Lie # 25 - L.A. Times censors Reuters

The L.A. Times has edited a crucial portion of the Reuters dispatch regarding Guiliana Sgrena's car. According to Reuters news service:

CBS news has reported that a U.S. satellite had filmed the shooting and that it had been established the car carrying Calipari was traveling at more than 60 mph per hour [sic] as it approached the U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad.

The speed of the car is crucial in determining that the shooting by U.S. soldiers was justified. L.A. Times edits that crucial piece of information because . . . . well, for the same reason that the MSM/DNC does anything. H/T Patterico and LGF.

This lie is #25 on the list of MSM/DNC lies of 2005. As it turns out, the L.A. Times was the main perpretator of lies #6 and #22 on the same list earlier this year. [This list is not to be confused with the list of bias categories].

It is easier to catch the MSM/DNC in a lie when its members fail to get their story straight with each other. We know of the L.A. Times' lie because CBS and Reuters accidentally spilled the beans. It is very much like TV crime shows where the police place the suspects in different rooms so that they can contradict each other. Sometimes news happens so fast, the MSM/DNC cannot coordinate its story fast enough.

It is even more odd that CBS' later reports on the same story make the same omission. Well, it's not really odd. It would only be odd if the MSM/DNC were composed of real journalists instead of propagandists and shills.

Quote of the day - Margaret Thatcher

A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us.

Margaret Thatcher

Vietnam - 30 years after the fall of Saigon

As we approach the inevitable thirty year anniversary celebrations of the fall of Saigon by the MSM/DNC, it would pay to reflect on the mythology that surrounds that war and explode some of those myths, lest they be used by the MSM/DNC to derail our efforts to defuse the middle east and prevent another 9-11. The New York Post contains an excellent piece today that goes as far as one can go in one article toward derailing these myths/memes. [I quote it at length because Post hyperlinks tend to cease functioning after a short time]:

It had been barely 10 years since the first U.S. Marine combat troops arrived in Vietnam at Danang. That decade had been punctuated by premature proclamations of victory, promises of "light at the end of the tunnel" and a Tet offensive that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong, but remained a potent Communist propaganda coup in Western media.

"Vietnamization" finally removed almost all America combat troops from Vietnam more than a year before the fall of Saigon. But by then many Americans felt so whip lashed by media accounts of a war they didn't understand they accepted the fall of Saigon as the final humiliating proof of an American defeat.

As the years passed, a collection of myths accrued that today are regarded by many as historical fact. It is time to reexamine them.

There may be good reason to do so since Edward Kennedy, John Kerry and others repeatedly warn there is an imminent danger that America's attempt to liberate Iraq may become "another Vietnam."

As "everyone knows" today, Vietnam was a war in which the lives of Americans drafted from the lower classes, disproportionately black and Hispanic, were wasted in a failed American intervention in what was basically a civil war between Vietnamese.

Except, as a former Secretary of the Navy who served in Vietnam as a Marine officer, James Webb, has pointed out, 67 percent of those who served and 73 percent of those who died in Vietnam were volunteers, not draftees. And blacks "comprised 13.1 percent of the serving age group, 12.6 percent of the military and 12.2 percent of the casualties."

The "civil war between Vietnamese" is a misrepresentation of the Geneva Agreement of 1954. Among other things, it negotiated the removal of the French colonial power and separated North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel, pending a popular election to be held in 1956 to determine a single government for them both. Neither South Vietnam nor the United States were signatories to the treaty. The majority of the population remained in the Communist North, even after more than a million fled to South Vietnam.

In anticipation of the election, The New York Times in 1955 stated "we must not be trapped into a fictitious legalism that can condemn 10,000,000 potentially free persons into slavery." And Sen. John Kennedy regarded the election as "obviously stacked and subverted in advance."

When the vote didn't take place, the Vietnam War began with the late-'50s return of Communist cadres to what had become South Vietnam. The "National Liberation Front" — better known as the Viet Cong — was sent to create an insurgency against the Diem government. The NLF was not an independent political movement of South Vietnamese. Said an editor of the official North Vietnamese People's Daily, "It was set up by our Communist Party."

So this was no civil war. North Vietnam began and supported a campaign of Viet Cong subversion of its sovereign southern neighbor, and after the destruction of the Viet Cong at Tet in 1968 intervened directly with its own military.

But, after 9 million men and women had served in the U.S. armed forces and more than 60,000 American soldiers died, South Vietnam still ended up as part of the North Vietnamese totalitarian state. So what could it have been but U.S. defeat?

John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower's Secretary of State, so mocked to this day for his "domino theory," gave a perfectly logical answer to that question years before American forces had even begun a role in Vietnam.

Prior to the Geneva Agreement in 1954, Dulles was asked if the new Southeast Asia Treaty Organization was designed to solve the Indochina problem after the French evacuation or the problems of Asia? Dulles replied: "The purpose . . . is to save Southeast Asia, to save all of Southeast Asia if it can be saved; if not to save essential parts of it . . . then the 'domino theory,' so-called, ceases to apply."

The object of U.S. action in South Vietnam was to stabilize Asia in general and Southeast Asia in particular. At the time, Asia was anything but stable. The former British colonies Malaysia and Singapore were under siege by Communist guerillas. The No. 2 political party in India was the growing Communist party, and Pakistan and India were still at one another's throats. Taiwan expected an assault from Red China at any moment. And China itself was suffering from Mao's "Great Leap Forward" industrialization that led to a famine that killed more than 30 million.

Indonesia under Sukarno was headed toward a "year of living dangerously" showdown with a large Communist insurgency led by overseas Chinese. The Philippines continued to have a problem with its Communist Huk rebellion. And the Korean War had ended less than a year before Dulles's statement.

Dulles wanted to save "essential parts" of Asia. America understood at the outset that it was unlikely to save all of it. And America succeeded brilliantly, both for its own interests and Asia's. It may have lost Vietnam and been unable to stop the Communist takeover that led to the death of a quarter of Cambodians in the "killing fields." But the dominos did not fall.

Only four years later, in 1979, American trade with Asia had surpassed trade with Europe. And now, 30 years later, the new "Asian tigers" have standards of living and booming economies that would astonish an old Asia hand like Dulles.

Asian prosperity is the wonder of the 21st century and particularly valuable to U.S. trade at a time when the stagnant European Union is becoming an increasing problem. And in this brilliant company of Asian states, full partners in the global economy, the People's Republic of Vietnam remains mired in irrelevancy.

America may have lost a tactical intervention in Vietnam, but the strategic consequences of that intervention were part of one of the most masterful exercises in foreign policy in modern history.

The Middle East and the United States should be so lucky as to have Iraq turn out to be "another Vietnam."

Thomas H. Lipscomb served as N.Y.chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program.

It is interesting to note that the New York Times got something right in 1955. The Times doesn't mind getting it right once in a while, so long as any pro-America statement that it makes ends up being flushed down the memory hole.

Today's MSM/DNC will strive mightily to make us forget that we were not defeated on the battlefield. We fought for and won a treaty that confined the North Vietnamese to their own country. Only after we had withdrawn for more than a year did the North Vietnamese return and defeat the South Vietnamese, from whom we had withdrawn all meaningful support.

Another excellent source for early Vietnam history is Dr. Tom Dooley's book, Deliver us from Evil. See also my review of Target America for a discussion of MSM/DNC bias regarding Vietnam and Cambodia.

I wonder if John Kerry will take this opportunity to remind us that he served in Vietnam.

Would the MSM/DNC actually lie about social security?

I have added lie # 24 to the list of MSM lies of 2005. Numerous MSM/DNC sources have responded to the Bush proposal to change the indexing method for SS by calling the proposal a "benefit cut." Only the MSM/DNC would refer to a smaller increase as a "cut."

See Michelle Malkin and Loudest Cricket for details.

Quote of the day - Zell Miller

Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator. And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.

Zell Miller

Give them a map

Someone please send to your nearest moonbat a map showing the location of all newspaper dispensers containing the New York Times. H/T Michelle Malkin and Jawa.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

Note to Republicans: Of your six minutes on television, use 30 seconds to point out the Democrats are abusing the filibuster and the other 5 1/2 minutes to ask liberals to explain why they think Bush's judicial nominees are "extreme."


Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter - TSA "standard operating procedure"

Ann Coulter described her experience with airport security on April 17, 2005 at her homepage. The screener at the Harrisburg, PA airport "took special care in waving the wand over my barefeet — barefeet! — but then quickly turned to the main issue at hand: the risk of an exploding bra."

TSA has responded by reviewing the film of the incident and declaring that the screener "followed standard operating procedure to the letter."

Did it not occur to TSA that this statement does not so much vindicate the screener as it reflects poorly on TSA's procedure?

The next time Muslim extremists crash planes into buildings, we can take comfort in knowing that TSA's standard procedure is to waive metal detectors painstakingly over barefeet. At least the terrorists will not be able to hide boxcutters inside their barefeet.

# 6 ?????

AP deserves recognition for trying blow VP Cheney's cover with today's report on the false alarm at the White House:

Cheney was notified about the scare and moved to a secure location, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the security information. He arrived at the White House minutes after the situation was resolved.

What journalistic goal (other than to give the terrorists a better idea of how close the "undisclosed location" is) did it serve to announce how quickly Cheney was able to return from his "undisclosed location" following the airplane scare?

Maybe I am taking leftists' "jokes" too seriously.

Quote of the day - Barry Goldwater

I could have ended the war in a month. I could have made North Vietnam look like a mud puddle.

Barry M. Goldwater

Conservative t-shirt eye candy

I am not actually selling any of these t-shirts. I just like the pictures.



















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update



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update 5-2-05

#4.

Michelle Malkin provides an excellent example of bias category #4:

4. Polls. An offshoot of ventriloquist journalism is the MSM/DNC's reliance upon polls. The polls that the MSM/DNC uses are either (1) unreliable or blatantly false and/or (2) self-fulfilling prophecies. It is a common tendency among humans (especially those who have been softened by 70 years of the welfare state) to want to be on the winning side. When the MSM/DNC releases its polls showing some Democrat with a lead or that the "public" thinks that Social Security is just fine, those who might otherwise harbor doubts are intimidated into going along with the majority. I am sure that the MSM/DNC will continue their efforts to bully the public into acquiescing in the status quo on social security with just this tactic.

What I did not mention in the category post was the tendency of MSM/DNC polls to load their questions in such a way as to arrive at an MSM/DNC preferred result. This is the tactic used in the latest MSM/DNC poll on the judicial nominee filibuster issue.

Why would anyone skew a poll to achieve a desired result? That approach is hardly scientific. The only reason for purposely skewing poll results is that the result can be used to influence events. The poll becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who commissioned and report the poll favor the filibuster and use flawed polls to help achieve that result.

Quote of the day - Ronald Reagan

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Ronald Reagan

# 17 - the label game

Michelle Malkin has posted some excellent research relating to #17 from the bias list. #17 originally read as follows:

17. The label game. During the cold war, MSM/DNC referred to Communist dictators as the "Russian leader" or the "Chinese leader." MSM/DNC never referred to an opponent of Communism as a "leader" - only as a strongman, dictator, etc. Communists were never "dictators" and opponents of Communism were never "leaders."

In reporting today's issues, experts are either (1) "experts" (if they support the MSM/DNC view) or (2) "conservative lobbyists", "conservative fundraisers", "conservative activists" or "conservative" something else.

Islamic terrorists are "insurgents", "militants", "freedom fighters" "guerrillas" or "rebels" but never "terrorists."

I forgot about the word "maverick" used to describe opportunistic and unprincipled Republicans. Michelle asks, "How can they be mavericks if there are so many of them?"

Matt Drudge 10 year anniversary

La Shawn Barber posts the story of the Matt Drudge ten year anniversary. I did not realize that his ten year anniversary was approaching when I included his book as this month's "classic of conservatism."

La Shawn links to a slanted Washington Post article that repeats the MSM/DNC line about Drudge being a purveyor of gossip. Howard Kurtz manages to include every story in which Drudge either was premature or repeated allegations that remain unproven. Kurtz even figured out a way of resurrecting the Blumenthal controversy without revealing that Blumenthal ended up withdrawing his suit in a way that completely vindicating Drudge. (I think Blumenthal even paid Drudge, but I could be wrong.) Kurtz often implies that Drudge is obsolete. As long as the MSM/DNC continues to attack him, he is not obsolete. Only when the MSM/DNC begins to include him will we have cause to worry.

Far more interesting is La Shawn's link to a post of her own from September 13, 2004 in which she credited Drudge for much of the new media revolution. Because La Shawn drew a connection between the Rathergate scandal and Drudge's reporting from January 1998, La Shawn showed that she "gets it" as far as the new media is concerned. The Washington Post still doesn't get it.

Quotes of the day - Mark Steyn

Apparently, the New York Times was stunned that their short list of Cardinal Gloria Steinem, Cardinal Rupert Everett and Cardinal Rosie O'Donnell were defeated at the last moment by some guy who came out of left field and isn't even gay or female but instead belongs to the discredited ''Catholic'' faction of the Catholic Church.

Sinking Bolton means handing a huge psychological victory to a federal bureaucracy that so spectacularly failed America on 9/11 and to a U.N. bureaucracy eager for any distraction from its own mess.

Mark Steyn

Joe McCarthy

In a recent post, I used Joe McCarthy as an example of the DNC/MSM using smear tactics as part of its news coverage:

7. The smear/personal attack/outrage. This one is not as recent as it seems. In the 1950's, that overrated hack Edward R. Murrow smeared Joe McCarthy by careful editing of film, a tactic that caused Bobby Kennedy to walk out on a dinner in honor of Murrow because of what he did to "my friend Joe."

This example has been challenged by those, including one commenter, who agree with the rest of that post.

I respond with a separate post because I think the attacks on McCarthy are historically significant and defending McCarthy is easy once one has all of the facts. [See Victor Lasky, J.F.K.: The Man and the Myth for the Robert Kennedy/ Edward Murrow story.]

First of all, let's explode some typical anti-McCarthy myths:

1) McCarthy was not involved with the Hollywood blacklists. He did not investigate Hollywood or actors. The official DNC/MSM line is to associate McCarthy with every anti-communist activity from any Congressional committee. PBS engaged in this very same tactic in defending Alfred Kinsey [lie #8].

2) McCarthy was not affiliated with the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. The official DNC/MSM line is to jumble McCarthy references and "HUAC" references together so that the smear goes down easier. The House Committee on Unamerican Activities existed only in the House of Representatives. McCarthy was not a member of the House and did not sit on any House Committee. The House committee was created years before McCarthy was elected to the Senate and remained in existence years after McCarthy died. There was no "Senate Unamerican Activities Committee". McCarthy chaired the Government Operations Committee.

3) McCarthy's committee investigated only government activities and government employees. It was the opinion of McCarthy (and many others) that those who owed their loyalty to foreign powers and foreign ideologies should not work for the U.S. government or help develop U.S. foreign policy. See William Buckley, McCarthy and his Enemies for more on this position.

4) Of those McCarthy accused of disloyalty or activity requiring termination from government service, I defy anyone to find an example where McCarthy actually engaged in false accusation.

The incident in which the MSM/DNC engaged in the greatest amount of lie/memory hole/smear/buzzword activity was the Irving Peress incident, in which an Army dentist was promoted and then given an honorable discharge despite his known communist affiliations. No one denied that Peress was a communist. But when an Army General (Zwicker) responded to McCarthy's hypothetical question by stating that it would be proper to promote and discharge a known communist, McCarthy charged that Zwicker was not fit to wear that uniform. McCarthy's statement came solely as a result of Zwicker stating that a general would act properly by promoting and then honorably discharging a known communist. Did the New York Times report the incident accurately? You be the judge:

On that occasion, the Senator told the Camp Kilmer commander, who has been decorated 13 tines during his Army career, that he was "shielding communist conspirators" and was a "disgrace to the uniform."

(NY Times, Aug. 2, 1954, p. 7)

The New York Times gave the general the Kerry treatment with the reference to the general's decorations. The Times also falsely attributed words to McCarthy and left out the reasons for McCarthy's position. The Times engaged in ## 1 (lie) and 15 (strawman), thus resulting in #7 (smear).
Three months later, the NYT did it again regarding the same incident:

Called to testify in the case, General Zwicker declined to answer some security questions about Dr. Peress because he said he was prohibited by Presidential Order. Thereupon, Senator McCarthy denounced the general as unfit to wear the uniform.

