Posted on 06/02/2005 8:11:41 PM PDT by kcvl
Hurting Your Country
By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com Thursday, Jun 02, 2005
So how did the USA go from being a beacon of freedom to a champion of the gulag? How exactly did that happen? Well, pull up a chair, here's what happened.
After President Bush won re-election last November, there was much consternation among some powerful anti-Bush Americans. They were stunned that John Kerry lost and feared that if Bush succeeds in his second term, the Democrats would lose again in 2008.
Then came the successful election in Iraq, and the fear on the left multiplied. If Iraq turned out to be a success, Mr. Bush would become a hero. So the need to undermine the Bush administration became more intense than ever. But how to do it? Social Security wasn't emotional enough, particularly for young voters. What could be done to hurt Bush?
Then came the revelation--let's torture the President.
The New York Times had already primed the pump, running more than 50 front-page stories on the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Then came reports from the International Red Cross that more abuse was happening at Guantanamo. The American Civil Liberties Union was already challenging detentions there and so a strategy was sealed: the Bush administration was full of torturers and human rights violators. It was ruining America's reputation throughout the world. Bush was a villain.
It was easy to get that thesis out. The left-wing websites fed anti-Bush columnists like Bob Herbert and Richard Cohen information and the drumbeat intensified. There was torture and abuse and murder all sanctioned by the evil Bush administration. Article after article appeared and soon some TV people followed along. It didn't take long before the torture seed was fully sown.
The Newsweek debacle slowed things down a little, but the anti-Bush press quickly banded together and pronounced that Newsweek's mistake would never have happened if Bush wasn't torturing everybody. I'm sure you read those opinion pieces, as they appeared in liberal newspapers all over the country. The theme and wording was so similar that one person could have written all of those articles. And that was no accident.
All the while this was happening, the President and his crew were doing what they usually do when the press pounds them: nothing. They did not engage the abuse propaganda until it was obvious Newsweek had screwed up. But even that effort was derided by many in The White House press corps, who chided the administration for scolding Newsweek.
Now the torture theme has new momentum. A liberal federal judge in New York City has ruled the Defense Department must release more photos and videos of Abu Ghraib to the ACLU. Of course, that will incite even more hatred against the USA and put our soldiers in more danger but, hey, politics comes before protecting the troops. The anti-Bush people want those pictures almost as badly as Al Jazeera wants them. Another nail in the President's coffin is more important than bodies in real coffins.
If you think I am exaggerating, I assure you I am not. This torture campaign is being run brilliantly, and if Mr. Bush doesn't wise up soon, he will be bloodied just as Lyndon Johnson was in the Vietnam debacle.
The truth is that abuse has occurred, but on a relatively small scale. According to General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. has detained about 68,000 people since 9/11 (most have been released), and there have been 325 investigations into alleged abuse. At this writing, about 100 cases of wrongdoing have been substantiated.
That's not a big number, but it doesn't matter to the anti-Bush cabal, which understands that perception is reality in a nation where "reality programming" is the rage of the day. If you can sell the nation that America is now a war criminal, President Hillary Clinton is a real possibility.
So there you have it. For the anti-Bush folks, it is simple: no pain, no gain. Torture is selling and the media is buying. For those of you who are appalled by this analysis, I can only say one thing: sometimes the truth, like torture, hurts.
Check this out...the strategy seems to be TRASH President Bush, then move the "savior" Hillary in to "save us" from the "evil" Republicans.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
They are not going to get away with this!
More people read the internet than read or listen to them.
Your post, unfortunately, will be seen as flame bait.
There are scores of FR memebers who will not only stab O'Reilly and Hannity in the back, they will savage the bodies beyond recognition. Not content with just doing that, they will then proudly drag the bodies though the streets, proclaiming that somehow by their actions they have advanced the cause of liberty and conservatism.
O'Reilly, single handedly, and against all odds, took out Ali Arian (spelling is wrong, but he's the muslim-terrorist-professor from Florida). None of the slamming posters can claim anything that even approaches that, and yet, they carry on as though they are the saviors of the Union.
They ought to be so ashamed that they would change their names before ever posting here again.
I wish Jim Robinson would offer the same protection to O'Reilly and Hannity that he does to Rush. They certainly deserve and need it
The Baron Harkonnen planned to do the same thing, with the Beast Rabban and Feyd.
I was thinking about hte general situation today and wondered if there shouldn't be a website to review the daily output of NBCBSABSPBSNPR to correct the spin and add equivalent content to cover what's really happening in WA-DC, IRAQ, Afghanistan.
Bill hit the nail on the head with this one..
Off Topic
But I'm watching Hardball and I'm wondering why Lesley Stahl is wearing that wig??
I really wish that the administration would go on the offensive, rather than the defensive.
O'Reilly has gotten a lot of flack here, so it's nice to see him come out with something as helpful as this.
OReilly and Dick Morris are calling for hearings on this - there have already been 130 investigations on this stuff by everyone under the sun. A hearing will just give the Dems and the MSM a publicized forum to do what they did with the 9-11 hearings.
at some point, we have to accept who makes up this country. if we have a majority so stupid, that they would take the side of the lowest terrorist scum on the earth, over their own country and military giving their life and limb to protect them - then we have to accept that we have probably reached the tipping point here, and there is no salvation for this country.
OFF-TOPIC: Pardon my curiosity, but what does Bill's reputation on FR and 'flame bait' have to do with this topic?
ON-TOPIC: The Leftists are like cornered mice facing a mighty cat. They'll claw and bite, but they'll ultimately be devoured for their foolishness.
Dick Morris agrees with him and he ran almost every Clinton campaign. He knows how dirty they play because he was one of the mud throwers (until he got caught sucking toes and the Clintons threw him overboard).
A hearing of how Democrats have been undermining the war on terror since 9/11.
Interesting this, coming from O'Reilly. Deeper thought than I usually associate with him (I don't have a TV so I only see what folks post here, though).
He is correct in tying the torture campaign to the Kerry campaign. All of the big wheels in Amnesty International donated the max to Kerry and other liberal politicians. It's no longer a nonpartisan non-profit, it's a Democratic Party front.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Please, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but, isn't it true that I'mnasty International hasn't even been in Gitmo? If true, the President needs to blast them out of the water for making claims that are 1) in the first place, false, and 2) making claims about something that they haven't even seen.
Example: Howard Dean. That guy is a raving lunatic!
But they are nonpartisan. /sarcasm
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