Andrew Sullivan on Media Wars 2004

Andrew Sullivan on Media Wars 2004

"...it's real and dynamic and open. It's democratic. And if you're interested in politics, it keeps you looking forward to opening your laptop each morning."

-Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan has written what I consider to be a brilliant piece on the shift in political influence via modern media wars. Sullivan cites three genuinely new power-brokers in American politics and culture in this election season. They are cable news, the blogosphere, and "527s".

Question:

• Bloggers: Andrew believes you've arrived. How does it feel to sit at the wheel of democracy?
• Do you believe you have more of a political voice with the blogosphere and 527s?
• Do you believe your chosen political "side" is doing a good job in the mainstream arena?
• Any other comments?

Political Ads--Bill Hillsman's Views

Political Ads-
Bill Hillsman's Views

There is an interview about political ads at Mother Jones that I found to be fascinating. The interviewee is Bill Hillsman, who made his name in political advertising with spots (featuring candidates such as Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura) that bucked the tired old formulas and really got people talking.

Excerpt:

MJ.com: Which presidential campaign do you expect will do a better job reaching swing voters?

BH: I think Bush’s campaign will be better at it. They were in 2000, the Republicans were absolutely better at that during the 2002 midterm elections, and Bush’s people are just better at it than Kerry’s people. In fact, I don’t think Kerry wins unless some independent groups come in and do a good job with those voters. But if you look at what’s been going on so far with the Media Fund people and the MoveOn people, they can’t get out of the way of themselves. They don’t really know how to do ads that are aimed at these swing voters because they’re not those types of people. So they sort of do these “anybody but Bush” ads that have no real relevance to independents or swing voters. All they’re really doing is spending a lot of money to talk to their base, which is already convinced.

Question:

• What kind of Kerry ads would you imagine swing voters would be drawn to?
• What issues would best motivate swing voters to vote for Kerry in November?

For Whom Would Sun Tzu Vote?

For Whom Would Sun Tzu Vote?

"Bush's campaign has mastered at least one of Sun Tzu's ancient rules of warfare: When you are weak, appear strong."

Many people on the left believe that John Kerry should have answered the president this summer by saying no, he would not have gone to war in Iraq, knowing what he knows today. Writer Steve Sebelius suggests it would have shown that Kerry has learned something, and is putting it into practice.

I often complain that our current president makes many errors of judgement, then stands by them, even when we all can see clear evidence to the contrary.

This is not proof of an inherently wise leader.

This causes me to ask the question:

The Bush campaign points to and mocks John Kerry, who, in real time, is putting into practice all he's learning before the eyes of the world, regardless of their characterization of him as "flip-flopper".

* See my comments about Sun Tzu and Bush on August 29th

Question:

• Take some time and study the Art of War.
• Who, in the eyes of Sun Tzu, do you believe would truly be the wiser of the two leaders?
• Why?

Bloggers' Pie Still in the Sky

Bloggers' Pie Still in the Sky
Oh, how I identify.

The Washington Times Insider features an article about the money (or lack thereof) being made in the world of blogging.

At Raw Story, Avery Walker has some advice for the overrated blogosphere.

"I love oxblog, wonkette, iddybud and American Amnesia as much as the next guy. More, in fact. These people find stories that have otherwise slipped through the cracks and follow them with a tenacity that print journalists sorely lack. But we have to remember that these people have some of the best blogs out there. Many of these bloggers are, in fact, writers and journalists who use their blog as a way of expressing themselves outside of the restrictions of print media.

*Thanks, Avery.*

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

In the LA Times today, from a story titled
"No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players-Netizen's late-night post questioning CBS claims about Bush's service spreads at warp speed.":

"It was amazing Thursday to watch the documents story go from FreeRepublic.com, a bastion of right-wing lunacy, to Drudge to the mainstream media in less than 12 hours. That's not to say the documents didn't deserve examination. But apparently the entire thing was cooked up by a couple of amateurs on Free Republic. The speed with which it moved was breathtaking."

--Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent Democratic groups opposed to Bush

When we speak of the right wing "conspiracy", we can clearly see it's no conspiracy at all. As a matter of fact, mainstream media plays directly into the steamroller we tend to mislabel as the "right wing conspiracy".

Last week when the CBS forgery story was sprung, I visited one of my favorite blogs called The Moderate Voice, which is written by veteran journalist Joe Gandelman. (Joe also writes for Dean's World).

Joe had quoted the NY Post's house-neocon John Podhoretz as saying:

"THE populist revolution against the so-called mainstream media continues. Yesterday, the citizen journalists who produce blogs on the Internet — and their engaged readers — engaged in the wholesale exposure of what appears to be a presidential-year dirty trick against George W. Bush."

My thoughts at the time were:

I think he's mainly talking about the infamous squeaky wheel known as Matt Drudge (who gets his "tips" from God-knows where, but it's surely steeped in rightwing poop).

While I do not begrudge Drudge (bad pun intended), I think the marvelous "populist revolution" of which Podhoretz speaks is not worth much more than the gossip-mill that spits it out.
Drudge is the new Paul Revere, except he runs through the wires screaming "The lefties are coming! The lefties are coming!"

The thing that is most troubling is the emphasis and weight placed on Drudge's gossip-train by our mainstream media.

How low have we sunk in American journalism?
Have our journalists become as incurious as Bush himself?

This chain-of-events is all too familiar.
The left dares to speak out against King George.
Suddenly, a major story pops up on the Drudge report and it's suddenly scandal!

Key word: "suddenly".

Mainstream media, in their race to keep up with the gossip train, falls incredibly short of fairness, balance, and truth.
For instance, ask yourself why this forgery story is on the front pages instead of the real issues facing America at this moment?
Perhaps it's a story as old as time. Sensationalism sells.
Sensationalism isn't going to unite America, though. Nor will it create an opportunity for Americans to make serious choices.
The only "revolution" I see is the right getting one step closer to making America a nation ruled by one party.
Ben Franklin would spin in his grave like chicken rotisserie if he could hear Podhoretz ramble on.

My point?
Until the mainstream media learns it cannot compete with gossip generated by bloggers, they will be considered just another arm of the right wing.

The mainstream media cheapens America. Journalists and editors all over America serve to dumb down the public by allowing the right wing mouth-machine to hijack the great American discussion.

David Broder recently wrote about the fact that neither Bush nor Kerry are presenting a vision of the future in this presidential campaign of distortion. It has been nearly impossible for John Kerry to talk about America's future when the Bush campaign, the right wing mouth-machine, and the mainstream media facilitate a tornado of diversion.

Outside of narrow talking points, I have not seen the mainstream television media give voice to Kerry or Edwards' bigger ideas. It's as if the executives of mainstream media are intentionally and heavy-handedly keeping those ideas from reaching Americans.

The devil is in the details, in this particular case- a "th" on a typewriter. How easily Americans are being distracted from the most serious issues they've ever faced by the media's hyperfocus on Dan Rather.

Newsmax, a right wing media haven, is saying today in their headlines that the CBS flap will be the factor that causes Kerry to lose the November election.

If an election is lost upon the predication that there's a dubious chance that a document may be fake as opposed to a President's lies being responsible for sending over 1000 troops to unnecessary death, then God help America.

I am happy to say that I am a blogger who speaks to the bigger picture and the realistic issues, and I always will. If visionary bloggers never get a second glance from the LA Times or the NY Post, it's their loss. Suffering from a cultural attention-deficit-disorder as we do, believe it's also America's loss.

To date, Syracuse.com has been the only mainstream media outlet who has appreciated some of my thoughts. I am grateful to them for the opportunity to get my message out.

If anyone is asking "Where is the 'Drudge' of moderate-to-left America?", my answer is the same as yours. The mainstream media loves Drudge. They've loved him since the Clinton scandal.

