Other possibilities I could see include journalism editing -- you red-line copy when you mark changes -- or perhaps red as in Republican, he crossed from the blue, Democratic world to the red, Republican one. Then there's the classic literary "thin red line" referring to the forces defending a border or boundary. Who knows what he intended, but I wouldn't assume it was suggesting Communism.
Yes, I'm open to the possibility that my first reaction - fueled by his hyperbole of her alleged left-wing extremism - that he was red-baiting her was wrong in that example.
In context, his remarks were at a level which seems a little different than his inventing the phrase 'red line in the sand' - he wasn't calling her a communist elsewhere.
At this point, whatever he meant, I suspect it wasn't to allege she was a communist - though Republican pundits are notorious for working in that sort of 'subtle attack implication', but even that he could not have meant in the comment - and so I suspend that one example, assuming he more than likely did not mean that.
But his comments sounding like any right-wing propagandist is still an issue.
It's a major right-wing propaganda myth about the 'liberal media', they justify lies with the myth that they're just 'countering' some left-wing media machine.
NPR IMO is much too 'soft' and 'neutral' at the expense of accuracy on Republican errors; I'm all for coverage that's fair and large of Republicans, but not for ignoring errors, falsehoods, etc. in the name of disproving that they're a 'liberal' source - an attack designed for only one purpose, to create cover for them to lie.
Anyone who points out their lies is 'liberal'. It's quite dishonest.
In contrast, if I made an error on the 'red line' interpretation - it was an error, and I'm more than happy to correct and withdraw it as an error, as I do when it happens.
Edit: I should probably explain how I reached the opinion that he meant it as red-baiting.
He was spewing a long standard right-wing attack of 'she's an extreme liberal, she's an extreme leftist, she's an extreme liberal', followed by the comment about his only error being that he did not fit her leftists politics, and she had a 'line in the sand' he as a person more to the right than her had crossed.
Except he didn't say 'line in the sand', he added 'red line'. Why? Since I haven't heard the phrase, and the entire point he was making was that her 'line' was one about liberal positions, he was saying she had a 'very liberal line in the sand'. So the use of the word 'red' to modify that liberal line could clearly be red-baiting. It's a close fit.
But as I say, looking at it again, as good a fit as it is, he doesn't cross the 'red line' himself of calling her 'commie' elsewhere, just very liberal, and it seems more likely than not he did not mean that. He did say a lot of other hyperbole in attacking her that is a little short of red-baiting, but still spreads the 'liberal media' myth.
Ironically, his comments are reported on Fox, which is a major propaganda outlet - making false attacks on a far better outlet for bias.
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