(NY Times, Nov. 8, 1954, pg. 13).

By tying together two unrelated incidents, The NYT was engaging in a lie and tossing the real problem with Zwicker's testimony down the memory hole (# 2). The New York Times' version became accepted historical fact. Check most anti-McCarthy history books. They will repeat the Times' version and make no reference to the truth as it appears in the record of the Senate testimony. The NYT version became accepted history because there were no bloggers to set the record straight in 1954.

See Who Promoted Peress? for a more accurate book length study of this incident. Also, check any university library for copies of the hearing transcripts of the Senate Committee on Government Operations in 1954. Compare the actual transcripts with the New York Times version. Compare the facts with the spin. Had bloggers not done this in 2004, future generations would be taught that George Bush was voted out of office because he was discovered to be a draft dodger who used political influence to shirk his responsibility. Conservatives would shrink from defending him (or the war on terror) because he had "embarrassed the party" and the movement by his clouded past. Just as the new media prevented that scenario by exposing the truth, we can undo MSM/DNC versions of history using the new tools at our disposal.

If we don't diligently undo the official MSM/DNC myths of history, future generations may well be taught that Ken Starr was nothing more than a voyeur, Newt Gingrich a corrupt reactionary and bloggers were nothing more than paid functionaries of the Republican party. Today's lies need not become tomorrow's historically accepted facts.

#6 - coordination.

BBC has provided a prime example of media coordination with leftwing political parties. BBC reporters were sent to a Tory political rally to heckle the Tory speaker.

I noted in the category list that it sounds odd to think of the MSM/DNC as coordinating with itself. But the action proves that the label is correct, as the MSM and DNC act as one entity.

It sounds odd also to extend this concept to foreign countries, where the "DNC" is not a political entity. But the fact remains that left wing political parties have formed an unholy alliance with the "old media" in all western style democracies. The reference to "DNC" is not so much a reference to the actual DNC, but to leftist politicians in general and the causes they promote.
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Update
Michelle Malkin provides links to recent BBC scandals and a similar incident involving ventriloquist journalism. Different tactics. Same result.

Quote of the day - Thomas Jefferson

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

Thomas Jefferson

Debbie Schlussel, Sean Penn and the "Interpreter"

Yesterday, Debbie Schlussel penned a review of Sean Penn's new U.N. apologist movie, "The Interpreter." Penn is as classy as his movies are informative and realistic:

The last time I wrote about Jeff Spicoli a/k/a Sean Penn, he sent me an e-mail calling me the c-word.

In the past, Penn reportedly shot reporters with a squirt gun filled with his urine, so I got off easy.

The movie is nothing but blatant UN propaganda that can fool only those who receive their news exclusively through the MSM/DNC:

Instead of whoring itself out for money in exchange for propping up dictator Saddam Hussein and his barbarism, “Interpreter’s” U.N. is a great hall of freedom and democracy from beginning to end. Bonus: The falsely-named International Court of Justice—an illegitimate star chamber used to attack the U.S. and Israel and promote despots—is hailed in this movie, too.

Moviegoers are treated to snippet after snippet of U.N. delegates pontificating on freedom and human rights, as opposed to the hate-America and –Israel speeches you’d really hear there. And—surprise, surprise—a lot of those speeches are translated from French. No word on whether pro-Saddam Spicoli and Pollack got Oil for Food fringe benefits from the implicated French in exchange for image repair.

There is much work to be done in this war. Terrorists continue to enter and await orders in this country. We remain vulnerable on many fronts. Terrorists continue to find haven in many foreign countries, from which they operate and plot against the United States. Every day, we move one day closer to the next major terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The U.N., the "Interpreter" and those who support them only make our job harder.

Quote of the day - Barry Goldwater

Hubert Humphrey talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages.

Barry M. Goldwater

Quote of the day - Pope Benedict XVI

We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires. However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of true humanism. Being an "Adult" means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today's fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith...

Pope Benedict XVI

Hat tip Politickal

#18 - hypocrisy

This one speaks for itself:

You are featuring his copyrighted photographs of TIME magazine photo editor Maryanne Golon on your web site and in addition, have altered the aforementioned image. According to our records you do not have permission to make use of these images nor have you paid fees in connection with their use. Had these photos been licensed properly you would have been made aware that we do not permitted the alteration of our photographs under any circumstance.

Letter from Time photographer lawyer to Ann Coulter - April 20, 2005- emphasis added.

Check out # 18 from the List for context.


Mary Anne Golon. Time Magazine's Picture Editor.

Since Ann hasn't removed the photos from her own site, the least we can do is help her spread them around.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

Quote of the day

What should have been the Time cover (sorry for the small size).

MSM/DNC starts early.

MSM/DNC won't even let the dust settle before starting its attacks on Pope Benedict XVI.

Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin have detailed some of the more vicious attacks so far.

But as far as good old fashioned MSM/DNC propaganda is concerned, nothing beats Reuters' subtle ventriloquist journalism and well poisoning technique:

Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday despite a widespread assumption he was too old and divisive to win election.

Ventriloquist journalism is category # 3 on the bias list. Referring to a "widespread assumption" is an MSM/DNC commonly used technique that allows MSM/DNC to hide behind unnamed "others" as it spreads its propaganda.

MSM/DNC is not "biding its time" as they did in the wake of the successful Iraqi elections. Why it would pounce immediately on this story while biding its time after the Iraqi elections [to use one example] is the subject of a much more detailed post. In this case, MSM/DNC has the opportunity to poison the well early. That opportunity did not exist in the immediate aftermath of the Iraqi elections. We can never learn enough about MSM/DNC strategy.

Oklahoma City - Ten years later.

As I am sure you have heard by now, today is the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. 168 or 169 people died in what was (at that time) the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history.


April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City

What followed the attacks was one of the more shameful episodes of the Clinton administration. Relieved that he would not have to confront Islamic Jihad due to the capture of Timothy McVeigh, President Clinton immediately set out to use the horror for his own political advantage:

But what did the President care? He managed to hang McVeigh round the necks of militias and, with a stretch, talk-radio and, with a further stretch, Newt and the Congressional Republicans. It worked out so well for him, that, after the Princess of Wales died, George Stephanopoulos enthused to Christopher Hitchens: “Tony Blair’s handling this really well. This is his Oklahoma City.” As Hitchens said, this is the way these people think.

Check out Mark Steyn for the rest of his thoughts on the ten year anniversary.

For those who don't remember, Bill Clinton almost immediately after the attack blamed conservative radio commentators for the atrocity. Almost (?!) as if on cue, the MSM/DNC took up the baton and continued the right-wing-radio-as-murderer-enabler meme. Clinton, instead of focusing on the terrorists who would spend the next six years attacking Americans abroad and planning for 9-11, was content to use Oklahoma City as a purse to swing at his opposition.

Oklahoma City was Clinton's "Reichstag" - the difference being that Clinton didn't actually plan or facilitate the bombing. (I am going out on a limb in exonerating Clinton for the actual attack even though so many people have been embarrassed after prematurely sticking up for Clinton in the past.) Just as Hitler used the Reichstag fire to justify expanding his own powers and neutering Germany's parliament, Clinton tried to use Oklahoma City to crack down on his own opponents. Clinton failed. Compare the new media today (including talk radio) with the new media ten years ago. The new media has grown, while Clinton drones on at funerals and memorials, hoping to regain power through his "wife."


Reichstag - 1933

That Clinton's aide would so smoothly compare the bombing and the death of Princess Diana - all while referring to these events as if they could be owned by the ruler of the moment, reveals much of the mindset of the left. Disasters don't happen to the victims - they happen for the benefit of the rulers. Clinton's stated regrets that 9-11 did not happen on his watch were sincere (or as sincere as he is capable of being). 9-11, the Reichstag, [fill in your own disaster/act of war/tragedy] are nothing more than opportunities for "leaders" to strut their stuff, stroke their egos and attack their enemies [their own enemies, not the country's enemies].