In the words of James Wolcott:

Unlike Bush, Kerry can't delegate his aggression to Cheney, Fox News, and a yapping band of attack poodles; the Democratic party doesn't have that same threshing infrastructure. He has to go it almost alone and run the risk of being too forceful and coming across as "unlikeable" in the eyes of gardening clubs like The Capital Gang. Pundits prefer their Democrats soft and emasculated, it makes them so much easier to fillet.

I know there are serious and intelligent voices out there. So does the mainstream media. It's obvious that they don't care. They've been Drudged-down and they're taking American trust down the toilet of mainstream journalism along with them.

I thank the LA Times and Peter Wallsten for this story. I think they've done a good job of telling it like it is. They remain one of my favorites for their fine writing and editorial staff.

"Just Like Bush"-A Child's Tale

"Just Like Bush"-
A Child's Tale

Part Three:

So, children...
After the terror in Beslan, the Kremlin reached for harsh levers, refusing to negotiate its way out of the Chechen war for fear it would look weak and embolden other separatist movements in Russia.

George W. Bush would never have negotiated with terror. Why should Vladimir?

So 100,000 more Chechens were slaughtered and 100,000 more terrorists were born.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moral of the story:
No one wins when you rage, with hatred and bloodthirst, against a tactic.

Learn To Love

Learn to love what you do, or stop.

9/11/04

On 9-11-

My prayers go out to all who lost loved ones three years ago today.
In their memory, I reprint the 2002 Congressional testimony of Kristen Breitweiser, who lost her beloved husband Ronald on that dreadful day.
Listen to Kristen's voice.
It took quite a while for Kristen's voice to be heard. After many Stonewalls and U-Turns, the Jersey girl got what she and other 9/11 families had hoped for.

"The mortal citizens of a planet are praying right now that we will bear in mind, better than ever before, that no kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred."

-Barbara Kingsolver / 9-23-01

Statement of Kristen Breitweiser, Co-Chairperson September 11 Advocates, Concerning the Joint 9/11 Inquiry
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Reprinted from September 18, 2002


I would like to thank the families of the 3000 victims for allowing me to represent them, here today, before the Joint Intelligence Committee. It is a tremendous honor. Testifying before this committee is a privilege and an enormous responsibility that I do not take lightly. I will do my best not to disappoint the families or the memories of their loved ones.

Toward that end, I ask the members present here today to find in my voice the voices of all’ of the family members of the 3000 victims of September 11th. I would also ask for you to see in my eyes, the eyes of the more than 10,000 children who are now forced to grow up without the love, affection, and guidance of a mother or a father who was tragically killed on September 11.

I would now like to thank the members of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Eleanor Hill, and her staff for giving the families this opportunity to be heard. It has been an excruciating and overwhelming 12 months, and it is now time for our words and our concerns to be heard by you.

My three-year old daughter’s most enduring memory of her father will be placing flowers on his empty grave. My most enduring memory of my husband, Ronald Breitweiser, will be his final words to me, “Sweets, I’m fine, I don’t want you to worry, I love you.” Ron uttered those words while he was watching men and women jump to their deaths from the top of Tower One. Four minutes later, his Tower was hit by United Flight 175. I never spoke to my. husband, Ron, again.

I don’t really know what happened to him. I don’t know whether he jumped or he choked to death on smoke. I don’t know whether he sat curled up in a corner watching the carpet melt in front of him, knowing that his own death was soon to come or if he was alive long enough to be crushed by the buildings when they collapsed. These are the images that haunt me at night when I put my head to rest on his pillow.

I do know that the dream I had envisioned, that I so desperately needed to believe—that he was immediately turned to ash and floated up to the heavens, was simply not his fate. I know this because his wedding band was recovered from ground zero with a part of his left arm. The wedding band is charred and scratched, but still perfectly round and fully intact. I wear it on my right hand, and it will remain there until the day I die.

September 11th was the devastating result of a catalogue of failures on behalf of our government and its agencies. My husband and the approximately 3000 others like him went to work and never came home. But, were any of our governmental agencies doing their job on that fateful morning? Perhaps, the carnage and devastation of September 11th speaks for itself in answering this question.

