Operation MediaSmash has started

[cmayer]

A few days ago, someone posted that he had inside friends with the R's who access to strategy memos. The thug playbook called for an all out assult on the press for undermining War.

The balloon has gone up and the shock troops are landing on the shore. Look at yesterday's quotes from the whole gang of criminals.

(Sorry I don't have the link, but if someone does, it's time to kick it.)

[daa]

1. And the PRESS had better

throw it forcefully back in their lying faces. They LIED. Bu$h is a liar. Cheney is LIAR. Rumsfield is a WAR CRIMINAL. Impeach them NOW>

[tom_paine]

2. I don;t think that Corporate TV Pravda has the spine nor the integrity

They will cower and lick their Imperial Masters' hands.

I hope I'm wrong.

[cmayer]

4. Methinks it time for many stories

on how they smear their opponents.

This time they see the press as their enemy. It should be easy to see how the battle lines break down

[ithacan]

7. the book "Banana Republicans" does exactly that

I just heard an interview this morning on Democracy Now on exactly this topic, with the authors of "Banana Republicans," which details this and other ways that the Repubs are trying to turn the US into a one-party dictatorship. They really see anyone who disagrees with them as THE ENEMY, to be destroyed... Scary.

[wtmusic]

3. Are they calling Jim Thompson (R) a liar too?

He signed his name on the 911 report.

Or is the strategy to claim that the media has just misreported the commission's findings? :shrug:

[wabeewoman]

5. I think the strategy is to

make a big fuss about the report, how its unfair in order to promote the validity of it. Not the first time they've used this approach.

[salin]

6. Hope the media starts hitting back

one of DeLay's and Rove's tactics - is to threaten media with cut off from access if they do not play along (or are too harsh). So cut off access back. Run stories - ask for repub comment - when the "we won't talk to you" response comes up - run that in the story as well. Stand firm. The GOP NEEDS the media - for publicity. So cut them off - make them look foolish (as if they won't ever respond... because they won't). Two way street.

Also play up the accusations by the rw (media bashing) but always include a response for balance that states the opposing view... that it is the policies/actions etc that are causing the problems - not the coverage of those problems.

For example - whenever the GOP... but the fallujah and Berg incidents are worse meme comes up... why isn't the counter point raised... that there was an uprising going on for months without that level of violence was not so... vile... until MONTHS AND MONTHS after many of the incidents of abuses and torture had occured at Abu Ghraib and OTHER detainment locations... that as word escaped about the treatment of Iraqis - it is possible that the escalated violence against Americans and other Coalition forces and related individuals (private contractors) - were in retaliation. That there is very possibly a direct link between policies endorsed by Rumsfeld and his top men (and apparantly by the DOJ and the WH lawywers) and the exceptional levels of violence carried out by Iraqi insurgents and their allies.

Hit them back. The era of giving free airtime to the GOP ridiculous attempts to avoid ANY responsibility for their actions really needs to end.

[daa]

8. What about the old fashioned way

"one of DeLay's and Rove's tactics - is to threaten media with cut off from access if they do not play along"

Was Nixon feeding Woodward on Watergate. Its called investigative reporting, ala David Corn style. Get off their asses and quit re-reading Bush talking points like 3-time loser Limbaugh.

[salin]

9. Indeed but so many seem so cowed by the GOP

"Cut off access" tactics that it has impeded investigation journalism. I don't disagree that it is needed, but sadly Corn et al., are not given regular coverage in the mainstream media. Thus - go after the stories without fear of retribution per cutting off access - by reporting said cut off of access. MAKE the GOP tactic a part of the story - until they look so bad - that they (GOP) has to back off the tactic.