Where Bush took on a more aged appearance as the war kicked into high gear in late 2001 and 2002, a Clinton or other opportunistic leftist would probably take on a more youthful appearance as he enjoyed the moment.

In the ten years since Oklahoma City, we have learned to identify the leftist leader as a narcissist and opportunist while we observe the expanded powers of the new media. When the next terrorist attack comes, we will have already anticipated the MSM/DNC's Reichstag power grab and can more easily avoid being made a scapegoat.

Ann Coulter and Time magazine's cover.

By now you have read about Time's distorted picture of Ann Coulter on this week's cover. Time has used similarly distorted pictures of other conservatives in the past while using flattering photos of thier idol, Hillary Clinton. I have not decided whether to call this a lie yet, but the pattern is worth noting. Libertarian author Robert Ringer notes one such incident involving Time Magazine in his 1983 book, "How You Can Find Happiness During the Collapse of Western Civilization":

Time magazine wanted to do a feature article about me and said they needed a good picture to go with the article. They proceeded to send a photographer to my office, who ended up taking a couple of hundred pictures. With that many shots from which to select, I fully expected them to choose the one that came closest to making me look like Errol Flynn.
No Such Luck. The dice were loaded from the start. When the shooting session began, the photographer had said to me, "Why don't we just try to loosen you up a bit? Just fool around; make some funny faces. Here, let's see you make a fist - like this (he domonstrated what he had in mind). Yeah, that's right - a fist. Good. How about a few facial contortions (he again demonstrated). I've found that this type of thing helps to loosen up my subjects."
Without giving it much thought, I tried to relax and go along with the "loosening up" part of the picture-taking session. I joked around with the photographer and made a few fists and funny faces for him. Little did I know that the rest of the session was purely cosmetic; he had already gotten the pictures he wanted!
Within a couple of weeks, there I was in Time, sporting a gruff sneer and clenching my fist. I just happened to be looking to my left in the center of a two-page spread. Juxtaposed was a picture of Michael Korda, the author of Power!, looking to his right. Needless to say, he was also clenching his fist and staring ominously at me. A nice piece of photo editing, to say the least. Dishonest, but clever. I'm sure there wasn't a Time reader in the country who didn't think that Korda's and my pictures were taken in concert, and that we willingly-even eagerly-posed that way for the article. Alas, the truth is that Korda and I had never met. But the idea was "sensational" - two obvious "bad guys" making fists at one another. The content of the story, need I point out, was even more misleading.

(emphasis added)

The lessons are:

1) If Time wants to run a story on you, that's fine. But don't let them take any pictures.

2) Read # 20 from this list.

Quote of the day - Robert J. Ringer

People say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love is true.

Robert J. Ringer

Quote of the day - Edmund Burke

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

Edmund Burke

Classics of Conservatism - part VI - Drudge Manifesto

Click here for previous editions of "Classics of Conservatism".

Today's classic book recommendation is Matt Drudge's "Drudge Manifesto".




Even though the book is relatively recent, we can benefit enormously by reviewing the events that catapulted the "new media" into the national spotlight. Drudge provides not only the history of his own page, but also commentary on the state of the old media.

The headlines and reports that changed history forever in January 1998 are reprinted with background on how Drudge's scoop eventually spilled onto the pages of the MSM/DNC (even though that term did not exist then).

This book is not a rehash of the Monica investigation. "Drudge Manifesto" is an introduction to the new media, how it works, how it started and why it is necessary. It is a little outdated in that blogs were not common when the book was published (2000). But the particular avenues that the new media would eventually take are not as important as the underlying "new media" concept. The idea of instant communication that could bypass [and ultimately even label] the MSM/DNC was not taken for granted in January, 1998 the way it is today.

Today, Drudge's book can accomplish two goals:

1) It can provide perspective to those of us who use the new media. We can gain a better understanding of where it came from and where it is going. The new media remains in its infancy, despite all of the advances in the past couple of decades.

2) It can provide an introduction to the novice who has heard discussion of "bloggers" and internet news, but is more comfortable with books and doesn't want to surf the internet. "Drudge Manifesto" is a great way to spread the word about the new media without expecting old-fashioned types to venture beyond their comfort zone.

Drudge's writing style is a little odd, but the reader gets used to it very quickly.

This book insures that January 17, 1998 will be remembered along with July 4, 1988 and September 8, 2004 as critical dates in the history of the media revolution that we now experience.

Quote of the day - George Patton

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

George S. Patton

More lies from the MSM/DNC - seal hunts and papal visits.

Either the MSM/DNC had suffered from attacks of conscience recently or I just wasn't paying attention. There seemed to be a moratorium on lying until the past few days. But now, the lies are coming faster than I can document them. The world has returned to normal.

- On April 12, 2005, a L.A. Times columnist made up a bogus story of how the Bush administration dispatched William Bennett to visit the Pope prior to the Iraq invasion. Just one problem - William Bennett was never dispatched and the visit never took place. The L.A. Times columnist made up the whole story in an attempt to discredit the Iraq invasion. Those elections in January must have been a tremendous disappointment to the Times. It now must lie about events from two years ago in order to maintain its opposition to our war efforts. I wrote in January that the MSM/DNC was just biding its time (after the successful elections) before it started its relentless ankle biting once more. The L.A. Times' opinion piece is just one example showing that the MSM/DNC war is on full steam. Hat tip to Daily Pundit.

- This week, a Boston Globe writer (undoubtedly hoping to stir up some old fashioned moonbattery) fabricated a story on a baby seal hunt in Canada. He not only made up the story, he fabricated graphic detail. Hat Tip to Michelle Malkin.

These items will be added as lies ## 22 and 23 of 2005. [The "lie post" is labeled MSM lies of 2005 because I created the list just before I began using the term MSM/DNC. I cannot change the title now, even though "MSM/DNC" is a more accurate term. Changing the title would break all of the links to that post.]

Quote of the day - Ronald Reagan

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Ronald Reagan

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

"Fortunately for me, liberals not only argue like liberals, they also throw like girls."

Ann Coulter

Feminists for Jihad and against golf.

Deb Schlussel has written another detailed column relating to the latest Jihad activities on American soil. Islamic terror groups are now recruiting and using female suicide bombers. While some of these terror groups are supported by American feminist groups, those same feminist groups devote their efforts to fighting discrimination on the golf course. Debbie Schlussel has a history of providing detailed columns relating to activities of American Islamic terror groups, including political lobbying and special treatment by the Bush administration. Check out her page.

This particular piece reveals the following bias categories on the part of the MSM/DNC:

The Lie (#1). The New York Times refers to the terrorist women as being from New York City. In fact, they were illegal immigrants.

MSM/DNC and its feminist subsidiaries have engaged in a combination of #11, #21, #2 and probably others by attacking something irrelevant while ignoring Islam's treatment of women and domestic terror in the U.S.
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update - Michelle Malkin has referred to domestic Islamic terror as a third rail of which many are afraid to speak. Malkin's blog today contains detailed quotations from the diary of an Islamic U.S. soldier that murdered several of his fellow soldiers in U.S. The Diary was read aloud in court at the soldier's murder trial. The MSM/DNC is silent.

Is "mainstream" always a bad thing? Powerline's new look.

For those who have not noticed, Powerline has improved its blog with a new look. Powerline has done more than simply change its format. Powerline has removed all references to "Hindrocket" "Big Trunk" and "Deacon". Powerline now uses names in place of the mascots. In other subtle ways, Powerline has taken on a more "mainstream" appearance.

Powerline seemingly has eliminated trackbacks also (this conclusion may be premature as Powerline's trackbacks have worked only sporadically in recent weeks). The loss of trackbacks further isolates the Powerline from the rest of the blogosphere. There will be less opportunity for Powerline to generate traffic for the rest of us and, more importantly, less opportunity for Powerline to benefit from direct contact with the blogosphere. New, fresh blog voices and the pajama clad rabble will have less of an opportunity to provide raw material to the Powerline writers. Powerline will seem to be less like the torchbearer of the revolutionary "Pajamahadeen" that brought down Dan Rather and more like an elder statesman.