SEE REMAINDER OF STATEMENT HERE

~~~~~~~~~~



REALITY: Who would think you'd see a sign like this at the site of the World Trade Center just three years after the 9/11 tragedy?

~~~~~~~~~~

Commending an AP Politics Writer

Commending an AP Politics Writer
This is the way it should be done.

I highly respect Pete Yost from the Associated Press for quoting Dubya Bush at a West Virginia rally yesterday and then following up on Bush's biting rhetoric with some facts. We just don't see enough honest journalism like this anymore.

THE RHETORIC: "The newest wrinkle is that Sen. Kerry has now decided we are spending too much money in Iraq even though he criticized us earlier for not spending enough," Bush said. "One thing about Senator Kerry's position is clear. ... If he had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power and would still be a threat to our security and to the world."

THE REALITY: Kerry has not chided Bush for spending too much money on the war but has criticized the president for engaging in "a war of choice" without obtaining more financial support from allies. The war has cost nearly $200 billion that, according to Kerry, could have been used for domestic programs.

Mr. Yost wrote about the fact that Zell Miller was campaigning in West Virginia with Dubya.
Yost followed up with this fact:

THE REALITY: Miller's keynote address at the Republican convention galvanized delegates and left Democrats fuming over what they called an angry, inaccurate rant by the Georgia Democrat.

Does Lack of Vision Perpetuate American Fear?

"Fear is not the natural state of civilized people."

--Aung San Suu Kyi

Does Lack of Vision Perpetuate American Fear?
James Wolcott believes so, and explains how our cultural attention-deficit disorder stymies our progress
[LINK]

"Now there are lots of reasons bruited about for why this election is dragging so much dead baggage.
• The group narcissism of the baby boomers.
• The unhealed wounds of Vietnam.
• An attempt to misdirect attention from a war we're in the process of losing (Iraq) to thrash about in the big muddy of a war we lost thirty years ago (Vietnam).

All very plausible explanations. One or all may be true.

But I also think that the future is what this election wants to avoid. The country now has such short attention span that it can't/won't concentrate on the future, finds it too taxing, would rather back up into the future than face it honestly."

