Republican Noise Machine

This book is an expose justifying that famous exclamation: "vast right-wing conspiracy." But, I don't recall David Brock quoting that phrase once in the book. That, in itself, demonstrates the power of the conservative propaganda machine. It has become untenable to use the phrase, except in places like this obscure Left and Free blog.

Hilary Clinton got scolded, laughed down, snickered at and shunned for using the phrase, but what Brock shows is that there is, indeed, a vast right-wing conspiracy. It is a conspiracy that went on for decades before Hilary's remark. It is a conspiracy that has much larger targets than Bill Clinton. It was, and continues to be, a VERY REAL conspiracy by conservatives against American democracy. Billions have been spent preparing the way for a conservative takeover of the United States.

The present culmination of this conspiracy is the Bandit Administration, directed and motivated by ideological concerns. The Bandit's master propagandist, Karl Rove, is barely mentioned in the book, but Rove's goal is the elimination of liberalism, any non-conservatism, in America. And that is what the "Republican noise machine" is all about.

David Brock documents the depth and breadth of conservative control of the press, in fact of all the media. I concur in his presentation, because in the last 20 or 30 years I noticed the steady rightward drift of all the major media. According to conservatives, the proto-typical "liberal" organization is PBS. After McNeill left the McNeill/Lehrer NewsHour to Jim Lehrer, a Texan, the NewsHour started its rightward tack. I don't watch the program any more, as it is now intolerably infected with "wingnut bias" (that's conservative bias). This last week, PBS' President announced her resignation effective 2006. PBS has been under attack for decades by conservatives, and is slowly turning into another conservative outlet. PBS' President was unable to stop the trend. How did this come to pass? Brock shows you how.

Brock views the NewsHour and other major broadcast network and print news organizations as having professional, journalistic goals. Those are goals taught in journalism school: impartial and objective reporting, based on facts. The news should be "All the news that's fit to print" as the Gray Lady (New York Times) sloganizes. The news should be separated from editorial opinion. Analysis and opinion should be clearly labeled as such. All of that is what conservatives call "liberal bias" because, according to Brock, the conservative case almost always fails on the facts. The only way conservatives can make their case is to slant the news, select the facts or otherwise present a truly biased picture. So, since the failed 1964 Goldwater campaign, conservatives have been working persistently to change the media so that their views come out on top. A basic point of attack is on journalistic standards and the elimination of trained journalists from handling and reporting the news.

Lately, conservatives spend about $300 million every year on projects aimed at projecting their world view. That spending includes support for a gaggle of think tanks and propaganda agencies. Advertising people are given fancy titles, such as "resident scholar," to disguise the nature of their writing. What they write is called "product," not a work, or a book, or a poem. That product is bought and paid for by a few billionaires and their foundations. Despite the intensely political nature of right-wing propaganda, large amounts of the money spent on it are tax exempt. Conservatives have very good lawyers and accountants, who know how to get the government and taxpayers to subsidize their enterprises.

The advertising technicians hired by the right-wing propaganda machine are presented to the public as "experts" in their subject, whether or not they have appropriate degrees or other credentials. People without training in journalism are made journalists. Blabber mouths, like Mush Windbag and Pill OhReally?, are made over into gurus. It does not matter whether the right-wing operatives do not tell the truth, or simply stumble over the facts. They very rarely or never admit they are wrong.

But, does all of this really happen? Or, is this just the further blatherings of WalterB and the liberals? David Brock explains just exactly how it has happened to all of us. It has happened.

But, again, how does it happen? It's very complicated. David Brock explains most of it. The conservatives behind the vast right-wing conspiracy have lots of money, unlike liberals. They are authoritarians, like Nazis and Communists, so they have a party line and they stick to it. They are very clever in using the media outlets to give the impression they are right, and that they represent a down-trodden majority. They use liberal values to undermine fair reporting. They use every propaganda trick in the book, starting with selecting the facts.

Don't minimize the advantage of a party line. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler used the concept very effectively to destroy all opposition. Liberals and people like me have a serious problem: we all have our own opinion. Especially on the Left, there is a cacophony of voices, all demanding to be heard. Lefties believe in the right of free speech, of personal expression. So, consider the situation in which there are 10 people all yelling the same thing, over and over, and 90 people all saying different things. The 90 may all agree that the 10 screechers are wrong, but who gets heard the most? Who appears to be "the majority?" Lenin used this trick in the revolutionary Duma to label the actual majority "Mensheviks" (the minority), and declare his party "Bolsheviki" (the majority). A few months later, Bolsheviks took over Russia in an almost comically mismanaged Winter palace revolution. Lenin made it believable.

An example is this Blog. There are a few conservative readers who check out Left and Free now and then. They use the website tools, such as karma, to vote against editorials or policies informing you that we are of the LEFT. {Yes! This is a liberal site, and yes, we are guilty of "liberal bias." But, that's the point of this site - it's all about philosophy, analysis and commentary. We don't hide it, but we do try to get the facts, all the facts, when we make our cases.} Conservatives plead that we should present a "balancing" counter-opinion. We don't have to do that, and almost always we won't. Is that fair? Yes, for this type of medium. Do I feel guilty about putting down conservative opinions? No: I don't suffer "liberal guilt."

What conservatives try to do, at first, is get you to accept their opinions - no matter how far out - as "balance." Then, little by little, they arrange things so that the other side is drowned out. Pretty soon, the only opinion presented is theirs. That is what happened to AM radio, cable TV and PBS. It's also happening, at last, to all the TV broadcast networks. (Imagine conservatives whooping and dancing, as they nail Dan Rather's head to the wall above the fireplace.) The lynchpin of this steady removal of liberals and impartiality from the media was junking the FCC's Fairness Doctrine during thre Reagan Administration.

If you are a moderate, or one of those who thinks what you see on TV, or hear on Mush Windbag, represents "fair and balanced" news, think again. If you have cable, you need to check out LINK, FSTV or even CCTV now and then. On the Internet, compare FT - Financial Times, a British conservative paper - to WSJ, the Wall St Journal. There are lots of days when these conservative media "live" on different planets. The simple facts are that the American media with few exceptions no longer reports news and facts. You have to check everything against international media to find out what really happened, and weed out the propaganda printed on the front page as news.

So, for American moderates, independents and other people who are far more brainwashed than they believe, David Brock's book is a must read.

For those who already know the score - oddly enough, the Left and the Right - check it out when you have a chance. The footnotes and index are a goldmine of talking points. Activists might want to know some of those points when trying to deprogram friends and acquaintances. For example, did you know the Washington Times is owned by the Rev Moon? "Deprogramming" cures what Ailes the right.