I wrote in November about Powerline (and the blogosphere as a whole) being at a crossroads. Powerline, by virtue of its creators' many network appearances and increasing popularity in general, borders on becoming "mainstream." But "mainstream" does not contain the same meaning as the "mainstream" in MSM/DNC. The "MSM/DNC" label is misleading to a certain extent, as the MSM/DNC is far out of the mainstream of American political and cultural thought. It is possible for us to gain widespread popularity while still criticizing the MSM/DNC. As non-MSM/DNC people gain popularity, we shall have to come up with a new name to describe the leftist political/media complex that opposes and destroys American culture. Until then, there is no hypocrisy in conservative bloggers attacking the MSM/DNC, despite the bloggers' growing popularity.

The only danger is that the "mainstreaming" of Powerline and others will lead to subtle, slow moderation in their posts, as they seek more TV appearances and a "respectable" face. As long as they keep attacking the UN, the administration's immigration policy and the New York Times, we don't have to worry about moderation. Only time will tell. We remain in the infancy of this post-Rathergate media world. The future of the media (both new and old) is all of ours to shape.

Quote of the day - G.K. Chesterton

The old tyrants invoked the past; the new tyrants will invoke
the future.

G.K. Chesterton

Quote of the day - H.L Mencken

A metaphysician is one who, when you remark that twice two makes four, demands to know what you mean by twice, what by two, what by makes, and what by four. For asking such questions metaphysicians are supported in oriental luxury in the universities, and respected as educated and intelligent men.

H. L. Mencken

New York Times and Tom Delay

The New York Times has engaged in at least two of the bias categories with regard to Tom Delay. The NYT is guilty of "coordination" (#6) and "demonization/piling on" (#22).

Robert Novak reveals that the Times has solicited opinion pieces from at least one prominent Republican regarding Delay but refused to publish it when the Republican refused to call for Delay's resignation:

On March 24, former Congressman Bob Livingston was sent an e-mail by a New York Times editorial page staffer suggesting he write an op-ed essay. Would Livingston, who in 1998 gave up certain elevation to be House speaker because of a sexual affair, write about how Majority Leader Tom DeLay should now act under fire? In a subsequent conversation, it was made clear the Times wanted the prominent Republican to say DeLay should step aside for the good of the party.

Livingston in effect declined by responding that if he wrote anything for the Times, it would be pro-DeLay. But this remarkable case of that august newspaper fishing for an op-ed piece makes it appear part of a calculated campaign to bring down the single most powerful Republican in Congress. The Democratic establishment and left-wing activists have targeted DeLay as the way to end a decade of Republican control of the House.

The New York Times' efforts on behalf of these left-wing activists makes sense only if one thinks of the NYT in terms of its role in the MSM/DNC. No real journalist would have anything to do with such a campaign.

A new MSM/DNC lie - AP pre-writes the story.

AP published a story this morning that described Senate confirmation hearings that have not yet taken place. All such references then disappeared from the online version once AP was outed by Drudge and Lucianne.

This is the third time I have catalogued this kind of pre-write since the beginning of the year. See ## 6 and 18 from the catalogue of 2005 MSM lies. Today's story will be #21.

AP already has its mind made up and its theme chosen. Don't confuse it with the facts. Maybe this story will earn AP another Pulitzer prize. Maybe there should be a new Pulitzer category - "Best news article written prior to the actual events."

I think that if the MSM/DNC were honest, it would have to acknowledge that most of its stories were written prior to the events in question. This one just got posted prematurely by accident.

At the very least, MSM/DNC chooses its themes well in advance of actual publication. MSM/DNC has a theme in mind for each article prior to the actual events. The details sometimes get in the way.

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

Ayn Rand

An example of #13

Powerline captures a good example of the "both sides are guilty" MSM/DNC bias technique. This technique is #13 of the Categories of MSM/DNC Bias.

Quote of the day - Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi

"He is a liar, and his greatest lie is that he does not exist."

Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi, referring to Satan, (the quote could just as easily describe the MSM/DNC).

Stop worrying about polls

Polls are unreliable and are a favorite tool of the MSM/DNC. Polls have their own category (#4) on the bias list. We must treat them as unreliable, as I advised after cataloging the (incomplete) list of media outrages of the election of 2004.

We should stick to this policy even when the polls operate in our favor. Polls act as self-fulfilling prophecies when they favor leftist positions. But when they favor American positions, there often is another shoe that will drop. The polls showing Bush with a huge lead in early September acted only as a prelude to later polls that showed Kerry as the comeback kid - thus providing needed momentum to Kerry as he went into election day. Conservatives wasted much time speculating as to the accuracy of those polls and the motivation behind the MSM/DNC. [One good thing that those early September polls (and related anti-Kerry news) accomplished was to force CBS into running its Bush/National Guard/fake memo story on September 8th instead of October 31st - as they tried to rescue Kerry's failing candidacy.]

We must be skeptical when the MSM/DNC allows a pro-conservative or other pro-American poll result to be made public. While we should discuss such polls - especially if they contradict other MSM/DNC polls - we must add a caveat to every poll discussion that polls are usually an unreliable tool of MSM/DNC propoganda. We can't credibly attack polls that favor MSM/DNC positions if we are quick to accept polls that favor conservatives.
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Monday update.

Powerline tries to explain away current poll numbers. The Powerline post is fine, but would be much better if it acknowledged the historical tendency of polls to serve an MSM/DNC purpose.

Additional categories of bias

I have updated the list of Categories of MSM/DNC Bias:

The list keeps growing because we keep discovering new veins of bias as we dig deeper into the gold mine of MSM/DNC tactics. We can compare it to a large underground rathole. Each tunnel that we find has many offshoot tunnels. Or we can compare it to a large maze. Whereas before we were fumbling in the dark, trying to identify bias examples one at a time, we now will have an overhead picture showing most of the tunnels of the maze.

I have added two new categories, with more to come.

Quote of the day - Joseph R. McCarthy

McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled.

Joseph R. McCarthy

Pope John Paul, Peggy Noonan and MSM/DNC censorship

Peggy Noonan's most recent column describes the historic events in Poland during John Paul II's first papal visit in 1979. She describes the Pope's historic mass in Blonie field on June 10, 1979. In front of an audience of 2 or 3 million or more people, the Pope "took on communism directly, by focusing on communism's attempt to kill the religious heritage of a country that had for a thousand years believed in Christ." The audience response was overwhelming.

I bring this up now because there is a parallel between the Polish government's treatment of this mass on state run TV and the MSM/DNC's handling of news in this country today (and for the past 70 years):

Another crucial thing happened, after the mass was over. Everyone who was there went home and turned on the news that night to see the pictures of the incredible crowd and the incredible pope. But state-controlled TV did not show the crowds. They did a brief report that showed a shot of the pope standing and speaking for a second or two. State television did not acknowledge or admit what a phenomenon John Paul's visit was, or what it had unleashed.

The people who had been at the mass could compare the reality they had witnessed with their own eyes with the propaganda their media reported. They could see the discrepancy. This left the people of Poland able to say at once and together, definitively, with no room for argument: It's all lies. Everything this government says is a lie. Everything it is is a lie.

Whatever legitimacy the government could pretend to, it began to lose. One by one the people of Poland said to themselves, or for themselves within themselves: It is over.

Does any of this sound familiar? If this story doesn't remind you of today's MSM/DNC, then read about the memory hole (#8) and selective film editing (#20) in the bias category list.
Here is another example from the 2004 campaign.

Just as it was in Poland in 1979, enough Americans will soon realize that "Everything [MSM/DNC] says is a lie. Everything it is is a lie."

When that day comes, it will be "over" for the MSM/DNC also.

Quote of the day - Pope John Paul II

Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any longitude or latitude. . . . The exclusion of Christ from the history of man is an act against man!

Pope John Paul II, June 2, 1979 - Warsaw, Poland

Hat tip Peggy Noonan

An example of #7.

This has become far too common among leftists to be ignored any longer. Pardon the language. [I hesitated before posting this one, but the left must be exposed for what they are. I am bothered more by the left's hypocrisy than their own thuggishness.]

La Shawn Barber has received the same kind of treatment:

Deleting overnight comment spam and troll missives is akin to emptying an overflowing garbage can. The stench is quite unpleasant. My detractors must be bored this week.

