How does it feel to be a tool for propaganda?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

Hoenstly, the question is a valid one. A right wing site breaks a story. The story is NOT confirmed by any of the parties. The story is then continued to be manufactured in KNOWN right wing news publications.
Finally when a mainstream news site carries the story, it is denied by both parties and the parents of the girl.

So if you spread this story in the hopes that it was true...how does it feel?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. I only spread true and useful propaganda

As a notorious Kerry-basher, I demand at least the acknowledgement that I never stooped to this bullshit.

Now, was Kerry at Bush's Skull & Bones inauguration party, plenty of his society brothers were? Has Kerry said anything about the Bank of England/BCCI trial going on right now? I though he was out in front of this issue?

[oasis]

2. Do you mean to say that some here at DU hoped the story was true?

Oh my, my.

[Maddy McCall]

13. *gasp*

LOL!

[WiseMen]

15. Shocked! Shocked! I don't believe it!

[DenverDem]

3. How does it feel to be a tool for the power elite

And installing the media selected candidate?

The story needs scrutiny to ensure that it does not become a destructive issue after the nomination is made.

Ignoring something does not make it go away. It must be met head on and neutralized. If it is not true then it should be used against the party that started the smear. Posting some silly poll does nothing positive.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. Didn't take long to find a typical Free Republic reaction:

Father: "Kerry is a sleazebag"

Kerry: "Does this change your mind? $$$$"

Father: "We support Kerry and intend on voting for him!"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1079162/posts?page=3#3

and I have seen similar reaction on the Dean blog.

[Skip Intro]

5. Define "spreading the story" please

You don't mean to say that word one should never had been uttered on DU, do you?

There is a difference between asking, "what if its true" and proclaiming it true. The posts/theads I saw were in the "what if" vein. It was an open question.

Still an open question is the whole interview thing. Is there a taped interview? If so, does the woman contradict her statments of today?

These are still questions. Either there is an inteview or there isn't an interview. You don't know, and I don't know which is the case. Asking questions about it, and pondering possible outcomes is not, to me, "spreading the story," but discussing what could, if true, be a major factor in the race, primary and general.

For the record, I wasn't hoping it was true, I'd rather see Dean nominated because he's the best candidate, not because the current leader became tainted.

Back to the question, tho - what do you mean by "spreading the story?" Am I "spreading the story" now?

[BruinAlum]

11. I think it's safe to assume the interview doesn't exist

I knew that had to be bogus right away.

That, IMO, was the easiest sham to see through. It was supposedly done around Christmas. 2 months ago. She supposedly confessed. Well what are they waiting for?? What's to verify? They've got a confession!

If they really had her on tape confessing an affair with Kerry, wild horses wouldn't have stopped them from airing that tape. Yet here it is 2 months later, stories are breaking right and left on right wing sites, Kerry has denied the affair, and they STILL don't release the supposed tape.

Because it doesn't exist.

Now, she has denied an affair ever took place. Therefore, there is no taped confession.

[Skip Intro]

17. Well, that may or may not be true, but there would be reason to hold it

If some network had a taped confession, and there was an effort to do as much damage to the Dems' chances in Nov., it would only make sense to hold it until all the other Dem candidates had dropped out of the race, thereby damaging Kerry and the party's chances, rather than damaging Kerry alone at this point.

I have serious doubts if the tape even exists, or, if it does, if it even contains anything damaging. I suspect that if a tape exists, that the woman probably says what she has said today.

But its not known, at this point, whether a taped inteview exists, and, if so, what it reveals.

And that was the point of my post - asking "what if the rumor is true" is not the same as "being a tool" of a rw smear campaign, as the original post accuses.

There is a difference between asking "what if" something's true and insisting something's true.

[BruinAlum]

6. The link to the attachment doesn't work

Is it me? What's the attachment above your poll?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. You have to wonder if voters for the first choice here

really are disruptors as they seem to be admitting.

[The Magistrate]

12. In These Precincts, My Friend

Disruption can come from the left as well as the right....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[tobius]

8. was it manufactured by the right wing?

or preemptive ingenius strategery by lehane/mcauliffe?


My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
Charles F. Kettering (1876 - 1958)

[genius]

9. I think the DU should have risen above it.

It's time that people on the DU remembered that this is supposed to be the DEMOCRATIC Underground.

[arcos]

14. a lot of people forgot that when Drudge made "the scream" a big issue n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. and then a lot of people forgot Drudge made "the scream" a big issue. nt

[mdmc]

10. I'm sure the story is true

or that Kerry cheats... Dean too... Bush too...
I don't care .

[Forkboy]

18. This serves no purpose other than to divide us even more

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. So thinking about the consequences of our actions divides us more?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. I think mere talk of being divided divides us even more.

:evilgrin: just kidding.

[Forkboy]

21. This isn't thinking about the consequences

This is petty vindictiveness on your part,and it's not much better than the bozos who baught into the story in the first place.

I honestly can't tell you how much your actions of late sadden me :-(

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

22. Not about vindictiveness at all.

It really IS about asking people to consider the source. It is about asking people to stop and think before they give tenacles to a story that will develope tens if not HUNDREDS of thousands of threads on google and only a small handful of retractions. It is about asking people to stop and think about why a story is ONLY on a handful of less than credible sites and NOT on any mainstream newsource. If all of that is considered then many of the attacks we have seen on MANY democrats would not exist.

For the record, I was EQUALLY critical of the DEAN SCREAM issue from day one and posted so an many many threads. Therefore, when Dianne Sawyer clarified that the issue was false...I didn't have to eat crow because I didn't prepare any.

[Moderator]

23. Locking.....

1. If you start a thread in this forum, you must present your opinion in a manner that is not inflammatory, which respects differences in opinion, and which is likely to lead to respectful discussion rather than flaming. The moderators have the sole authority to decide whether a thread topic is inflammatory. Extremely inflammatory or inappropriate topics will be deleted rather than locked, and the thread's author will receive a warning.


DU Moderator