Rupert Redux

Murdoch's success has been described in many ways, but for my shilling, it comes down to this: He has always had a keen insight into liberalism's greatest psychological vulnerability--that liberals, above almost any other virtue, want to be seen as fair-minded and reasonable. He exploits that condition daily, but he's never exploited it quite like he did in the summer of 1993.

An interesting article in The American Prospect on Rupert Murdoch's rise to power, culminating this week with his acquisition of DirectTV. I'm not sure I agree with their end conclusion, that liberals need to stop being so reasonable - I'd prefer to leave the unreasonable shrillness to the far edges of both sides of the political spectrum - but it does paint an interesting picture of Murdoch's shrewd manipulation of that trait.