There's Something Going On in GOP vs. MediaCrats

9/6/04

[Timeout]

Even before Zell Miller jumped Chris Matthews last week, I noticed something had changed. During the entire week, when an interviewer colored a question with anti-GOP shiboleths, the person being interviewed shot it down...aggressively.

I believe Karl Rove and gang perceives a wounded enemy after the damage the MediaCrats did to themselves over the Swifty story. The blogoshpere whipped their a$$ in that case.

I think the turning point was the Michelle Malkin interview on Hardball. It was such a grand display of the left's rhetorical trick of twisting what a conservative says and mistating their position over and over and over. Michelle was caught flat-footed by it...she should have directly challenged Chris's misquote. I think the Bushies said "never again". Note that Zell Miller, in his tirade against Matthews, referred back to the Malkin case.

It appears to me that, after the Malkin ambush, Rove and company decided it was time to smash the media's biased concept of conservatives. I believe the talking points must have gone out...don't take it anymore. Slap 'em when they preface a question with some insult to conservatives. When David Gergen tried the old trick of tying Zell to southern racists, Laura Ingraham jumped on him like a junkyard dog and forced him to retreat.

It happened time and again last week...conservatives refusing to move on until the host retracted some implication that the GOP is mean, heartless, racist, etc. This is new to me. Did anyone else notice it?

[Lijahsbubbe]

The MSM commies are now hard at work trying to resurrect the Bush service records story.

[sweetliberty]

"I know what it’s like to almost die."

I didn't realize that a little rice in the butt was life-threatening.

[Liberty Valance]

"That pretty well descibes how Gergen looked after Laura Ingraham got thru with him."

Gergen is a snake. A soft spoken snake...but still a snake.
Go Laura!

[demkicker]

Thanks! I really want to see an overall count of how many votes he missed each year during his career as a US Senator. I'm sure his record is dismal, but would love to know if his absenteeism is considered "chronic".

[tiki]

I think Malkin was the catalyst. I'm glad Sissy did what he did and with someone who looks so sweet and innocent. We know she's tough and can take care of herself if she isn't ambushed so it looked like the mean, old ogre picking on Tinkerbell.

[Timeout]

The MSM commies are now hard at work trying to resurrect the Bush service records story.

That's a perfect example of the beauty of the new conservative strategy. The minute the MediaCrats open their beaks about Bush's Guard service, conservatives can slam them for their unbalanced coverage of Kerry's record vs. Bush's. The Media Research Center keeps statistics on how many stories they ran on the old charges against Bush vs. the timid reception they gave to the huge Swifty story.

For the first time in my life I think (hope) pubbies have the high ground against the media. The media's treatment of the Swiftys opened a lot of people's eyes. And the best part of all is that the media is still kidding itself that it sets the agenda. That blindness will be their downfall.

[1stMarylandRegiment]

Use the language of the lefty loonies against them.

In Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky writes the most important tactic for the "Have-Nots" in bringing down the "Haves" is to do the things they will not do - to use their moral strength against them.

This battle is not about policy or war or the direction of the country - it is about bringing down those who currently have power - the Republicans.

We shun the lie - we present the truth and facts and expect others to accept that we have "proven" we are right, and to back down.

Thus the Democrats use lie and innuendo to shift the focus away from the facts.

We will, naturally, eventually, repsond by elevating the negative tone of our attacks.

The Radical will, immediately, act aggrieved and claim the higher ground.

Does, "I will not have my Vietnam Service to my country questioned," sound familiar?

Just so you know what is coming, Hillary wrote her college thesis on the life and work of Saul Alinsky.

[johnb838]

It is that Hegelian Dielectic. Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis.

Like this:

Liberal Media: You're a racist!

Trent Lott: No I'm Not.

Liberal Media: You're a racist! You're a racist! You're a racist! You're a racist! You're a racist!

Trent Lott: Well, I'm really not, but since you're so adamant about it, I'll step down and spend more time on civil rights matters.

Liberal Media: See? He's a racist.

[reformedliberal]

*That person* was John Dos Passos. He was a famous communist writer of the period. The article is question was in Life magazine in 1946. Dos Passos was their war correspondent.

I was surprised that the media didn't touch that one. Dos Passos is an icon in the Left's historical literary pantheon. But no effort was ever made to present him as anything except an unabashed leftist. Had they brought his name/reputation to the fore, it would have made a telling point about the critics of America vis-a-vis Iraq.

Here's a reprint of the article from Rush's site. Notice the swipe suggesting war crimes and the familiar litany "We've lost the peace."

[...]
“It’s what our boys have been doing that worries me.”

The lieutenant has been talking about the traffic in Army property, the leaking of gasoline into the black market in France and Belgium even while the fighting was going on, the way the Army kicks the civilians around, the looting.

“Lust, liquor and loot are the soldier’s pay,” interrupts a red-faced major.

The lieutenant comes out with his conclusion: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” You hear these two phrases again and again in about every bull session on the shop. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” and “Don’t think I’m sticking up for the Germans, but….”

The troops returning home are worried. “We’ve lost the peace,” men tell you. “We can’t make it stick.” [...]

