Selective Persecution: The Press Labels Another Democrat a “Liar”

[McCamy Taylor]

I. "_____ Democrat Is a Liar"

You can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time. And, if you are the corporate media in the United States, you think that you can fool the electorate every single time using the same strategy. That is because the mainstream press despises its audience, and thinks that we are a bunch of fools.

Our last president lied to get us into a war in Iraq, which he was planning even as he ran for president as an isolationist, “no more democracy promoting military ventures like the one in the Balkans” candidate. He lied about his commitment on global warming (he was committed to seeing global warming worsen, since the consumption of hydrocarbons is good for the oil companies). He lied about health care reform, bragging about the Texas Patient Protection Act—and then instructing AG John Ashcroft to get the law struck down in federal court. In his debates with Gore, he sang a “Me, too!” refrain. His presentation was so slick that a bunch of normally right thinking Democrats like Michael Moore decided that Bush was the same as Gore, and they supported the third party candidate. Of course, we learned right away that Bush did not equal Gore, otherwise the Supreme Court would have traded its legacy for an unprecedented (and not to set a precedent) ruling in Bush v. Gore. Bush lied about torture. He lied about domestic spying----

And yet, it was anti-war protesters, not the press, who ended up having to call him out on his most egregious lie, the one that killed over four thousand of our soldiers in Iraq (and killed and displaced a million or more Iraqis). The press had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the conclusion that W. had not always told the whole truth.

Thank God a Democrat is now in the White House thinks the collective corporate media. Now we can get back to the job of trashing the president---and earning brownie points from our corporate masters at the same time. You see, it is much easier to write negatively about any subject than it is to write something positive and constructive. Very few newsmen and women can be Walter Cronkite or Paul Krugman. And if you want to trash a politician, it is easier to adopt a popular meme—like “_____ is a liar” than it is to make up your own story, which would require that you go to the bother of actually formulating ideas and proving a point.

Here is an article that should be in the syllabus of every American who wants to be a critical reader of the news. The Press v. Al Gore from The Rolling Stone . Close to a decade later, this is probably the best examination of the mass hysteria and delusion which is the mainstream press in this country.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5920188/the_press_vs_al_gore

Few journalists saw anything wrong with this double standard. In fact, some found it amusing. "You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator, or you look at his record in Texas," Time magazine columnist Margaret Carlson told radio morning man Don Imus at the height of the campaign. "But it's really easy, and it's fun, to disprove Gore. As sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us."
Who decided that covering presidential politics was supposed to be "entertaining" and "fun" for journalists?

The press responds to critics on the right by bending over backward not to look liberal," says Geneva Overholser, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and former ombudsman for the Washington Post, referring to the common conservative criticism of the so-called liberal media. "The cumulative effect is the opposite: They're tougher on Democrats." She, too, is convinced there was "something fundamentally wrong" with the 2000 election press coverage.

Last year, a review conducted by two nonpartisan groups, Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Research Center, found that a stunning seventy-six percent of the Gore campaign coverage in early 2000 centered around two negative themes: that he lies and exaggerates, and that he's tarred by scandal. "We call it the metanarrative," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of Project for Excellence in Journalism. "Journalists are looking for a story line, a narrative device, that plays out over weeks and months, and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is if they let the narrative overwhelm the facts, then it becomes a distorting lens. It can lead journalists to ignore and mischaracterize facts as they try to fit them into the story."

Everyone loves to be trendy. We all want to ride the latest wave. But before we jump on board the “Obama Broken Promises” bandwagon, maybe we should find out who charted the excursion.


II. The Usual Suspects

The current narrative goes something like “Obama broke his campaign promises.” Since only liberals are supposed to be upset by the president’s sudden, apparent sharp turn to the right, you might be surprised to discover that the right wing media has been pushing this meme from before day one. For instance, here is FOX News way back in March with the catchy headline Obama’s Top Five Broken Campaign Promises.

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/03/03/kerpen_obama_budget/

Bill Sammon, currently of FOX News, was the very first reporter mentioned in the Stone article. He called Gore a liar in 2000 and here he is again calling Obama a liar, this time in April, 2009. His beef? Obama had not kept a promise to go to Church.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/08/sammon_obama/

Here is Charles Krauthammer, who participated in the media lynching of Gore, Kerry, Edwards and just about every other prominent Democrat you can think of. His thesis? Obama is a liar. Oh, pardon me, he is a “flip flopper”.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/22/obama_vindicates_bush.html

What does it all mean? Democratic hypocrisy and demagoguery? Sure, but in Washington, opportunism and cynicism are hardly news.

So true, Dr. Krauthammer. So true. But not, perhaps, in the way you meant.

Here we have a group calling itself “Conservative Women Unite!” chiding Obama back in April for not denouncing the Armenian genocide. Note that Bush never denounced the genocide either---and those on the right did not ask him to do so. Read the article and you will see that the whole point is to enable someone to post a pic of our president with a Pinocchio nose.

http://2conservativewomen.blogspot.com/2009/04/barack-obama-campaign-promise-no-511.html

Here is the Philadelphia Inquirer promoting the same meme in April, 2009 in an editorial by a former RNC press secretary.

