Keep shining the spotlight on the Right-Wing Smear Machine
This is an excellent review in the Huffington Post of how the “Right-Wing Smear Machine” has succeeded in implanting various damaging narratives about Clinton. Many on our side have reached the sorry point of carrying water for the Republicans by opposing Clinton because the right-wing has done that – and repeating all these negative perceptions as if they have truth to them. Hillary's Primary Challenge: Shattering The Prism Of The Right, Dave Johnson and James Boyce, Jan 22, 2007.
Perhaps the most ridiculous is the notion that she is a “polarizing” figure – yeah, a polarizing figure who won 70% of the vote in New York, who is a clear No. 1 in the polls among Democrats at this point, who matches up very well with St. John McCain – the former St. John McCain, that is – in recent polls. Is she more “polarizing” than George W. Bush? OK, bad example, but is she more polarizing than even John McCain is now? More polarizing than Ronald Reagan?
The answer, of course, is that any political figure strong enough to be considered a candidate is or will be considered a polarizing figure to some extent. The fact that, for now, it has particularly stuck to Clinton is testament to how relentlessly and how long the Right Wing Smear Machine has worked at it, and how pusillanimous the mainstream press has been in channeling it, not to its truth. Don’t for a second believe that, as we speak, right this second, the wheels are not smoking hot at the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and every other right-wing institution developing the negatives that will stick to Obama.
We need to be ever-vigilant against succumbing to these insidious messages. They work. By repeating the narratives against Al Gore and John Kerry – two distinguished public servants with brilliant credentials who carried every indicator of being strong and capable Presidents -- liberals have proved themselves just as gullible as anyone else. The Right-Wing Smear Machine knows that an entire generation of the most influential liberals will continue to their graves to pine for John Kennedy. They have learned how to exploit that – how to make every Democratic candidate come up short against that vision of what John Kennedy was and, especially, could have been.
We need to start by demanding that the mainstream press work very hard to make the public aware of the “Right-Wing Smear Machine.” It starts with an easy “trope” – an easy, memorable phrase that captures a truth the public will instantly recognize – and I would say that is it right there: the “Right-Wing Smear Machine.” The public knows it exists from the "swiftboaters." We then need to demand of the press that it not serve as the “dupes,” the “suckers,” the “pansies,” the “patsies,” the “lapdogs,” “chumps,” the “pushovers,” the “pigeons” of the Right-Wing Smear Machine. We need to demand that the press report on the massive money of super-rich right-wingers -- like Coors, Mellon-Scaife, Bradleys et al -- is funding the Right Wing Smear Machine by creating highly-paid "fellowships" at these institutions for sharp thinkers to develop and refine the messages of the Right-Wing Smear Machine.
Hillary Clinton is a distinguished public servant who will be a strong and capable President. So is Barack Obama, so is John Edwards. Any one of them will make a formidable candidate if we keep the public’s eye on what really matters, the governing philosophy of the Democratic Party and the direction it will take the country. Stay away from the personality issues. Don’t waste the slightest thought on them. They are phony constructs, because these people have all proved themselves through multiple elections to be electable, to have pleasing and decent personalities. Fer Chris’sakes, why do you think they became politicians?
Stick to basics.
Bob Somerby’s The Daily Howler has been doing a superb job of deconstructing these messages in the Beltway/NYC press. Put it in your Favorites and check it out every day. And when you see crap like this, pound on the reporter for being a lapdog, dupe, etc. – and don’t forget the editor who let it fly.
Perhaps the most ridiculous is the notion that she is a “polarizing” figure – yeah, a polarizing figure who won 70% of the vote in New York, who is a clear No. 1 in the polls among Democrats at this point, who matches up very well with St. John McCain – the former St. John McCain, that is – in recent polls. Is she more “polarizing” than George W. Bush? OK, bad example, but is she more polarizing than even John McCain is now? More polarizing than Ronald Reagan?
The answer, of course, is that any political figure strong enough to be considered a candidate is or will be considered a polarizing figure to some extent. The fact that, for now, it has particularly stuck to Clinton is testament to how relentlessly and how long the Right Wing Smear Machine has worked at it, and how pusillanimous the mainstream press has been in channeling it, not to its truth. Don’t for a second believe that, as we speak, right this second, the wheels are not smoking hot at the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and every other right-wing institution developing the negatives that will stick to Obama.
We need to be ever-vigilant against succumbing to these insidious messages. They work. By repeating the narratives against Al Gore and John Kerry – two distinguished public servants with brilliant credentials who carried every indicator of being strong and capable Presidents -- liberals have proved themselves just as gullible as anyone else. The Right-Wing Smear Machine knows that an entire generation of the most influential liberals will continue to their graves to pine for John Kennedy. They have learned how to exploit that – how to make every Democratic candidate come up short against that vision of what John Kennedy was and, especially, could have been.
We need to start by demanding that the mainstream press work very hard to make the public aware of the “Right-Wing Smear Machine.” It starts with an easy “trope” – an easy, memorable phrase that captures a truth the public will instantly recognize – and I would say that is it right there: the “Right-Wing Smear Machine.” The public knows it exists from the "swiftboaters." We then need to demand of the press that it not serve as the “dupes,” the “suckers,” the “pansies,” the “patsies,” the “lapdogs,” “chumps,” the “pushovers,” the “pigeons” of the Right-Wing Smear Machine. We need to demand that the press report on the massive money of super-rich right-wingers -- like Coors, Mellon-Scaife, Bradleys et al -- is funding the Right Wing Smear Machine by creating highly-paid "fellowships" at these institutions for sharp thinkers to develop and refine the messages of the Right-Wing Smear Machine.
Hillary Clinton is a distinguished public servant who will be a strong and capable President. So is Barack Obama, so is John Edwards. Any one of them will make a formidable candidate if we keep the public’s eye on what really matters, the governing philosophy of the Democratic Party and the direction it will take the country. Stay away from the personality issues. Don’t waste the slightest thought on them. They are phony constructs, because these people have all proved themselves through multiple elections to be electable, to have pleasing and decent personalities. Fer Chris’sakes, why do you think they became politicians?
Stick to basics.
Bob Somerby’s The Daily Howler has been doing a superb job of deconstructing these messages in the Beltway/NYC press. Put it in your Favorites and check it out every day. And when you see crap like this, pound on the reporter for being a lapdog, dupe, etc. – and don’t forget the editor who let it fly.
posted by KISSWeb | 2:01 PM
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