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They
Will Destroy You and Your Nation
July 12, 2001
by
Ken Alford
Remember when Hillary charged Bill's opponents as being part
of a "vast right-wing conspiracy"? A recent article by Chris
Mooney in the news magazine, "The American Prospect", has
reminded us once again of the depth and degree to which talk
radio and the conservative media will go to destroy a "perceived"
enemy.
This time, it is Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Mr.
Mooney quotes Dave Boyer of the conservative Washington Times,
citing GOP sources as saying, "Congressional Republicans are
waging a concerted attack on Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle,
highlighting his inexperience at the helm in part to undermine
any presidential aspirations he entertains."
Later Mr. Boyer quotes his sources: "Republicans acknowledge
privately that the effort is coordinated and serves two purposes:
to highlight their priorities by focusing on one Democratic
'bogeyman' and to bruise the political career of a media-savvy
opponent with few glaring weaknesses yet for 2004."
As usual, most of the right-wing character assassinations
and political hatchet jobs start with talk radio and characters
like Rush Limbaugh. In fact, Limbaugh was so incensed by Mr.
Mooney's charges, he addressed the issue on one of his recent
shows.
What does it all mean? First of all, they are still gloating
and cannot hide their glee that they were successful in "destroying"
the Clintons. They feel they can destroy anyone they set their
sights upon. They only set their sights upon anyone that they
feel may be a threat to their established power.
Their starting point is talk radio, with propagandists like
Limbaugh, who dictates to the peons at magazines like the
National Journal and The Weekly Standard. They network from
there through the right-wing internet sites, like Newsmax,
Lucianne, and FreeRepublic.
Is it coordinated or are all right-wingers simply on the
same wavelength? From the Internet, they hit all the right-wing
television "political" shows, such as those on Fox TV and
MSNBC. All the while, they criticize Dan Rather and the "liberal
media", as if they are only responding in kind to those "liberals."
They must feel like they have the country by the balls and
they can do anything they want.
Will they be successful in "destroying" Tom Daschle? Will
they go after his wife? Will they find something in his past
that Brit Hume, Fred Barnes, and Chris Matthews can find reprehensible
enough to report for several days or weeks? Will it be sexual
in nature? Will Rush Limbaugh continue to attack him on his
radio show? Why is it important?
Why? Because they have seized control of the means of communication
in this country. It doesn't matter if the NY Times and the
Washington Post want to pretend that they have influence.
In this propaganda war, they don't. It is the right-wing propaganda
system that allowed the "coup" in the last election.
It was they that portrayed Al Gore as a "habitual liar" as
they permitted the "Great Pretender" a free ride. It was they
that insisted Al Gore concede before all the votes were counted.
It was they that painted the Florida Supreme Court as "liberal"
mouthpieces for the Democratic Party. It was they that did
not trust the "people" to count the votes. It was they that
gave us our incompetent, corporate, candy-ass President.
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