it - because even the Herald failed to find any. The paper criticized it because the poor were benefiting, period.

Legislators are letting the Boston Herald and Drudge Report shape their agenda?

Drudge Report??? Seriously?????

This is like in 2004 when the mainstream media let Free Republic and Power Line shape their coverage of the Bush National Guard memos. (For the record, the memos are real.)

A right-wing yip flaps open, and the media and lawmakers call it gospel truth.