Read enough left-wing "legacy media" outlets and you might think the epic political battles of our time are fought between the ultraconservatives and the nonpartisans. Or maybe the "radical right" versus the "progressives." One party has "hardliners" and the other ones doesn't.
We found this just looking at the DC newspaper The Hill. In a story about a potential impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they wrote "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), former head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, suggested the Speaker is moving closer toward backing the impeachment effort." This makes Republicans look like extremists, not Mayorkas.
The Hill doesn't have a far-left label when they promote Rep. Pramila Jayapal and the House Progressive Caucus. Same goes for The Hill and the Congressional Black Caucus.
The New York Times loves to put the Freedom Caucus on the "far right," the "ultraconservative" faction:
June 13: A story by Carl Hulse carried the subhead "Those challenging Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the far right are violating a longstanding House tradition, fundamentally changing the nature of the chamber in ways that point to major dysfunction ahead." In the article was the routine fringe-push: “Who cares?” asked Representative Eli Crane of Arizona, one of the members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who broke with their party on the rule last week”.
June 8: Another Hulse story was sub-headlined "Lawmakers in both parties fear that the rebellion by the extreme right could endanger spending bills and other big legislative initiatives if it persists." Hulse wrote "Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other Republicans felt betrayed...But party-line spending bills that could earn the approval of far-right mutineers...have no chance at all of passing the Democratically controlled Senate."
June 7: A story by Karoun Demirjian, Annie Karni and Kate Kelly had the headline "House Is Paralyzed as Far-Right Rebels Continue Mutiny Against McCarthy." The trio reported "Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus refused to surrender control of the floor, forcing G.O.P. leaders to scrap votes for the week and leaving the speaker facing what he conceded was 'chaos.'”
June 6: An Annie Karni story was headlined: "Hard Right Grinds House to a Halt, Rebuking McCarthy for the Debt Deal." Karni wrote "Members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus effectively shut down the House floor for several hours, calling the speaker’s fiscal compromise with President Biden a betrayal."
On Wednesday’s Inside Politics on CNN, host Dana Bash hit the hardliners button twice:
We'll be back. I'm not trying to be Arnold Schwarzenegger here. That's actually a threat from GOP hardliners in Congress, following a rebellion that shut down action on the House floor for days.
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Yes, the hardliners are ending their blockade, but they insist talks will continue over a new power sharing agreement.
Leigh Ann Caldwell added: "The thing that I'm going to be watching is what do the moderates do as Kevin McCarthy continuously repeatedly tries to appease the far-right members of his faction -- of his conference.”
On Tuesday, a Politico story on the Freedom Caucus began: "After hardline House conservatives aggravated GOP leaders by halting the chamber floor in protest, the Freedom Caucus — which most of the agitators call home — is growing in numbers."
