Blogged by Brad from St. Louis…
Supposed to be cooling my holiday heels a bit today, but couldn’t let this one pass without comment. USA Today has an article this morning anointing psychologist Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, as the Democrats’ new political rhetoric guru.
Nonetheless, in her article, headlined “Democrats get advice on how to talk about issues,” reporter Jill Lewis can’t seem to help but pass on the conventional wisdom (read: lies) of Republican rhetoric guru/liar Frank Luntz.
“Al Gore should have won” in 2000, Lewis unquestioningly quotes Luntz as telling her. “He lost because Americans didn’t want him in their living rooms every night.”
No. He “lost” because one vote on the Supreme Court determined that the man who won the national popular vote, as well as the electoral vote in Florida, should not have his votes counted as cast.
Had Lewis gone back and reviewed the findings of her own newspaper, who took part in a study of the ballots across the state of Florida, she likely would have discovered that.
While we realize that history is frequently re-written by the “winners,” we see no reason why the corporate mainstream media need to participate in that charade. And yet, nearly 7 years later, and with facts now easily at hand, USA Today continues to do so.
We don’t blame Luntz for lying. That’s his job. Much as we don’t blame Ann Coulter for being an unapologetic liar and hate-monger. We blame USA Today — and other similarly irresponsible corporate mainstream outlets — for giving him the platform to continue to pass on his lies without correction. Much as we blame ABC, NBC, MSNBC, et al. for giving Coulter a bully pulpit from which to spew her bullshit.
We need to begin to hold those who hold the keys to the kingdom responsible for allowing the charlatans inside the gates in the first place. Until we hold the media accountable and demand that they clean up their act, the Democratic focus-grouped advice of media message masters like Westen, and George Lakoff before him, won’t mean a damn thing.
From “Corporate Stooge” “non-conservative” Rush Limboob’s website (with MY comments in between):
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We have a 13-year-old young man on the phone from Somerset, Pennsylvania. His name is Patrick. Patrick, great to have you with us today.
CALLER: Hi, Mr. Limbaugh. (bd: i’m a 13 year old boy who listens to rush limbaugh, believe it or not)
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: I just want to talk to you about global warming. (bd: i’m a 13 year old expert on global warming, and my family has not been paid by Exxon/Mobile)
RUSH: Feel free. Go ahead and launch. (bd: my fine-feathered 13 year old shill)
CALLER: All right. When I was in school we had a current events class, and we would read the more liberal magazines like TIME and Newsweek, and they always have these articles in there about some new study about global warming, about how the earth was three degrees hotter than it was a hundred years ago, but they never had any evidence in there that it was caused by people, that it wasn’t just a natural cycle. (bd: i am 13 years old, and refer to magazines as “liberal”, yet I don’t know what it means!)
RUSH: Did you mention this?
CALLER: No, I didn’t. I just thought of it near the end of the school year. (BD: I didn’t mention it, until my parents, who were paid by Exxon/Mobil, coached me…I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT LIBERAL OR GLOBAL WARMING MEANS!!! I WANNA PLAY MY VIDEO GAME!!!! WAHHHHHHH!!!!!)
RUSH: You just observed it? Well, that’s probably wise on your part. You’re very smart, because you’re exactly right. They didn’t present any evidence. Well, they didn’t present any evidence, but did they try to convince you, without evidence, that it was manmade?
CALLER: Yeah, they told us we need to start driving hybrids; that it’s going to be summer in January. (BD: by the way, who am I speaking to, and what is a “hybrid”???)
RUSH: (laughs) Yeah, and at 13. Where do you think your skepticism of this came from?
CALLER: My parents have always been kind of skeptical of it. (bd: until a scarey man from Exxon/Mobil came over…a lot…)
RUSH: Well, more and more Americans are being skeptical of it. You’re going to face a lot more… Have you been forced to watch Algore’s movie where you go to school?