See #7 from the bias category list. This is what so many members of the MSM/DNC establishment would like to say if there would be no political consequences. Instead, they let their goon squads do it for them.

#18 from list of categories of MSM/DNC bias

The Schiavo memo episode shows how we are held to a higher standard than the MSM/DNC. It serves as a warning to all of us (no matter how low on the totem pole) that we can't use the MSM/DNC's tactics.

Let us briefly review the facts:
1) A court, with full MSM/DNC support, orders the slow murder of an innocent woman.
2) The Republicans try to stop the murder.
3) A Republican staffer writes a memo that theorizes on how to use the MSM/DNC's support for such murder for political advantage.
4) MSM/DNC falsely attributes the memo to Republican "party leaders".
5) MSM/DNC finds reason to celebrate when a Republican staff attorney admits to writing the memo, thus rendering the MSM/DNC less wrong than usual.

Just because MSM/DNC seems to get away with dishonesty doesn't mean that we can too. For decades, MSM/DNC controlled the information that the public received. MSM/DNC decided who got away with what. That is still largely true, especially in TV, Hollywood, education and newsprint. MSM/DNC lies will be buried down the memory hole. If any of us lie, MSM/DNC will invoke #18 on the bias list and smear us while pretending that their own lies never happened.

But take heart, MSM/DNC hasn't really gotten away with its lies. The events of September 2004 have changed history as far as news and information is concerned. While we must endure a little hypocrisy as a result of the Schiavo affair, MSM/DNC has seen its power greatly reduced.

There are some nice summaries by Willism, Attitude Problem (including a picture of Tom Harkin with Daniel Ortega) and LaShawn Barber.

The Schiavo memo - still an MSM/DNC lie

The left will spend the next four years trying to justify MSM/DNC's bias and Bush hatred by pointing to the Schiavo memo and screaming, "See, we were almost right once! We're not really biased! Halliburton!"

Even though a Republican staff member wrote the memo, MSM/DNC remains guilty of a lie by virtue of its claim that Party "leaders" distributed the memo. The Washington Post has never retracted that claim, a claim which the Post distributed nationwide through its wire service. MSM/DNC will now use the staff member's admitted authorship as a means of obscuring their own role in this matter and their own initial false attribution.

The author of this memo has admitted his authorship and resigned. By contrast, no one affiliated with Rathergate has admitted wrongdoing. Rather and his cohort still hope to prove that the national guard memos are genuine, just as they hope to prove someday that Al Gore won the 2000 election. MSM/DNC 's fallback position, "fake but accurate", threatens to become the new standard for MSM/DNC journalism.

Conservatives has disavowed those responsible for the memo. For example, Michelle Malkin refers to certain sources as "manipulative, lying smear merchants". VandS just says "Idiot." We are still waiting for MSM/DNC to disavow AP, the Pulitzer committee, CBS and every other liar from the growing list of MSM lies of 2005.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

Sadly for liberals, feminist lunacy doesn't convert and transform, it browbeats and harangues.

Ann Coulter

Understanding the MSM/DNC

My own understanding of the MSM/DNC took a giant leap forward when I finally committed my thoughts to the computer this past weekend. I received tremendous feedback that has helped me focus even further on the MSM/DNC and what to do about it. I plan to continue expanding the list of categories of MSM/DNC bias. The comments have taken me into new directions that I never would have seen before this past weekend.

(1) For example, Jawa made an excellent point:

Cassandra . . . . has an interesting post on the subject, and does a great job in classifying media bias once it has hapened, but it lacks a theoretical causal underpinning.

Jawa is right. My post focused on what we see and how we identify it. I took step one. Understanding the reasons for it would be step two. My main point has been to establish the MSM/DNC as one political organization. That is a new way of thinking to myself and many others, even though the concept explains everything we have observed in TV and newspapers for many decades. I hope to let the "unified political organization" theory percolate through the blogosphere before we try to explain further. Otherwise, the explanation of motives will obscure the basic identification that we are trying to accomplish. In other words, I am trying not to be too nuanced too soon.

(2) A commenter noted that the term "MSM" is a misnomer because MSM is anything but mainstream. That comment is true also. The television and print media that dominated the news prior to September 8, 2004 was far removed from the mainstream of opinion in this country. We still refer to them as mainstream because they still dominate television and print (and education and Hollywood). There are better names for this oligarchy that we are trying to overthrow, but any truly descriptive name would take forever to catch on. The world is ready is ready for the name "MSM/DNC" because we have been using its component names for so long and the name accurately describes our experience with the media. The name reflects everything we have observed on the evening news for so long.

(3) A New Zealand blogger is trying to find an appropriate adaptation of the "MSM/DNC" for his country. He substitues "Labour/MSM" for MSM/DNC. This raises the question of why the MSM/DNC phenomenon exists worldwide, with leftist politicians engaged in an unholy alliance with media outlets in each country. By asking the question, we veer into Jawa's "step 2" territory. I will leave that question for another day. Click here for some theories.

(4) In response to the controversy over the Pulitzer prize being awarded to terrorists, a commenter at Roger Simon's blog asks a good question:

Question:

How can one simultaneously deride the "MSM"; say that it's out-of-touch, behind-the-times, maybe even downright evil, and complain about who gets what "MSM" award bestowed upon by the selfsame "MSM"?

We shouldn't hope that the Pulitzer committee award the prize to the journalist of our choice. We shouldn't hope that the Pulitzer committee make the award even to a deserving journalist. We must simply recognize that the award is phony, document the phoniness to all who will listen and push the award into irrelevance with Dan Rather and Eason Jordan. Dan Rather never became "fair". He never lost his bias or retracted his story against Bush. We never won him over. We will never obtain fairness from the Pulitzer committee. Instead of trying to make the Prize fair, we must simply learn to use the Pulitzer prize as evidence against the MSM/DNC. It is a subtle (almost nuanced(!!)) difference, but it is a distinction we must recognize and use in every instance of MSM/DNC bias. [Wednesday P.M. update - Michelle Malkin lists the alternatives to MSM/DNC "satirists", especially those who win MSM/DNC prizes. While we point out the MSM/DNC bias, we can honor our own creative satirists. Our own pool of talent has grown large enough that we can make the MSM/DNC hacks irrelevant.]

We are exploring new territory with every analysis we make of the MSM/DNC. We won't always agree with each other. Our analysis will often be redundant or speculative, but we will press on through trial and error as we struggle to identify and define the nature of the MSM/DNC. The day that we replace the MSM/DNC with something resembling true journalism gets closer with every post and comment that we make.

The perfect job for a Bin Laden supporter

Debbie Schlussel this week chronicles the latest outrage from the Transportation Safety Administration.

Her column contains the story of Sadeq Naji Ahmed, a U.S. Air Force officer with the following record:

Ahmed, a Yemeni Muslim since indicted in federal court in Detroit, was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force. That might seem well and good, but the circumstances behind the discharge aren’t so honorable.

Between 1999 and the 9/11 attacks, Ahmed—then an airman stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida—made statements in support of Osama Bin Laden, said he was not against the 9/11 attacks, that the U.S. deserved to be attacked, that he wouldn’t fight if the U.S. took action in Iraq, and that U.S. aircraft over Iraq should crash.

So who would hire him with such a record? Homeland Security's TSA, of course. Ahmed served as a baggage screener in Detroit's Metro Airport for almost two years following 9/11 and after his record came to light. Read Debbie's column for the whole despicable story.

I guess if they can give a Pulitzer Prize to terrorists, they can hire a Bin Laden supporter to screen luggage at an airport.
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Update - Friday - Michelle Malkin's post today contains a good summary of the TSA reorganization plan and previous posts revealing its uselessness.

Quote of the day - Barry Goldwater

Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry M. Goldwater

Quote of the day

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

Thomas Jefferson

hat tip - Duvafiles

An example of MSM/DNC "coordination"

The Pulitzer prize for journalism is probably one of the biggest shams in the history of mass media. Anyone familiar with Walter Duranty's famous NYT coverup of Stalin's mass starvation of the Ukraine, and the Pulitzer prize he and the NYT received as a reward, can attest to this fact.

