Posted on 10/20/2004 4:00:56 PM PDT by txradioguy
The decision of Sinclair Broadcasting to air an anti-Kerry documentary in late October is a nightmarish recipe of "creeping fascism, state propaganda, Big Brother and brainwashing." So says the unhinged Molly Ivins, giving voice to the outrage felt by her colleagues in the news media.
Liberals are positively panicked at the idea that somewhere, on some station, at some late date, someone will say something negative about John Kerry without a moment for balance on the other side. Let's be blunt: Welcome to our world, liberals. You're all for propaganda and brainwashing when it's Dan, Peter, Tom & Co. spinning wildly in your direction. In your world, a free press is defined as what happens when so-called "news" professionals sell liberalism relentlessly like a kitchen gizmo on a late-night infomercial.
Conservatives are used to seeing our leaders hounded and our ideas pounded without any quaint notions of balance or fairness on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS and so on. This does not occur on one night every four years. It happens on a daily, even hourly basis. TV news stars have foisted Microsoft forgeries on President Bush (CBS), framed his face next to the letters "I LIE" (NBC), and composed internal memos declaring that the Bush campaign is a cavalcade of liars and must be exposed as such (ABC).
For most of this year, these left-wing journalists have portrayed John Kerry's war years as if he were a combination of Private Ryan, Sergeant York and G.I. Joe. They have touted his "chestful of medals" and swooned over every replay of his military home movies (yes, the ones he vowed he'd never use for political gain). Those who remember him differently -- as a man who went to battle to polish his political resume and then returned home to smear his comrades in the war effort as vandals, rapists and murderers -- are not to be defined as "newsworthy." Their views are sometimes questioned, usually condemned, parceled out in half-teaspoons of Swift Vet ad clips. They are never invited to sit for extended interviews with Ted Koppel or Dan Rather.
The film Sinclair has ordered its stations to air, "Stolen Honor," interviews Vietnam prisoners of war and their wives at length about the wounds they feel over Kerry's infamous 1971 Senate testimony. It is a powerful film. It's a devastating story. It's no wonder the liberals want it blacklisted before it can be located on television.
But with all the one-sided boosterism of Kerry the war hero, we must ask: Is "Stolen Honor" a blatant offense against balance? Or can it qualify, at least in a few media markets, as a limited but razor-sharp contrast to the liberal media monoculture, as the arrival of balance? "Stolen Honor" critics ought to shut up, sit down and watch before they condemn it.
For the latest example of the liberal media's extreme revulsion to the views of anti-Kerry veterans, see ABC's "Nightline" on Oct. 14. In four previous shows on Kerry's war history and Swift Boat veteran ads, Ted Koppel never granted an anti-Kerry veteran an extended interview. But this time, Koppel's show did the incredible, traveling all the way to Vietnam and interviewing self-proclaimed soldiers for the communist regime, soliciting their viewpoint. In aiming to determine what happened on the day Kerry put in for his Silver Star medal, Feb. 28, 1969, Koppel said these old enemies had "no particular ax to grind for or against John Kerry." The spokesmen for a regime that tortured and killed countless American POWs were more trustworthy than American POWs.
After a parade of unsubstantiated hearsay from these Vietnamese peasants, interviewed with an official minder from the communist regime standing around, Koppel sat down with an anti-Kerry veteran on live television for the first time this year. John O'Neill was so shocked by the audacity of ABC's "news" judgment that he kept returning to the objection that Koppel had been used: "You've been had, Ted."
Koppel framed the show as a "chance to set the record straight" -- against John O'Neill . Kerry's G.I. Joe narrative must be upheld, even if it requires traveling around the world and looking up the "independent" Viet Cong to "confirm the essence" of the Kerry mythmakers.
How dare these partisan hacks at ABC and elsewhere sit pompously in their studios and condemn Sinclair! They have no gauntlet of objectivity to toss at anyone. They accuse others of trumped-up, slanted propaganda? In this Kerry-coddling campaign cycle, the pot has never been blacker before rebuking the kettle.
Man, they are really coming unglued!
"Man, they are really coming unglued!"
Tell me about it. But their bullying techniques have worked to some degree. Sinclair has had to revise what they are doing with "Stolen Valor" and are now only showing parts of in as part of a new show. The anto-Free Speech Liberals have won again.
She writes lately from France, I notice.
I hope that Sinclair rediscovers his pair of brass ones, says "to hell with them.." to the lefist-idealogue-critics, and just runs the whole darn thing, without comment. Let his critics moan and sue and complain after the fact; it just won't matter once the cat's out of the bag.
