Cable TV News is the single biggest asset of the Republican party
Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 06:18:31 PM PDT
All the blather about the ABC News debate and then then today's Times article about the Pentagon conning cable tv (the modern equivalent of taking candy from a baby) furthers my favorite subject about howtelevision, particularly the cable version, but broadcast as well, has become overpopulated with the stupidest, least educated (but well dressed and beautiful) people ever foisted upon us (I suspect that, for instance, Edwin Newman could not get employed as an intern were he beginning his career today, and Edward R. Murrow would not have gotten within 100 miles of a microphone). They have also become so intolerably undependable that it is scary.
If I worked for the Pentagon, of course, I would do the same thing as they did, since the people who run these "news" outlets are so unbearably gullible and desperate to fill time, without spending any money to actually do any reporting, that manipulating them would be too easy and, hence, irrestistable.
I will have much more to say on this subject when I get a chance, but for now what interests me as much as anything is that despite all of this, there were, four years ago, large numbers of former military (probably without commercial interests) and CIA who were overtly trashing Rumsfeld, the central command and Cheney and the rump president and leaking crap all over the place to try to get Sen Kerry elected. I am convinced that the Abu Gharib disclosures were part of this, but the cable television desire to suck up to the admin made it impossible for them to really get their message out.
See if you remember this article, copied below from the NY Times of June 14, 2004 (since the link only works if you are a Times subscriber)?
Group Urges Voters Not to Choose Bush
Angered by Bush administration policies they contend endanger national security, 26 retired American diplomats and military officers are urging Americans to vote President Bush out of office in November.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, does not explicitly endorse Senator John Kerry for president in its campaign, which will start officially on Wednesday at a Washington news conference.
The Bush campaign said Sunday that it would have no response until the group formally issues its statement at the news conference. The group's position was reported Sunday by The Los Angeles Times.
Among the group are 20 ambassadors, appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, other former State Department officials and military leaders whose careers span three decades.
Prominent members include Gen. Joseph P. Hoar of the Marines, who was commander of United States forces in the Middle East during the administration of Mr. Bush's father; and Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., the ambassador to Britain under President Bill Clinton and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Ronald Reagan.
''We agreed that we had just lost confidence in the ability of the Bush administration to advocate for American interests or to provide the kind of leadership that we think is essential,'' said William C. Harrop, the first President Bush's ambassador to Israel and earlier an ambassador to four African countries.
Mr. Harrop said the group was disillusioned by Mr. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and other issues.
You probably don't remember this article since, as important as it was (I doubt a similar group has ever openly campaigned against a sitting president in "wartime") and unlike "I was for it before I was against it" or the important news that Senator Kerry likes to windsurf, MSNBC, CNN and, of course, Faux News, didn't touch it particularly since it suggests something other than what they usually report.
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