"I said 'thanks but no thanks' to the Bridge to Nowhere." - Gotta hand it to them - pretty clever

[Ian_rd]

I've been largely away from the media for a couple weeks (hiking in Palin's backyard of Alaska no less), and so maybe I'm not saying anything new here. But I had a bit of a revelation while watching Gov. Palin yet again use her favorite characterization of her position on Ted Steven's famous bridge as saying "I said 'thanks, but no thanks!' " (cue cheers)

The whole truth, of course, is that she supported it before it was politically unpopular, at which time she decided to oppose it.

"Thanks ... (time passes), but no thanks."

Get it?

I've been fascinated with the art of public opinion control for a long time. And one thing that's been particularly awe-inspiring is the Republican Party's ability to transmit a lie to hundreds of millions of people while using language that can be considered essentially factual. The Iraq War is a perfect example. There are extremely few outright lies from Bush administration officials in the massive media campaign to build support for the unprovoked invasion - a campaign that included thousands of public statements. But all were meticulously crafted to be couched in language that can be considered factually accurate (Cheney: ... we are striking at the geographic heart of those who attacked us on 9-11 ...) or in a manner that absolves themselves of factual scrutiny (Rice: ... we don't want the proof to be a mushroom cloud ...). Sure, there are lies - most often hidden behind plausible deniability (... hey, we thought they were mobile labs ...), but one of the most grievous emerging tools of their arsenal in manipulating the public to their control is the ability to lie without getting caught, whether it be through media laziness (or compliance) and the most highly skilled language-crafters in political history.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Did congress ever even ask her ???

and where did the money go?

[Marsala]

2. Yeah, I thought of that interpretation.

But it's horribly deceptive. Calling it a lie is barely an exaggeration.

[nini]

3. She didn't return the money though

I see your point, but at issue is the money and she didn't return it.

[Morning Dew]

4. like her comment on gay people - not judgemental etc.,

was actually a statement that she wouldn't judge others on whether they thought it was inborn or chosen. She never actually answered the question.