What is the 'real' reason none of this nefarious stuff sticks on Bush...

[bridgit]

and no! i personally do not accept 'he is the teflon bully puppet' as a viable answer. you know it's control of message & game ball; that's a given. it's easy to see Rove out there threatening to have people's puppies stolen, cat's paws broken.

but where has his dad been? he is usually out there, with Babs by his side, berating one & all that dare to impugn their "natural born leader" lil'George.

are the old man and his friends threatening to buy the rest of the civilized world and shut the whole thing down if these various stories of filthy republican tricks, and especially G.W.'s rank incompetence, are printed?

cause Bush should have had to face impeachment proceedings by now imo

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. GE, Disney and Viacom.

[leftchick]

3. time-warner

:(

[HughBeaumont]

5. NewsCorp.

Partisan media, Republican message. It's just that simple.

[Caution]

2. Nothing sexy.

That simple. There is nothing lurid the media can latch on to at this point. And please don't bring up Gannon. That was such a minor blip to begin with, it wouldn't have touched any President, much less someone who has such strong message control.

[Lerkfish]

4. well, don't overlook that campaigning repubs are avoiding being seen

with him.

that says volumes right there. All is not as portrayed in the poodle media.

[flyarm]

6. media media media...and msm media.....very simple fact! n/t

[SoFlaJet]

7. They have a great strategy

have an outrage a day and by the time Friday comes everybody is pretty much worn out-THEN release more garbage that no one will hopefully notice and know full well that Russert and the RWers he always has on won't talk about it...hey it's been working pretty well for them so far-the last 2 words the operative...

[rodeodance]

12. constant repetion of power-point Talking Points

[saltpoint]

8. A lot of the insider accounts claim that Dubya has shut Poppy out

altogether, and resents Poppy's henchmen, Scowcroft et al, from any comments or advice whatsoever.

The word is that Dubya's on his own and that daddy and his powerful pals are not in the mix.

It seems to come down to Dubya's stubbornness and arrogance more than anything else.

Hard to say, though.

[elehhhhna]

9. And yet, somehow, Carlyle makes tons of money.

[saltpoint]

13. Those are likely contracts dating to Reagan's administration rather

than brand new ones forged under Dubya.

The Bush-Saudi link especially is suspicious. Try Kevin Phillips' several recent books on the Bush family empire. Pretty good stuff.

[Ian David]

10. Some people say...

More:
http://www.thelawparty.com/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm

[KurtNYC]

11. Message control

I have to think it IS message control. Cable news is a collection of fawning lapdogs and broadcast is dominated by Today Show style quickie 'don't ask the most obvious questions' type "journalism."

This is not just Bush -- it is ALL the harder questions of the last 8 years. Including all of these:

- the 2000 elections debacle (no coverage of the aftermath or how it happened)
- the initial handling of bin Laden when the WH was passed from Clinton to *
- the close relationship between Enron and the WH
- the charges made by Paul O'Neil (that * wanted the Iraq invasion in 1999)
- the Downing Street memo
- etc.

It isn't just * that gets a pass. It is everything the WH does.

[sendero]

14. I've been thinking about that..

... and I have a new opinion that may or may not have merit.

Whether calculated or accidental, I think that 8 years of the villification of Clinton by the VRWC has taken its toll. But not only in expected ways.

I think the constant drumbeat of faux scandal has actually desensitized the public to real scandal. I think that folks just write off a lot of what is legitimate criticism to be nothing more than partisan bickering.

It's of course completely unfair that it would be that way, the Repukes have made an art form of creating mountains out of molehills and trumping up scandals, but I think Americans are to the point of just tuning the whole thing out.

The end game? People start paying attention when their own ox is gored. More and more Americans have gored oxen, and more will be getting them. The scandal-fatigue only goes so far to hide the reality, as we are already seeing.

[bridgit]

15. no, i see that as very plausible; lowering the bar all the way down...

to a blow job makes it easy for the rest of them to simply step over the top of what a worm must now crawl under so as to say. witness the shit-storm over Conyers 'baby sitter gate', or whatever the hell other lame-ass shit that makes news in the country these days

[grasswire]

16. a skeptical person....

....might think that the overuse of impeachment and all the hoopla over Clinton might have been deliberate strategy by the Repugs. The top circle knew Bush would win or be installed. They knew the machinery was in place to force him on the American people and they knew precisely what he would do to the country. So maybe the "spoiling" of the Constitutional processes to reign in a rogue president were part of the game.

[bridgit]

17. that sounds right too, or should i say right-wing...

x(

[Avalux]

18. The WH controls the flow of information; media is complicit

When a vital part of our democracy doesn't do its job, the government can get away with anything because there is no accountability. It's the media's job to hold their feet to the fire and demand answers; not follow a script of talking points faxed by the WH each day.

The reasons for complicity are many I believe, from corporate control to vanity to just plain laziness.

[blm]

24. They didn't buy up control of most airwaves in the 80s and 90s for nothing

and certainly not for fairness or objectivity in the news media.

[ripple]

19. People think he doesn't know any better

It's that "awww, shucks", good-ole-country boy thing.

That's why I don't like to use the term incompetent when characterizing him- that's too much like giving him a free pass. Bush and his minions know exactly what they are doing to our country, but greed and power-grabbing are far more important to them. Traitors, all of them.

[bridgit]

26. i've had a belly full of cowboys that can't saddle a horse...

x(

[Hamlette]

20. the GOP controls both houses

it has nothing to do with the media. The GOP is not going to impeach their own and we wouldn't either.

sheesh

[Bandit]

21. It is extremely difficult to change cult behavior.

Brainwashing has occurred and it is beyond difficult to change that fact or even alter it.

[bridgit]

25. it's time for an intervention...

:patriot:

[BlooInBloo]

22. Because the electorate is largely stupid and bigoted themselves.

[BuyingThyme]

23. After 9/11, the networks cut propaganda deals with Bush.

I know, because they discussed it on the fucking news. There were similar deals made in Hollywood. They ran polls asking if it was appropriate. Why does everybody forget this?