Now, the AP has received a Pulitzer prize for photographing an ambush/murder by Iraqi terrorists against Iraqi election workers. Numerous bloggers have raised questions as to whether AP's participation at the murder scene was prearranged. AP was apparently tipped off in advance and maintains a relationship with the terrorists in question.

This atrocity is an example of "coordination" - number 6 on the list of MSM/DNC categories of bias. While #6 on the list refers to coordination between MSM/DNC and Democrat candidates, the same category applies to coordination with foreign enemies and terrorists.

The Pulitzer prize "jurors" are listed at Michelle Malkin's blog, as well as a summary of the bloggers who have written about this issue.

I would like to add another category to the list, but I hate to keep adding to the point of infinity. If I do add another category, it will be for fake prizes that the MSM/DNC awards to itself so as to maintain respectability.

Update to bias categories

I have updated the list of categories of MSM/DNC bias. This list is also featured on my sidebar under "Best of the Posts."

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

While the form of treachery varies slightly from case to case, liberals always manage to take the position that most undermines American security.

Ann Coulter

Quote of the day - Pope John Paul II

Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.

Pope John Paul II

Jane Fonda plays Axis Sally tonight on 60 minutes

My understanding is that Jane Fonda will express regrets over some of her Vietnam era activities tonight on 60 minutes. Click here for my earlier post comparing Jane Fonda to Axis Sally. Compare the crimes of Axis Sally with the crimes of Jane Fonda. Remember that Jane Fonda probably did more than 60 minutes will ask her about. Remember also that Axis Sally went to jail for 12 years.


[Fonda with the Vietcong - for you libs, the Kerry part is a joke]

Top 10 categories of MSM/DNC bias.

Bias in the MSM/DNC takes many forms. I am forced to compare these forms each time I catalogue another "lie" for the 2005 list. Much of the MSM/DNC behavior constitutes mere spin or bias, slanted headlines or failure to report opposing points of view. Those items, while reprehensible, do not constitute "lies." For the sake of clarity and so that we can more easily discuss the tactics of the MSM/DNC, I have categorized here some of those MSM/DNC tactics:

1) The Lie. Often, but not always, the MSM/DNC will resort to an outright lie. This lie will involve some very specific fact, like a forged memo, false reports of a crowd booing when the crowd actually applauded, false claims that Sandy Berger returned the "original" documents, false attribution of statements to public figures, false charges that American soldiers are targeting journalists, etc.

These lies also include preparation of headlines or stories in advance of the actual events, as MSM/DNC did with the Iraqi elections and the death of Terri Schiavo.

I have also categorized as lies instances where the MSM/DNC has an agreement with newsmakers that certain facts will be kept hidden. This one is a much closer call (as between a lie and some other kind of atrocity).

The ultimate goal is that the lie take on status as a historical fact - "Bush was a draft dodger", "there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." The MSM/DNC has failed in the first example, but may yet succeed in the second.

2. The memory hole. The tactic here is to forget that certain events occurred and hope that everyone else does also. This tactic requires that the MSM/DNC not only stop talking about some fact, but actually help it to disappear.

The MSM/DNC never talks about the WMD's that we actually did find in Iraq.

Just before the election, NBC interviewed John Kerry and asked about his military IQ test. Kerry stated that this record was not public (a blatant contradiction of Kerry's story that he has released ALL of his military records). The next day, excerpts of this interview appeared on another NBC program, with the damning admission excised. The actual editing out of inconvenient facts provides a great example of a memory hole maneuver (although Powerline disagrees with the significance of that particular example).

Usually, we don't have that kind of easy proof. We just have to remember the facts that MSM/DNC doesn't like and document the absence of any recent MSM/DNC reference to those facts. Any time that we can't find a MSM/DNC reference to some serious news item (like the Washington State elections) it is an example of the memory hole at work.

3. Ventriloquist journalism. A common tactic of the MSM/DNC is to get others to do its dirty work. Let it appear as if someone else is doing the talking so that "media bias" won't be so obvious. [Update] MSM/DNC often uses phrases like "critics say" "some say" "experts say" "sources have told CBS news" . . . .

4. Polls. An offshoot of ventriloquist journalism is the MSM/DNC's reliance upon polls. The polls that the MSM/DNC uses are either (1) unreliable or blatantly false and/or (2) self-fulfilling prophecies. It is a common tendency among humans (especially those who have been softened by 70 years of the welfare state) to want to be on the winning side. When the MSM/DNC releases its polls showing some Democrat with a lead or that the "public" thinks that Social Security is just fine, those who might otherwise harbor doubts are intimidated into going along with the majority. I am sure that the MSM/DNC will continue their efforts to bully the public into acquiescing in the status quo on social security with just this tactic.

5. Buzzwords. The MSM/DNC will repeat a word or phrase often enough that the word itself will take on a life of its own and give those that pay little attention to the news a point of reference. Words like "Halliburton", "Soccer mom", "gravitas" are designed to serve as signposts for the semi-conscious on the otherwise deserted MSM/DNC highway. They are not arguments by themselves, so we can't refute them. But these words act like arguments by force of repetition.

6. Coordination with the Democratic candidates. This tactic seems somewhat new (unless we just couldn't tell before the new media revolution). An example is Rathergate, where CBS timed the release of the fake memos to coincide with the Democrats' "fortunate son" campaign/meme. The October Surprise is another example. It may seem a little odd to accuse the MSM/DNC of coordinating with itself, but that is what happens. Exposing the tactic helps prove the point that the MSM/DNC acts as one entity.

7. The smear/personal attack/outrage. This one is not as recent as it seems. In the 1950's, that overrated hack Edward R. Murrow smeared Joe McCarthy by careful editing of film, a tactic that caused Bobby Kennedy to walk out on a dinner in honor of Murrow because of what he did to "my friend Joe."

In recent years, we have seen so called "journalists" (MSM/DNC hacks) shout down those with whom they disagree, accuse grieving families of having a good time, attack the facial features of those who dare expose governmental misconduct (Paula Jones, Linda Tripp) and "necklace" minority conservatives by calling them stupid.

The smear is designed to intimidate. If that doesn't work, it is designed to so befoul the political discourse that honest people won't want to take part.

8. Euphemisms. MSM/DNC often uses euphemisms to downplay otherwise serious stories. Here is a perfect example from Reuters regarding the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, courtesy of the Captain.

9. False appearance of evenhandedness. The MSM/DNC often appears to treat a story evenhandedly, interviewing individuals from both sides of the debate. But this tactic is just as phony as the rest of the MSM/DNC. The MSM/DNC (news broadcast, for example) will give 5 seconds to the conservative while letting the leftist drone on for thirty seconds. The MSM/DNC will edit the film to exclude the conservative's strongest points. The MSM/DNC will interview only moderate Republicans who have little of substance to say. Or the MSM/DNC will interview only uneducated fringe individuals for the purpose of discrediting the conservatives. The reader or viewer will never receive a true clash of ideas through the filter of the MSM/DNC.

10. Opinion as fact. This one is the most generic and the most common. It includes many of the other tactics. It includes the insertion of opinions into news stories instead of the editorial page. The insertion of these opinions has to be somewhat clever so as not to be obvious. That is why the MSM/DNC uses ventriloquism tactics, polls, the memory hole, the occasional lie, euphemisms and buzzwords. MSM/DNC cannot simply use the words "Bush is a bad president" in a news story. That would be too obvious.
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Update

I should have known there would be more than 10 categories.

11. The race card. A commenter asked about the use of "PC." The MSM/DNC uses the race card in many situations. By pretending to speak for minorities, MSM/DNC is engaging in ventriloquist journalism. MSM/DNC also uses the race card as a smear tactic. When any conservative politician begins to gain acceptance, the MSM/DNC immediately begins a race card/PC attack. When a minority happens to be conservative, such minority conservatism is flushed down the memory hole or, if that doesn't work, results in a necklacing smear. Even though this category overlaps the others, I believe it deserves its own separate number.