--James Wolcott

~~~~~~~~~~~~

See: The Long Now Project, a cultural institution, where the necessity of mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility is stressed. 'Long-term' is measured at least in centuries.

"Jesus-Loserman"

This one's making the rounds. I found it on Daily Kos.
It's from Mad Magazine.
I call it 'Jesus-Loserman'.

William Saletan: Wrong-Way Bush

Wrong-Way Bush
In the war on terror, the worst defense is a bad offense.
There isn't much we can do now about the damage the Iraq war has done to our campaigns against al-Qaida and WMD proliferation. But there is something we can do at election time about a president who persists in running the wrong way despite all pleas and evidence: We can tackle him. LINK/SLATE

Bush: Cowardice, No WMD, Nat'l Guard Updates

Bush: Guided By Moral Cowardice

From The Hill-
Bush’s National Guard years-
His moral cowardice has guided him all along
By Josh Marshall
The same sort of moral cowardice that led him to support the Vietnam War but decide it wasn’t for him, run companies into the ground and let others pay the bill, play gutter politics but run for the hills when someone asked him to say it to their face — those are the same qualities that led the president to lie the country into war, to fail to prepare for the aftermath and then to refuse to take responsibility for any of it when the bill started to come due.

Iraq Survey Group Verdict: No WMD

Nothing on their hands except...

The final [no WMD] verdict in the long-awaited report from the Iraq Survey Group will prove a great embarrassment for both leaders:
George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

National Guard Headlines

• Which is more cowardly? Bush's Alleged Service or Recently-Alleged Lack of Service?
• CBS convinced of 60 Minutes Guard document authenticity even though Bush campaign is trying hard to make it look like they're forgeries.
• Bush's Lost Year by James Fallows
• Now It's Bush's Turn to Squirm by Sidney Blumenthal
• Diagnosing Dubya-The president who mistook his wife for a hat by Timothy Noah
• Sen. John F. Kerry to Address National Guard Association Conference Sept 16
• Texas National Guard has first Iraq fatality

UPDATE:
• Daily Kos: TANG Typewriter Follies; Wingnuts Wrong
• The Moderate Voice: Were The CBS Documents On George Bush's Military Service Forged?
• At The Angry Liberal: A good summary of the latest articles
--C. Murphy Archibald, who worked on the Blount campaign, said that in the fall of 1972, Bush frequently was late for work on the Alabama campaign and often bragged about how much he drank the night before. (USA Today)

Kerry: Bush is No Good Samaritan

Kerry: Bush is No Good Samaritan

"Four years ago, George Bush came to office calling himself a compassionate conservative. Well, in the story of the Good Samaritan we are told of two men who pass by or cross to the other side of the street when they come upon a robbed and a beaten man.

They felt compassion, but there were no deeds. Then the Good Samaritan gave both his heart and his help.

It is clear: For four years, George W. Bush may have talked about compassion, but he's walked right by. He's seen people in need, but he's crossed over to the other side of the street."

--John Kerry, speaking today at the National Baptist Convention in New Orleans, LA

Dog Does WHAT?!?

Dog Does WHAT?!?



You've heard of 'dog bites man', but......click on this photo and you'll see what this dog did.

Bushes Attacked Nat'l Guard Service of Others

The Bushes Attacked National Guard Service of Others

From The Daily Mislead:
As reported in the August 23, 1988 Los Angeles Times, then Vice President George H.W. Bush's campaign co-chairman John Sununu went on national television to impugn an opponent's dealings with the National Guard during Vietnam. Sununu specifically claimed Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) had improperly helped get his son into the Texas National Guard during Vietnam. Bentsen's son served in the very same National Guard unit at the very same time as George W. Bush. The Bush campaign's attacks came just days after Bush's allies on Capitol Hill launched a vicious attack on Gov. Michael Dukakis (D-MA) for receiving a draft deferment during the Korean War. At the time of the coordinated attack, George W. Bush was serving as a senior adviser to his father's campaign.

[A further irony is that Texas politician Ben Barnes now admits he helped both young men get into the Guard]

A Moral Course? NeoCons Willing to Overlook Terror

A Moral Course?
NeoCons Are Willing to
Overlook Terror

At TomPaine.com, Robert Dreyfuss details an incredibly hypocritical statement from semi-retired NeoCon Richard Pipes and a Guardian article pointing to the "American Committee for Peace in Chechnya" (ACPC), whose members include Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Midge Decter, Frank Gaffney, Bruce Jackson, Michael Ledeen, James Woolsey, etc.

In both articles, we see Bush's Manichaean war of great moral consistency fall flat as a pancake.

In their rush to do as much damage as they can to Russia, these NeoCons are perfectly willing to look past the terror that killed hundreds of Beslan's babies last week. They're the blame-Russia-first crowd.

While it is a worthy cause to support liberty for the decent people of Chechnya, it is politically devastating to Bush's moral cause to use a double standard. After the past week's terror attacks on Russia, we can no longer look past the fact that their innocent people are being targeted by the same terror that is being practiced throughout the Middle East.