CALLER: No, we haven’t. Our town, it’s kind of conservative. (bd: I’m not sure what “conservative” means, as well as “Liberal” or “hybrid”)
RUSH: Well, but look. Patrick, this will be a good lesson. There are liberals everywhere. You may think that just because your town is conservative — there are liberals. They’re hiding in the shadows, and they are lurking there, and they’re around and the odds are that many of them are in the school system. You’ll probably at some point probably have to watch this, unless your parents and other parents find out about it and demand, “If you’re going to show this movie, you better show the Great Global Warming Swindle and put the other side to our kids out there.” Well, congratulations. I’m glad you called and told us this. This is the kind of thing that gives us all encouragement for the future. Here you are at 13, already aware of when you’re watching propaganda. That’s great.
CALLER: Thank you. (bd: WHAT JUST HAPPENED???)
RUSH: Okay, Patrick. Thanks much.
END TRANSCRIPT
Also? USA Today wrote an article “breaking tradition” when Carter bashed Bush recently, yet doesn’t say that when Tony Snow continually bashes Clinton from the propaganda pulpit.
Brad,
So true, so necessary to keep reminding everyone that Gore WON the Presidential election. The urban legend that Bush won the 2000 election is quickly becoming an urban legend thanks to repetition by the MSM, just like the supposed Al Qaida – 9/11 link.
Frank Luntz spent plenty of time here in Ireland before our recent national election. He did a series of 3 TV programs, and was often featured on poltical/news radio programs in the leadup to the election.
I saw it as interference. He was given too much prominence by our national media. His views (and the “results” of his polling techniques) got too much attention and played too great a role in framing the debate. No pundit should get this kind of focus before an election. Better to have the focus be on the actual candidates and what they say they stand for.
If only all declared candidates were granted equal access to the media. If only access to voters weren’t dependent on airtime paid for by the highest corporate bidders.
That is, Bush’s legendary “win” is assumed to be a fact by many, even though it’s inaccurate.
And if you look at the number of inaccuuracies KNOWN to have existed in Cuyahoga County, and then extrapolate them to Ohio as a whole,it is pretyt clear who took Ohio in 2004 as well.
The moronic monkey wasn’t, and isn’t,legitimate.
Can that be true Brad? This was America, is America, and will be America. How do I know?
I keep the faith, baby.
We have the ultimate elections, presidents, and congress and everyone is sooooo envious of us.
🙂
And no, Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), is not saying this because he is up for re-election:
(Politico, emphasis added).
And it is not because they are slow, Slow, SLOW, that after the better part of a decade, they now see that no matter how much perfume is put on a pile of crap, Iraq still smells like a pile of crap.
But anything Americans do is wonderful, perfect, stupendous, so it does not matter anyway.
Just watch, every nation on earth is just waiting to invade and occupy Iraq, kill and maim hundreds of thousands of civilians, and claim mission accomplished. We are so coooooooool … huh patriots?
And how bout that bushie. He is so in your face to unamerican folk who what to punish Scooter for telling his side of the story. He showed them god’s way!!!
Jackson once said “it is a damn poor mind that can’t figger but one way to spell a word”. To that the great patriot Scooter says “it is a damn poor mind that can’t figger more than one way to tell a story”.
And Brad, “bushie won in ’00” is one way to tell a story. So what if the less patriotic among us tell it another way? They will not get pardons, that’s all. No biggie.
Can’t wait until after the ’08 election so we can tell lotsa more “who won stories” and make the world green with envy once again.
Here’s the link to that rehearsed informercial of that 13 year old Rush Limbaugh fan, it’s no longer on his main page:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/hom...113.guest.html
Gore won the RECORDED vote by 540,000.
He won the TRUE vote by over 5 million.
http://www.geocities.com/electi...Calculator.htm
FOX News ticker: “NATIONAL HEALTH CARE: BREEDING GROUND FOR TERROR?”
http://www.rawstory.com/showart...-terrorists%2F
Shit yes, america just keeps getting better and better. Can you imagine how green with envy the rest of the world must be?
I must be an odd fella to them, because when I look over the american landscape and focus on what it has become, I have to resist puking.