Memes to the Right of Me, Memes to the Left

Today’s specimens are from the left, including the ubiquitous “Rush Limbaugh is head of the Republican Party” meme:

“Rush Limbaugh on his radio show yesterday accused the eight of voting for the bill sponsored by Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts because of Wall Street’s influence and argued that they should be voted out in 2010 along with Democrats who supported the legislation.”

and the “Wild and crazy extremist Republican Party meme”:

“The eight House Republicans who voted in favor of the bill generally represent the remains of the party’s moderate wing and some have to deal with political circumstances that are unique in the GOP caucus.”

You’ll find variations repeated over and over again, ad nauseum, ranging in style from “in your face” to “subliminal,” pervading the “news,” the left bank of the blogosphere, etc. Some nascent Ph.D. in sociology should devote a thesis to how these bits of the Narrative get started, and how it is that all the canaries on the left or the right, as the case may be, begin chattering them in unison.

*Hat tip for the NYT article link to Moe Lane, via Little Miss Attila (apparently she was a little testy when she woke up this morning. She’s not always like that.)