Look beneath the soaring rhetoric and it is clear Obama's presidency is off to a rocky start. He has consistently capitulated on the substantive issues that brought him into the office, eroding his credibility with many observers and making him appear more like a typical politician.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/Obamas_first_100_days_littered_with_.html

More from FOX way back in February, complaining that Obama signed the fair pay act, the SCHIPs bill and the stimulus bill without waiting five days (as he is said to have promised.) I wonder how many of these folks consider themselves Christians and how many of those understand the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.

http://community2.myfoxdfw.com/_MORE-OBAMA-PROMISES-BROKEN/blog/257478/78592.html

More about FOX . NewsHounds provides commentary of the right wing propaganda channel’s effort to call Obama a promise breaker after just 50 days in office.

http://www.newshounds.us/2009/03/11/hannity_ready_to_pronounce_obamas_presidency_a_failure.php

Those “we like America” folks at FOX News were spreading a lot of hate on last night's (3/10/09) Hannity, “a special on President Obama's first 50 days!” as FOXNews.com described it. Predictably, “Great American” Sean Hannity marked this “milestone” with a slew of extra-venomous slurs. It began with a supposedly neutral review of Obama's campaign promises that just happened to focus on ones he hasn't kept and ignored the important ones that he has. Correspondent Ainsley Earhardt was lavish with her disapproval and less than stringent with her facts.

Fifty days and he had not kept several hundred campaign promises yet. Shameful!

III. Self Fulfilling Prophecies


The right wing did not even give the man a chance to get into office, before they started complaining about “broken promises”. Here is NewsBusters from Nov. 2008 declaring “Obama’s Already Broken Two Promises. “

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/11/07/obama-already-broken-two-promises-will-media-report

Here is another right wing site which promised to reveal Obama’s broken promises… immediately after he was elected.

There are many more that I couldn’t find sources for as well. Basically, what I’m trying to show is that you’ve made lots of promises.
I disagree with about 95% of your promises. However, I want to see one thing: if you’re really as honest as all your supporters say you are. Your entire campaign was built around hope, change, and by extension, honesty. Let’s see you do it.
I want you, the reader, to submit as many promises, broken and kept, to me via the contact page, or leave a comment below.
It’s bipartisan. If you’re a conservative, you can prove how dishonest Obama is. If you’re a liberal, you can prove how honest Obama is. Shall we begin?

http://www.allamericanblogger.com/president-obamas-promises/

I have an alternative suggestion. Let's keep track of the right wing writers and TV pundits who call Obama a promise breaker. I expect that by 2012, that list will include just about everyone.

Every dirty smear needs a political mastermind. Karl Rove was calling Barack Obama a liar before he even secured the nomination, all the way back in March, 2008.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/27/212716/396

One year later, Rove wrote “Presidential Bait and Switch” for the Wall Street Journal .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123621161271234665.html

Barack Obama has been president for a little more than five weeks. During his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, he showed what a skilled speaker he is and how persuasive he can be. But words delivered from a teleprompter, while important, have to line up with actions. Promises have to be met. And a president who promised to be one thing cannot be another. At some point, the gap between good feelings and results, between perception and reality, closes.

I guess Karl Rove should know. He is a master of bait and switch. In 2004, he mobilized the right wing by promising to end gay marriage and then in early 2005, the Bush administration attempted to spends its political capital privatizing Social Security.

IV. Be Careful of the Company You Keep

The moral of this journal----you may think that you came up with the notion that Obama is a promise breaker all by yourself. However, the right wing was working on this Big Lie (under the guidance of our modern day Goebels, Karl Rove) before Obama was even elected. This may surprise the folks who believed that the press loved the Illinois Senator during the primaries. However, as I documented back in 2008, the press attempted to portray Obama as a liar, conman and “typical Chicago polictian” in advance of his campaign battle with self styled "Honest Joe Maverick" John McCain. Here is just one of several journals which I wrote on the subject.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6453750&mesg_id=6453750

I am going to close with a Corsi. I wrote this in the summer of 2008.

You know the Big Lie they are trying to sell America, Obama is a typical politician with all the little lies that it implies, he is a liar, he is a back stabber, he is greedy, he is ambitious, he is all talk, he can not be counted on in a fight. ….This is how Gore is a liar started. This is how Kerry is a waffler started. This is how Edwards is a phony and Hillary is a bitch started.

[Why Syzygy]

1. A memory flash today

reminded me that in 2004 the Neandercons compared Kerry to Saddam. They are a one trick pony, and compared Obama to O'youknowwho. Democrats never do ignorant stuff like that.

You probably know this, but ALL of our major media is owned by only five corporations. Clinton didn't help us out in that area.

[Cha]

2. Rec'd~ THe corporatemediawhores would

sell our country down the river for a tax break and more monopoly..Posts like your and others on the net are an important tool for fighting back.

Thanks.

[Hekate]

3. KnR

:kick:

[annabanana]

4. As usual, McCamy hits the nail on the head. Any media-types

who want to know how the press gets off the track, just check in here.
KnR

[The Wizard]

5. The right wing

and its media handmaidens have damaged this country for cheap political gain. Their scorched earth policy fueled with innuendo and outright lies make them responsible for the misery and violence they foment. They are not part of the problem. They are the problem.