If we are Americans are a truly moral people, we will stand behind Putin in his time of weakness rather than proclaiming to the world that we wish to beat him down to nothing as everyday Russian citizens face the fiery trials of terror.

That would make us the most immoral poopyheads in the world.
That may be what the NeoCons want to be, but I don't think they are working in America's best interest, anyhow.

Allow me to say it loud and clear.
They are working in Israel's best interests.

We need to get them the hell out of OUR White House.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Wolcott's new blog is a joy to read.
I'm so glad he's become a blogger:

"Podhoretz and his fellow neocons will not be satisfied until there are as many world wars as Police Academy sequels."

Mr. Wolcott's witty commentary on American culture and a Canadian NeoCon who plots wars for those tacky U.S. hominids:

"[David]Frum, Canadian, has little understanding of the manicured grasp [Kitty]Kelley has on the sordid imagination of America. He has spent too much time with his coauthor Richard Perle plotting to grease America into neverending war to understand what a destructive dynamo in a bouffant is Ms. Kelley.

Gee, Thanks, George Pataki

Gee, Thanks, George Pataki

N.Y. is the most heavily-taxed state in the Union.

Go Republicans.

We Are No Safer Today Than 9/11/01

We Are No Safer Today Than 9/11/01

The LA Times Editorial staff puts it bluntly.
(I love the LA Times' editorial attitude.)

Regardless of what we think of Dr. Horror's Dick Cheney's statement yesterday, there is one clear-as-a-bell truth that has popped up its head and is waving to us all.

That truth is a'ringing and singin' throughout all of political creation this morning:

We are no safer now than we were on 9/11/01.

Howard Dean got a lot of -gasps- when he bluntly stated, on the morning of December 14, 2003, that America was no safer with Saddam Hussein caught.

If Osama bin Laden is snatched up in the next few weeks, I'll be equally blunt in joining with Steven Simon, co-author of the new book, "The Age of Sacred Terror":

"bin Laden has successfully launched a global insurgency with franchises that operate autonomously. The cancer has metastasized and it's doing fine on its own. Osama bin Laden's done his job well."

Here's a challenge to any of you. Give me real and true examples of how America has been made safer since the dreaded day the towers fell. Give me something tangible...no idealistic visions of liberty sugarplums and freedom fairies.

Shall I repeat that in case someone didn't quite get it the first time?
Hello??
We are not safer now than we were on 9/11.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The NYT Editorial beats on Dr. Horror Dick Cheney for making the statement at all. I've got to say that I was not surprised at all to hear Cheney give strong voice to the threats that face America.

Threats of terror are real and Dick knows we'll be hit again. While Bush twiddled his thumbs in Texas, an overwhelming blow to America was planned, then executed without a hitch. While we got pretty color-coded threat levels, Osama bin Laden got hundreds of thousands of inspired recruits.

The Bush administration has not stemmed the tide of terror and I predict that Europe's stability will soon be rocked and devastated by terror right under our noses...while the president and vice-president tell us there should be no priority on treaties or global organizations. While Bush and Cheney tell us we should stay the course in Iraq, where we are losing more and more control by the day.

Rather than wringing our hands over Dr. Horror's Dick Cheney's words, we should be crying out for good-faith re-engagement with the world before it's too late for not only Europe, but for all civilized human beings.

This administration is hopeless.

Plainly and simply hopeless.

I Can See Our Playgrounds Bleeding

I Can See Our
Playgrounds Bleeding

Our legislators have completely failed us.
The 10-year old federal assault weapons ban is set to expire.

Our president can push just about any part of his agenda through his puppet House of Representatives, but when Tom DeLay really wants payback, Bush gives it to him.

This time, Tom DeLay and George W. Bush will be responsible for more dead children in the halls and grounds of our schools.



Maybe a terrorist or two hiding right here in our nation will find it much easier to get hold of the Uzis that would take out as many of us out as possible at one time.

The Great Sniper of 2002 would have loved the news. I'll bet there's other perfectly insane and depraved folks out there that are waiting to be the next Sniper of the Year. With a fancy new sub machine-gun, he could have a field day.

Buy two weapons from Beretta and get two free 15-round magazines!



Disgruntled employees---just think of how many you could take out at one time with one of these babies.



Order one now from ArmaLite Inc. and get a bayonet to go with it!

Homeland Security is a joke to our legislators and our President.
They're enabling the heavily-armed and kicking our children's safety in the ass.



The power-team of Delay and Bush are proving what they think about public safety right before your eyes. I could be holding a dead child in my arms and some of you would still be in my face telling me it's all about your (godforsaken) freedom.