Without Internet, U.S. Would Be a “Fascist State”

National Review Online ^ | August 11, 2005 | Byron York

[neverdem]

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August 11, 2005,

6:11 p.m.

Without Internet, U.S. Would Be a "Fascist State"

Crawford protester Cindy Sheehan talks with her blog supporters.

Cindy Sheehan, the woman whose soldier son was killed in Iraq and who is now camping by a road in Crawford, Texas demanding a meeting with President Bush, on Wednesday thanked a group of antiwar bloggers for supporting her, saying that without the Internet, America would be a "fascist state."

"This is something that can't be ignored," Sheehan said during a conference call with bloggers representing sites like democrats.com, codepink4peace.org, and crooksandliars.com. "They can't ignore us, and they can't put us down. Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn't know anything, and we would already be a fascist state."

"Our government is run by one party, every level," Sheehan continued, "and the mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government." Sheehan also called the 2004 presidential election "the election, quote-unquote, that happened in November."

The conference call was moderated by Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, who managed former Vermont governor Howard Dean's presidential campaign in 2003 and 2004. It was also organized by another Democratic strategist, Bob Fertik of democrats.com. (During the conference, Fertik said that for the purposes of the call, he was representing yet another website, the antiwar site afterdowningstreet.com.) Finally, Jodie Evans of the anti-war group Code Pink also took part in running the sometimes-chaotic call. Trippi has posted a recording of the call on his own website, joetrippi.com

Also taking part in the call was Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a frequent participant in progressive political conferences and anti-war events. Schakowsky took part in an unofficial Democratic hearing on the Downing Street Memo conducted last June in Washington. Sheehan testified at that hearing, giving a painful and moving account of seeing her son in his coffin.

On the call, Sheehan complained that she was suffering from a sore throat and a fever after being doused by thunderstorms. But she vowed to stay in Texas. There are only three things that would prompt her to leave, she said: "a good meeting with the president, the end of August, or I get arrested."

— Byron York, NR's White House correspondent, is the author of the book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President -- and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time.

	http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200508111811.asp

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

She's the subtext for what the MSM really feels. They despise and loathe being in Crawford so much they want to get revenge on President Bush any way possible.

[RetiredArmy]

Well, she is right about one thing, thank God for the internet, otherwise the socialists would rule this country. Not the fascists. Only via the internet have we been able to keep them at-bay. Like the Blather forged documents and FR's work on that. That story would have never gotten out without the internet.

[MikeA]

That's interesting, since it is the president she implies is a fascist who overthrew a true fascist, one of two remaining in the world, in Iraq that being Saddam Hussein. Most international political scientists agree Saddam Hussein was a fascist. Ms. Sheehan seems to think the world would be a better place were he left in power. I guess that makes Cindy and her sick little bunch of twits out in Crawford the true fascist. Let's see Cindy, Bush overthrew a fascist. You decry the overthrow of said fascist. Which one is of the two of you seems the most pro-fascist? Witch.

By the way, in a sense you're right. Without the internet blogs which are largely the voices of right-thinking conservatives, America probably would be a fascist state under the single viewpoint perspective of the Democratic media and the lies they spew regularly, including giving a big lump of nothing like Cindy Sheehan all kinds of outsized coverage.

Fortunately we bloggers have prevented the Democratic Nazis from controlling the airwaves, forging documents about our president's National Guard service and refusing to tell the whole story like the fact Bush met with Hag Sheehan last year. WE'VE STOPPED YOU TRAITORS DEAD IN YOUR TRACKS AND THROWN YOUR LIES RIGHT BACK IN YOUR FACES!!

So I stand corrected Cindy, you're right. We on the web have prevented fascism from ruling this country, particularly the Islamic fascism you DemoScum want to enable through your appeasement approach to terrorists. But we've also prevented the fascism of the single viewpoint media in brainwashing people like its brainwashed Cindy Bin Sheehan.

[Freebird Forever]

Without Internet, U.S. Would Be a "Fascist State"

She's close, but a bit off.

Without Internet the Second Amendment, U.S. Would Be a "Fascist State"

If I was made to choose between firearms or my computer, the decision would be an easy one.

[pepperhead]

Right if it wasn't for the internet Dan Rather would be down in Crawford right now interviewing that liar Cindy Sheehan.

[minus_273]

best part about that statement is that the Internet is a US military network! haha what a moron.

[SAJ]

But that's an entirely reasonable result, indeed, the only result that could be expected. ''Liberal'' policies and beliefs cannot stand up under any close scrutiny, and there is not nor ever has been anything like the 'Net to provide vast, fast, very penetrating scrutiny, and better still, scrutiny from a huge number of individuals having talents in virtually every imaginable field of endeavour.

[minus_273]

also thank the US military ;) gotta love DARPA for setting this all up

[Pukin Dog]

Trippi is NOT impressive. Nor is the woman.

Understatement of the year. Trippi thought Howard Dean would make a fine President.

[ThinkDifferent]

"They can't ignore us"

Incorrect.

[goodnesswins]

FOURTEEN Minutes and Counting.......

[tomahawk]

She's a lunatic.

Bush should have ignored her.

[jmc813]

I've been appalled by the way the leftists have manipulated this woman's grief. That said, she is correct (albeit for the wrong reasons) that the Internet is the greatest tool citizens have in the promotion of freedom. This has already been made evident on many occasions, and I expect the quantity of "Buckhead moments" to greatly increase in years to come.

[BenLurkin]

Seems over the top

Than goodness for the internet though. It helps conservatives a lot more than it does the lefties.

Tweak it the way the Red Chinese do though (with the help of some U.S. quisling corporations) and the net might only make fascism easier.

[jmc813]

What is interesting is how conservatives have used the internet as part of a process to effect political gains - whereas liberals have used the internet to hasten their political implosion.

That is a great point. There was a thread here on FR the other day about how FR is the most viewed "blog" in cyberspace. A freeper did a Lexus-Nexus search for mentions of Free Republic versus mentions of the Daily Kos (which, IIRC, did not even crack the top 20). The MSM had something like 10 times the amount of mentions in favor of the Daily Kos. That tells me that the MSM is getting desperate and cannot accept losing their clout in the news world.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Since she is convinced that Gore really won the election in 2000, maybe she should meet with him.

[Red6]

She's being egged on.

By the hour she's getting more vocal, more outlandish and in reality, those egging her on for their own interests won't be the ones who have to live with her reputation five years from now when she's remembered as the "Whacko from Crawford."

Red6

[George W. Bush]

"They can't ignore us, and they can't put us down. Thank God for the Internet, or we wouldn't know anything, and we would already be a fascist state."

Wait a second. I thought they always said that Republicans have already turned us into a fascist state.

Apparently, she hasn't been coached on her talking points quite well enough.

[DownInFlames]

It's the heat.

[calex59]

Well, she got one thing right. The internet allows us to see through the MSM hype that surrounds people like this. I thought I saw a news article posted this morning on letter signed by the rest of her family that said they didn't agree with her position and supported the war, the troops and President Bush. Did anyone else see that?