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/eibessential2/life.guest.html


At first, I thought the reference was timid for not mentioning Dos Passos' ideology. But, relative to this thread, I am now wondering if it was simply a veiled reference aimed squarely at the Democrats and the leftist media. W was telling them we are on to their strategy, it is a tired one and we aren't going to let them get away with it. In that instance, it would have been in the media's interest to let the reference slide. There is no way they could have painted Dos Passos as other than what he was.

[reformedliberal]

W himself learned politics under Lee. Quite a few of the BC04 campaign team learned the ropes under Atwater, including Peggy Noonan.

A few weeks ago, Maureen Dowd had a column in which she referenced Lee Atwater at least 5 times. Several other Dem apologists have hyphenated *Atwater-Rove* in the past month.

Lee was their nemesis, the unRepublican who was cool, hip, dangerous and deadly. Rove is not cool or hip, but he terrifies them all the same. Also, since May, at least, the campaign has shown that they know we, the base, respond positively to any slapdowns of the media and the left.

[Cultural Jihad]

Your idea has merit. The media is funded by advertisers, and businesses which pay for advertising are not in the business of alienating their customer base. Even a handful of letters written to the sponsors would have a tremendous impact. Watch how fast the liberal "news" commentators clean up their acts when their funding is being threatened.

[FLCowboy,]

In particular, why isn't the press demanding that John Kerry release ALL of his military records? As someone suggested yesterday, write letters to your local newspaper, and politicians demanding the release of Kerry's records.

I say, forget about Kerry's war records, medals, and references to 1970. I think the Republicans need to concentrate on his Senate record, and especially the last 10 years. If the Republicans can shape the dialog to 1990 and later, Kerry has nothing to talk about. When Kerry starts in again about his past exploits in uniform, ignore him. What can he say?

[wildbill]

I remember in the hey day of CNN, Judy Woodruff and Bernard whatisname used to preface a leftist charge in their questioning with "Some say...(you haven't stopped beatin your wife).

How I wanted ONE Republican to stop them and say: "Just who are these people making this charge. Name them so the public will know and can make a judgement."

[pizzalady]

"...It is also telling (or damning) that this 'fight-back' sea change, if it really is permanent within party ranks, was precipitated, not by a Republican, but by a Democrat - Senator Miller..."
I have to agree with most of your 0.02 worth.

Senator Miller is just now realizing what many former Democrats realized 15 to 20 years ago when the Democrat party ranks were still filled with honest, average, hard working people who valued truth and integrity.

Most people were so busy raising families, working, and volunteering in the community to pay much attention to "politics"

There was no alternative news source. It was local TV news with 10 minutes or less of National or international news or Newspapers. The average family was slowly but consistently marginalized. Being led to believe that special interest groups were taking over by power of numbers alone. The moral majority of my childhood became the silent majority of my youth, the minority of my midlife and the marginalized of my old age. At least that was the perception.
I believe that most people considered journalists to be reporting actual facts as they occurred. History books stated accurate History. Nothing more nothing less. If it was in print, it must be true. When there is no contradiction to what is reported, it is difficult to judge truth from fiction or opinion. After all, most news was local, and most news was perceived to be honest.

Consider that few had personal computers just 20 years ago!! The Internet was little understood just 15 years ago. The only access to world news was through main stream media.

Now, anyone who wants has access to news around the world in the blink of the eye. It is much easier to judge truth from fiction when both are available.

Zell Miller was right when he said he did not leave the party the party left him.

From personal experience and memory I have to say that the Republican of today is more like the Democrat of 50 years ago than most would believe. Democrats did not agree with welfare, abortion, gay rights, feminism, atheism, divorce, unwed parenthood, or cohabitation, socialism, communism, bigotry, pornography, high taxes, undisciplined children, lying, cheating or corruption. And democrats were not anti-American, anti-Military, anti-Christian or anti-school prayer.

[Raquel]

I agree that it is Kerry's Senate record that is the most difficult to defend. The votes, or lack thereof, are in black and white. That is why Kerry wanted "War Hero" to be the theme of his campaign. "War Hero" is not as easily defined. Nonetheless, it is the hypocrisy of the left when questioning the President's role in the Vietnam War, and NOT Kerry's that has me nuts, especially their outright disdain for the Swift Vets, who are our true heroes. Bring the battle to the 90's absolutely, but we cannot forget the past, because what John Kerry did when he came back from Vietnam constitutes treason, not to mention out right lies, and the torture endured by our POW's because of John Kerry. "When Kerry starts in again about his past exploits in uniform, ignore him. What can he say?" He can say sorry. GO SWIFT VETS GO, YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!

[WOSG]

KERRY RECORD PING - A MUST READ!!

[WOSG]

KERRY RECORD PING - A MUST READ!!

[Salvation]

**During the entire week, when an interviewer colored a question with anti-GOP shiboleths, the person being interviewed shot it down...aggressively.**

I think your timing is right on.

[ableChair]

Yea, I noticed it, too. I think Rove has calculated that there is enough alternative media out there now that conservatives don't have to be blackmailed anymore for access. That's how they did it in the past; if you challenged them they would simply deny you access in the future. That is the calculus by which it was done in the past. But the formula has changed now and the MSM knows it. I'd say it is a good move by Rove because the MSM has indeed lost the 'access game card'.

[woodyinscc]

That is the liberal solution to fixing the schools. We all know how great that works.

Yes we do.!

Nine trillion spent since the implementation of Johnsons "Great Society" and the rats are still using the same issues. We should be throwing it right back in their faces.