SFS
I emailed the Sinclair sponsors to urge them not to cave in to the threats by the Kerry machine to withdraw their ads "or else." Some of the companies have responded to me. This answer is the saddest. It brings to mind the action of the Spanish government after the Islamic terrorist bombing. I told them so.
"Thank you for your email regarding Sinclair Broadcasting Group. We have
received numerous emails from individuals regarding this issue; some
threatening to boycott our company, and some encouraging us not to buckle
to this threat.
Regis Corporation does not participate in political or religious
activities. Simply put, we cut hair. We employ over 53,000 people, many
of whom are paid on commission, and rely on that income to support their
families. By boycotting us, you are hurting individuals - our employees
and their families.
We have notified Sinclair Broadcasting Group not to air our advertising
during or adjacent to any political programming. That is the right thing
to do. To take any further action would be inappropriate, and not in
keeping with our responsibilities to our employees and our stockholders.
In return, we are asking you to remove our name from your boycott list."
[Of course, it was not I, but the "party of the working man," John Fraud Kerry's Demonrats, who threatened the boycott.}
I just saw something on Drudge indicating that Sinclair is going to limit what is shown of Stolen Honor, in response to pressure from investors and lawyers for Kerry front groups.
One lady wants to pay Sinclair $1,000,000 to show the pro-Kerry docupuffery piece Up River on their network.
Maybe a compromise could be worked out with both films shown as a double feature followed by a C-SPAN call-in program for viewer reactions.
Important talking points that all freepers should know:
1. Kerry had at least two secret meetings in Paris with NVA and VC/NLF negotiators.
2. In 1971 he became the lead spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and followed the Communist Party USA's line of unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from Southeast Asia and withdrawal of U.S. financial support for the Saigon government.
3. Because of John Kerry and Jane Fonda, our prisoners of war in Hanoi, and jungle hellholes in Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam endured an additional TWO years of torture, indoctrination, and brutal living conditions which included slow starvation, deliberate withholding of medical treatment,torture,and jungle diseases.
4. John Kerry has never apologized to the returning veterans he slandered in his 1971 Senate testimony, and by implication he included all of the dead, wounded, and POWs in his false war crimes charges.
5. John Kerry has a malignant narcissistic personality, which has evolved from prep school, where his classmates mocked him with a play on his initials: "Just For Kerry."
6. Senator Kerry tells how his dying mother told him "integrity, integrity, integrity" should be his guiding words in his pursuit of the presidency. Obviously, he has demonstrated that he will say anything, and do anything to anybody who stands in his way to the White House. The ends justify the means to this evil monster, and he must be stopped from taking over the White House.
7. The consequences of a Kerry victory will be such that he will appoint the most leftist anti-Americans to the Supreme Court. If you think that our cultural values have eroded already, think about a future in which God is illegal, and morality is relative.
Liberals have been creating convention for our language uses for a long time. It's a power they don't want to give up, but they will have to compete on a more equal footing from now on. Practical deconstruction has begun, and Derrida has shown the way. Before criticising Derrida as some kind of Marxist lackey, realize that he would approve of our new deconstruction and the establishment of cultural Conservatism if we can do it.
"Tell me about it. But their bullying techniques have worked to some degree. Sinclair has had to revise what they are doing with "Stolen Valor" and are now only showing parts of in as part of a new show. The anto-Free Speech Liberals have won again."
No, the Libs haven't. They are trying to spin it that way to prevent people from tuning in. Sinclair always planned to show just portions of the documentary (they are presenting it as a news story rather than as a film). They had offered Kerry a chance to rebut the charges of the different portions as they aired, but he of course refused. Now, to fill in the gaps, Sinclair is running the story of how the DNC, Kerry, and the MSM tried to get them to back down. If people tune in, it will be devastating. Don't believe that the MSM won because they told you they won. That would be counter to the lessons learned from Memogate and the Halperin memo.
Another Bush term would destroy the MSM. That's why they are throwing everything they have at him, including suppressing stories, fabricating documents, cooking polls, lauding JK, etc., etc. Desperation will increase as we get closer to the election. That means we're in for a rough couple of weeks. But in the larger sense it's good, because the more blatant they get the fewer the folks who will believe them.
I just wish that there was a Sinclair owned station in Kansas. Hopefully someone will start a thread on the night that it airs so Ic an at least keep up with what is said in the show.
Molly Ivins doesn't have a brain to wash.
"I just wish that there was a Sinclair owned station in Kansas"
I know what you mean. Would that there was one in Texas. But they are in the key swing states. I am looking forward to hearing about the show, and witnessing the impact.
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