Right-wing think tanks rule DC (French Barfatorial)

Agence France-Presse ^ | 5/3/03 | Patrick Anidjar in Washington

[Mister Baredog]

Because: Left-wing thinktank is an oxymoron

FAIR is also an oxyMORON

[optimistically_conservative]

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) - Is a far left wing propaganda group that believes ABCNBCCBSCNN are conservatively biased. PBS/NPR occaisionally meet their definition of accuracy.

... right-wing thinktanks can also rely on more generous, and numerous, benefactors than their left-wing counterparts. - How incredibly undemocratic and capitalistic of them ...

[jagrmeister]

First, AFP is a complete joke and I won't read it. But more respectable newswires like AP and Reuters continue to quote analysts from Brookings Institution without mentioning it's a left-leaning think-tank. They always mention that Hoover or Heritage is conservative. But Never label Brookings as liberal. It's galling. They use Brookings's analysts as "objective" critics to attack Bush's policies without revealing their agenda. More abuse from our corrupt liberal media.

[Poohbah]

The reason the right-wing think tanks are ruling the roost is simple.

We right-wingers actually THINK.

[Poohbah]

Right-wing think tanks actually THINK.

In the country of the terminally stupid, the one-neuroned man is king :o)

[DugwayDuke]

"...a survey by media watchdog FAIR showed that "over half (53 percent) of quotes broadcast by the media came from right-wing thinktanks" against only 16 per cent from the Left."

"Because: Left-wing thinktank is an oxymoron" SwinneySwitch.

Close but no cigar. There are other studies showing that when conservatives or right wing think tanks are quoted, they are also identified by those labels. However, the media, when quoting liberals and left wing think tanks, does not identify them as such. IOW, left wing think tanks are more often quoted by the media but are not identified as left wing think tanks.

[Dr. Frank fan]

CONSERVATIVE thinktanks exert a considerable influence over the Bush administration

I sure hope so

and the US media,

Lemme guess, cuz of Fox News? Yawn

"They certainly influence the people or reinforce the ideas of the people who influence the President," according to political scientist Stephen Wayne of Georgetown University.

Wait, you mean to tell me that conservatives are (1) allowed to think, (2) allowed to say what they think, (3) allowed to try to convince others that what they think is correct, (4) allowed to run for office.....?? What a scandal!!

As far back as 1998, under the Clinton presidency, a survey by media watchdog FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) showed that "over half (53 per cent) of quotes broadcast by the media came from right-wing thinktanks" against only 16 per cent from the Left.

I don't really understand this survey as it's explained here. At least, this explanation can't be true. It can't be correct that "over half of quotes broadcast by the media" come from right-wing thinktanks. "'I sure hope this tour goes well', said Britney Spears" is a quote broadcast by the media. "'We're just gonna take it one game at a time', said Joe Torre" is a quote broadcast by the media. Somewhere in the survey they must have limited it to political quotes.

Ok, fine. But then, if 53 percent of political quotes come from right-wing thinktanks while only 16 percent come from left-wing ones, where does "'Bush is dumb', said Michael Moore" fit in? He's not in a left-wing thinktank, he's just a left-wing tank. I guess he's not counted.

Finally, even if the 53 percent number is true, why is "number of quotes from outside political folks repeated on broadcasts" the ultimate measure of media bias? If Peter Jennings spends 58 minutes out of a 60 minute broadcast spewing his slant on all the news stories, and somewhere scattered in there are 2 minutes of quotes, and 53 percent of those 2 minutes are used on repeating quotes from the Heritage Foundation, then uh what does that prove?

For that matter, why is repeating someone else's quote even the same as pushing that quote's view, in the first place? If the media repeats a quote from a David Duke type does that mean they're pushing his view? Sometimes people repeat quotes from someone in order to discredit that person. Think Rick Santorum.

Krehely, a member of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, noted that right-wing thinktanks can also rely on more generous, and numerous, benefactors than their left-wing counterparts.

Heh.. yeah left-wing thinktanks can't get money from Hollywood celebrities, internet whiz kids, or anyone like that. This is just pure bogus stereotype, notice how no evidence is given. They just cite some guy names Krehely who "notes" this.

The State Department has remained relatively free of neo-conservatives except for John Bolton, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, who is a member of the AIE, close to Israel and the US right.

Uh, I wonder which of the 1,234 definitions of "neo-conservative" this writer is using.

ThirdWorldTraveler.com, a website that claims to offer "an alternative view to the corporate media about the state of democracy in America," concedes that over the past two decades, the conservative thinktanks "have mounted an impressively coherent and concerted effort" to shape the political direction in Washington.

Let's break down the ingredients here: 1. shameless plug for some unknown website, 2. bizarre statement that the website "concedes" that some other group of Americans tries to influence politics.

This is just laughable. I "concede" that this article is a piece of propagandistic trash and that its author is a biased numbskull with an axe to grind.

And it's still not clear at all what he thinks the word "neo-conservative" means.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Funny how lefties have latched onto the term "neo-con" lately.

Even funnier is that most of them don't actually seem to know what it means.

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

Richard Perle, one of the Pentagon's leading hawks and a key proponent of the 'pre-emptive strike' doctrine

Anybody else remember what Richard Perle is famous for? If you said "the first American to publicly say France is effectively not a US ally" than you are a winner!

I know its tempting to say this is the Franco-Socialist bashing Conservatives, but think it through. This is more than that. If they are this aware of US politics to reference Newt's State Dept comments, then they most certainly are WELL aware of the strong anti-French policy that crystalized during the UN deceit, and became the intellectual policy (read Conservative Think Tank) of the American Right.

This is a well disguised counter attack good people, flame on!