12. Issue exclusion/false alternatives. This one is a form of the phony even handedness that appears in category # 9. The MSM/DNC will present most issues as a choice between two alternatives - the moderate wishy washy approach is presented as the Republican/right wing approach, while the leftist approach is heralded as the only alternative. No mention is made of true conservative alternatives. The Vietnam war is a prime example. We were presented with the MSM/DNC approved choice of surrender or endless no-win tactics. Goldwater's suggested approach was never considered. Every time the minimum wage becomes an issue, we are presented with the choice of raising the minimum wage by a large amount or a small amount. MSM/DNC never presents the voluminous economic research that suggests that the very existence of the minimum wage is harmful. Tax cuts are always presented as a choice between a small Republican cut or a Democrat proposal for an increase. The burdensome nature of taking more than 1/3 of our earnings is never considered. In the war on terror (or any recent war) the MSM/DNC presents the issue as peace v. war instead of victory v. defeat.

When the MSM/DNC defines the issues, the MSM/DNC cannot lose, no matter which side the public takes.

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Monday update - I should have known that 10 or 12 would be woefully inadequate. I am grateful to all of the commenters who have provided examples of additional categories (even the site pests). I have also added to some of the first 12.

13. "Both sides are guilty." The MSM/DNC does not so much openly advocate leftist positions or the positions of America's enemies as it finds subtle ways to undermine the American position. Throughout the cold war, MSM/DNC focused as much or more on American "imperialism" as it did on Soviet aggression. For every conservative who cautioned that the Soviets had a history of breaking treaties, a MSM/DNC mouthpiece would claim that America had violated some Indian treaty 200 years ago. Today, MSM/DNC figures remind us of the Crusades or Abu Graib whenever we discuss homeland security or the need to hunt down terrorists. When we discuss MSM/DNC bias, the MSM/DNC whines about "Fox News" (thank you site pests for reminding me about that one by your example in the comments). In the 1990's, every eruption of Whitewater or Monicagate resulted in repeated MSM/DNC references to Thomas Jefferson's slaves or Watergate. That is why Watergate will forever remain a current issue, while Whitewater is now wedged at the top of the memory hole (see #2) with MSM/DNC editors stomping on it in a desparate attempt to force it the rest of the way down.

14. Whitewash/Softball criticism of leftist public figures. Whenever the MSM/DNC is forced to acknowledge some scandal that reflects badly on one of their own, MSM/DNC pretends to investigate and criticize for all of the wrong reasons. The CBS/Rathergate report criticized CBS for trying to be first instead of for biased reporting. Some MSM/DNC spokesman eventually were forced to criticize Bill Clinton for committing adultery and lying instead of for trading high tech ICMB delivery systems to China. MSM/DNC hacks grudgingly admitted that Jimmy Carter was "naive" "inexperienced" or "lacked savvy" instead of pointing out his real fault - nearly losing the cold war. These softball whitewashes provide cover for the real crimes/faults of those on the left. They are the equivalent of the getaway driver throwing some of the robbery loot out the window to distract the pursuing police. We should rarely expect a real investigation from the MSM/DNC about one of their own. And we should never let the MSM/DNC investigation cause us to hold back our own criticism.

15. Strawman arguments. This one almost speaks for itself. The MSM/DNC frequently discusses only a completely wrong version of the conservative argument. Conservatives hardly ever have a true opportunity to present their own case through the MSM/DNC. When the Senate committee released its Whitewater report in the mid-1990's, I can recall that the Rush Limbaugh TV show provided more air time to the Democratic response than the MSM/DNC news outlets allowed for the majority report. Rush Limbaugh was fairer to the left than the MSM/DNC was to the actual newsmakers (the majority of the committee). The MSM/DNC viewing public never knew the real nature of the Whitewater charges. MSM/DNC also presents conservative arguments in terms of vaguely referenced "witchunts" or other motivations having nothing to do with the actual argument. The worst part of this category is that the MSM/DNC presents the strawman argument in the "news" section instead of the editorials. (See also #12 and #9).

16. Government solution assumption. Whenever the MSM/DNC discusses any problem, it speaks in terms of government solutions. The MSM/DNC assumes that the only solution to any problem is more government. This assumption is unspoken, but it underlies every report. MSM/DNC never entertains the possibility that there may be some nongovernmental solution.

17. The label game. During the cold war, MSM/DNC referred to Communist dictators as the "Russian leader" or the "Chinese leader." MSM/DNC never referred to an opponent of Communism as a "leader" - only as a strongman, dictator, etc. Communists were never "dictators" and opponents of Communism were never "leaders."

In reporting today's issues, experts are either (1) "experts" (if they support the MSM/DNC view) or (2) "conservative lobbyists", "conservative fundraisers", "conservative activists" or "conservative" something else.

Islamic terrorists are "insurgents", "militants", "freedom fighters" "guerrillas" or "rebels" but never "terrorists."

----update------ Republican opportunists are known as "mavericks."

18. Hypocrisy. MSM/DNC will investigate (or invent) Republican scandals while ignoring Democrat scandals as long as they can. E.G. The Swift Boat vets are ignored or vilified while CBS goes to the extreme of using forged documents to smear Bush. Also, Watergate vs. Whitewater. Compare this category with the memory hole (#2), the whitewash (#14), etc.

19. Scare tactics. MSM/DNC presents many stories on the end of the planet, the end of social security, Republican attempts to starve children, the health care crisis, etc. Panic-driven mob action is not a pretty site. But what can you say about someone who would purposely induce panic for political gain? This tactic is as old as the New Deal. Compare with the "government solution assumption" (#16) and "coordination" (#6).

20. Selective film editing. This one is hard to spot, but it happens. The camera angle, the inclusion of film clips having nothing to do with each other, the deletion of explanatory comments from a news subject, etc. CBS did this to General Westmoreland and got away with it in the pre-blogosphere era. Compare with the Lie (#1) and False Evenhandedness (#9).

It is great that so many blogs talk about media bias. But we need more discussion about how they do it and the categories into which the bias falls. Identification is the first step toward solving the problem. Watch the evening news and see how many of these categories you can spot.

Sunday update - 4-10-05

The list keeps growing because we keep discovering new veins of bias as we dig deeper into the gold mine of MSM/DNC tactics. We can compare it to a large underground rathole. Each tunnel that we find has many offshoot tunnels. Or we can compare it to a large maze. Whereas before we were fumbling in the dark, trying to identify bias examples one at a time, we now will have an overhead picture showing most of the tunnels of the maze.

I will also update the previous examples with clarifications. But I will stop trying to identify each update. It is more important that we have a broad picture of the problem than that we know when I made each update. I will not change the title because that would destroy all of the links from other blogs.

21. White noise. MSM/DNC broadcasts are frequently filled with inconsequential items (fill in your own examples), regardless of which party they benefit. This tactic distracts the public from the real issues and fosters inconsequential discussions and debate. (Compare with the memory hole - #2) Inconsequential items receive tremendous attention while the Chinese military buildup continues, Islamic immigration and colonization continues, the government goes further into debt and we move one day closer to the next major terrorist attack.

22. Demonization/piling on. (Compare with #7 - the smear). MSM/DNC frequently picks one conservative to attack en masse over the course of several years. This tactic provides a focal point for leftist rage and helps keep the party faithful energized. Previous demons have been Joseph McCarthy, Ken Starr and Newt Gingrich. The new target is Tom Delay. We will continue to see newspaper articles and television reports that target Delay - much like the attempt to justify Terri Schiavo’s murder by referencing Tom Delay’s father. “Tom Delay” will become a knee jerk leftist response to every issue, no matter how irrelevant. (See also #6 - coordination). Eric Hoffer wrote that mass movements need a specific devil to energize the followers. MSM/DNC is, among other things, a mass totalitarian movement.

23. Phony cries of "censorship." Every time the MSM/DNC is caught in some lie or rightly accused of bias, the usual MSM/DNC suspects step forward and cry "censorship." Any disagreement with the MSM/DNC receives this label. Specifically, read Drudge's account of the reporter who took offense at the White House's suggestion that Newsweek help repair the damage from Newsweek's phony Koran-flushing story.

Or check out this poll, in which the alternative responses apparently left individuals with a choice between believing the media or advocating censorship. Those who disbelieve the media were portrayed as unaware of the existence of the first amendment. I don't know how the questions were skewed to present these false alternatives, but clearly the poll attempts to pit the first amendment against those who are suspicious of the media.

We don't want to censor any of the media (unlike McCain-Feingold). We just want them to tell the truth and stop committing categories ## 1-22.

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