Today the RNC officially unveiled if official 2008 presidential election strategy. Taking a page from the 2000 and 2004 elections, they are not going to focus on the issues, since issues like Iraq and Global Warming and Health Care and the Deficit will kill them in November. They are going to base their campaign on three little words that their toadies in the corporate media will repeat and elaborate on and allude to throughout the rest of the campaign, unless Democrats put a stop to it now.
For those who do not recall what the mainstream media did to Al Gore with its “Gore is Liar” campaign, please refer to this classic Rolling Stone article, “The Press v. Al Gore.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5920188/the_press_vs_al_goreNote that with the exception of Ceci Connelly who lied once too often about Gore being a liar and got herself demoted to reporting medical news at the WaPo, the rest of the conspirators did very well for themselves and are in a position to do it again. (To find out what they are doing now, just do a Google) I have already caught several of them engaging in “Edwards is a Phony” or “Hillary is B___” attacks in their current jobs this year. George Stephanapoulos at ABC is the worst offender.
However, today’s attack at a McCain meeting qualifies as the official unveiling, since it is the first time that a woman (the RNC selected their man well) has stood up on national TV (all the news networks made sure of that---reporting on an “outrage” is such a clever way of propagating an outrage) and uttered the word in a room full of chuckling Republicans. The only thing that we, as Democrats can be grateful for is the writers’ strike, which will keep Letterman, Leno, Stewart, SNL and the rest from repeating the clip over and over and over again. (This was why I objected to the SNL characterization of Hillary in a bride’s outfit as a witch. For about a year, I have detected a tendency in the mainstream media to lay the groundwork for the Hillary is the B Word campaign. Stuff like the SNL sketch feeds into the national myth.)
Meanwhile, Judith Regan has revealed that News Corp tried to compel her to lie to government investigators, an accusation, which, if true, should result in felony charges against Roger Ailes of Fox 0if we had a real Justice Department). Now
that is news. Plus, Rudy released his first TV ad, which is probably full of lies, since he is a serial liar, but I do not see the press going over it with a fine tooth comb. (Hint, check the part about New York being the crime capital of the country. I seem to remember places like Houston, Atlanta and DC having that distinction at one time or another before 2000. Could Rudy be basing this claim on total number of crimes or on white collar crimes as opposed to the usual violent crime rate that people usually cite when they declare some city the “crime capital of the country”?)
Those of us who remember “Gore is a liar” know where this is going. The members of the press whose bosses want something from a Republican administration---relaxed media ownership rules of the type which FCC Chair Martin has just proposed to the benefit of News Corp, the Tribune Company and probably a few others, or maybe an upcoming merger that will create a mega-monopoly---will start attaching adjectives to Hillary like “shrill”, “cold”, “impersonal”. Her “lack of warmth” will be an issue (as if Rudy exudes warm fuzzies). News Corp will pay some old girl friend of Bill’s to say that he complained that Hilary did not give him the love and support he needed at home. She wasn’t “woman” enough for him.
This activity will step up exponentially after the nominating convention. The RNC does not want to tip its hand too soon, and risk throwing the nomination towards one of her competitors, like Edwards.
There are a number of ways to fight back.
The only unacceptable strategy is to do like Gore and do nothing. He wanted to be a statesman and stay above the fray, but in the end “Gore is a liar” hurt him terribly. It made sensible Democrats vote for Ralph Nader, because they thought Gore was as full of hot air as W. It made it easy for the press to laugh at Gore when he challenged Katherine Harris and the obvious election fraud that had taken place in Florida in 2000. “Oh, that's just Al. You can't believe anything he says. He is such a liar.” Never underestimate the ability of Americans to be suckered by a well run public relations campaign.
The first way I would fight back is find out everything there is to know about the white haired woman who decided to introduce the RNC’s newest campaign slogan. Maybe there is no history there. Maybe there is. It is always good to investigate.
I would also bombard John McCain with outraged emails asking how he can call a question that contains a sexist slur “good”. And, keep eyes and ears open for mainstream media pundits, like Tweety who begin repeating the word as humorous. They are trying to desensitize the public. At its inception, calling a sitting Vice President a “liar” was pretty bold. They had to get people softened up. They will have to get Americans softened up to the B word, too. They will start by having women reporters discuss how the word is acceptable when used by women about other women. Or not. Taking a righteous, feminist stance can be just another way of keeping the topic in the public eye if you include a right wing nut job in the debate. Right wingers will start splashing it across their signs, and these signs will get prominent display on TV. It will be Ann Coulters’ new favorite word.
Every time this happens, the news station needs to be inundated with angry protests. Think Imus and the college basketball players. This is the first woman with a real chance to be elected president, and they are attacking her as women in positions of authority have always been attacked---for having opinions and disagreeing with men and not apologizing for it. Individual journalists who decide to use Hillary is the B Word as a way to further their careers need to be made to realize that enough angry email from the news consumer public can also ruin a journalist’s career. Make them wish that they had a job as good as medical reporter for the Washington Post.
Imagine what a difference we could have made in 2000, if people had fought back against the press as it savaged Gore. There is no need to censor the press. Just use our free market ability to buy what we like, boycott what we do not like, let sponsors know what we
really do not like.
Oh, and do not forget to have a sense of humor. The B word can be turned on its head in some very funny ways to make campaign slogans that show that we in the Democratic Party are not afraid of being called uppidy women.
Another Bitch for Universal Healthcare. Too Busy Voting to Make Cookies. Strong Women are not Afraid of Peace. 
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