4-Star General says: ‘this is baloney, you guys are being fed baloney.’

[nostamj]

http://www.thisisrumorcontrol.org/node/1756

General McPeak: Our government has not been telling us the truth about what is going on in Iraq since before it even started so the question is, how long will it take somebody like Walter Cronkite who is trusted by the American people to put his hand up and say, ‘this is baloney, you guys are being fed baloney.’ My judgment is that it will take something like a decade and so we are only a couple of years into this thing and if we have to wait for the American people to run out of patience, it will be a while.

This is Rumor Control: I’ve wondered about the Walter Cronkite moment for a long time and I think, General McPeak that there is no Walter Cronkite. Nobody in the news business is trusted that much anymore. Who would it be?

General McPeak: I certainly don’t have a nominee. I stood up and yelled “baloney” at the top of my lungs and didn’t get anywhere. Those of us high up in the military who spoke out were behind the wrong candidate. We wanted regime change in Washington and the Democrats nominated John Kerry and we did the best we could.

This is Rumor Control: What are your political leanings, General McPeak?

General McPeak: Now I am a registered Independent. Before I backed John Kerry, I was a Republican. I was Bob Doles’ campaign chair in Oregon and I was the Oregon chairman of Veterans for Bush.

[bryant69]

1. That's the whole question

When will they decide that this has gone on long enough and give us the low down birds eye scoop. And would Bush's believers, innoculated against the press as they are, believe it? Even if a guy like Bill O'Rielly or Chris Matthews came out against it?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[zipplewrath]

4. Time to stop looking for heros

  The whole right wing movement has been about obsfucation and
the general trashing of the media, MSM or otherwise.  They've
trashed academia and virtually any medium of information
sharing.  Their primary focus has been on propaganda.  Gannon
may only be the tip of the iceberg.  They've been doing
language studies since before Gingrich.  They've been working
on manipulating the language, Orwellian style.  And they are
succeeding.  There will be no Cronkites because they will
trash them and character assassinate them at the very first
sign.  Swift boats or whatever, they will spend large amounts
of money (can anyone say "Arkansas Project"?) to
trash anyone who does not agree with them.  Watch how they go
after AARP.
  
  Remember, the primary tool of the right wing has been the
religious conservative.  These are folks well schooled in
indoctrination through manipulation and information control
(There is only one TRUE book).  Truth, information, critical
thinking of any form has been removed as an instrument of
influence with their base.  Their talking points have no need
for basis in fact for they are based  upon "belief".
 To them, "realist" is a perjorative.  Belief trumps
knowledge with these folks.  These are the same ilk who put
Galileo in a tower.  It's how they can oppose stem cell
research, evolution, and any and all forms of science which do
not directly serve their beliefs.  Challenging their beliefs
is a sin, and any, ANY action to counter such challenges is
justified as "defending the faith".  

   Contrast and compare the Spanish inquisition with Abu
Grahib and Guantanimo.  It is a faithful revolt against the
very things which threaten such faith; science, logic,
knowledge, and rational/critical thinking.  These things
threaten the control which belief and faith have on people and
they don't like it.

   Looking for heros to save just won't happen.  Truth is
heros look vastly more heroic in hindsight than while they are
working.  If MLK was alive to day, they'd have trashed him
while he was working on the bus boycott.  

[bryant69]

6. About Time We Started Doin' Our Own Livin' And Dyin' .

I don't thinks are nearly as hopless as your tone suggests.

Bryant

[SpiralHawk]

17. Doublethink Republicans

Doublespeak Republicans.

Doubleplusungood.

"We are totally, like, up the estuary of excrement without a manual marine propulsion device." - Tunter Hompson

[MetaTrope]

2. Cronkite's been speaking out since the stolen 2000 election

And he has not been shy about it.

But to the Bushwhore media of today, he's just another conspiracy crackpot.

[havocmom]

7. And he may not have used the term 'balony' but I seem to recall him using

the word "lies" a time or two.

He has been very honest and vocal.

[IndyPriest]

3. Life is a game to the coporate media

It's about who dies with the most toys. So their job is not to tell the truth, but to sell cars, teeth whitener, and viagra.

[immoderate]

5. A major thrust of the right wing has been to discredit journalism.

Of course it's always ignored that the whole idea of an informed population is liberal. The press' job is to inform us of the workings of power and the powerful don't like that. The recent actions of the current administration to pay off commentators, insert phony news stories, and place Guckerts into the press corps promotes that notion.

Coulter is one of their major weapons. Whether you believe her or not she a discredit to the profession of journalism. She tears down journalists, and if you see through that, then she's an example of a wacko in the media.

--IMM

[nostamj]

9. that's today's lead story on salon.com

haven't had time to read it yet but...

www.salon.com

[immoderate]

10. Thanks.

I still look on jounalism as a noble calling. Guess I don't have to defend the idea of free press and speech around here, but I wish that all in our nation could regain this wisdom left to us by the founders.

--IMM

[nostamj]

13. good snip from the piece....

The systematic effort to undercut journalists, to strip them of their traditional influence in national affairs, represents the Bush administration taking steps to "decertify" the professional press corps by "trying to unseat the idea that these people, professional journalists assigned to cover politics, have a legitimate role to play in our politics," according to Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University. He views that effort, along with James Guckert's (aka Jeff Gannon's) ascension at White House press briefings, as being closely linked: "Creating 'Jeff Gannon' as a credible White House correspondent and creating radical doubt about the intentions of mainstream journalists (in order to decertify the traditional press) are two parts of the same effort."

One way to diminish the press is simply to refuse to deal with it at all. The Bush administration's record of ignoring the media stands in stark contrast to previous administrations. "Of course people in the White House, no matter what administration, are always angry at the press," says New Yorker writer Ken Auletta, who detailed the White House's relationship with the press last year. "Nixon would actually call up owners of media companies and try to get reporters he didn't like fired. But even Nixon and then Reagan and Bush and Clinton, they all felt the obligation to hold press conferences. The difference with the Bush people is they made the determination they didn't have to talk to the press except in an election year. And that's worrisome."

[immoderate]

15. Thanks again. I plan to get over there.

--IMM

[Karenina]

14. 1950's Redux

This is an excellent thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1626497

[immoderate]

18. Yes it is.

--IMM

[mainer]

8. General Zinni and General Shinseki said the same things

And looked what happened to them. Fired.

[dbt]

11. Kick!

[bobthedrummer]

12. General McPeak speaks for active-duty officers too,

you can take that to the bank.

[richargl]

16. the system is too powerfull

once the stone starts rolling it just never stops ...that's human nature protect your position at all costs