Dan Froomkin reports on BushCo's McCarthyite Veterans' Day speechifyin' and exposes what we on the left have known all along:
Like other Bush campaigns, this one will inevitably feature the ceaseless repetition of key sound bytes -- the hope being that they will be carried, largely unchallenged, by the media -- and virulent attacks by the White House on those who dare to disagree, even going so far as to question their patriotism.
That's the first time I've read anyone in the corporate media, outside of op-ed writers, come out and say that the emperor is naked and that he's been getting crucial help from the corporate media to hide that fact all along.
I only take issue with Froomkin's idea that we are in the midst of BushCo's third campaign. We're playing way past that.
There was the first campaign in 2000, which followed the format described by Froomkin and which BushCo lost.
There was the second when he began his first term and threw the weight of the White House behind dismantling anything Clinton touched (including the pursuit of bin Laden), fighting pornography and starving the beast.
There was the third campaign to get us into Iraq, which began publicly on 9/11 and relied heavily on the complicity of the corporate media.
There was the fourth to divide the country against itself, which probably started in January of 2000, but really picked up steam after 9/11.
There was the fifth, which ended in 2004 and which he also lost.
There was the sixth: the drive to destroy Social Security, which, up until Katrina exposed the result of beast starvation, had been his most visible loss so far.
So by my count we're in the seventh major BushCo campaign: the drive to save the midterms. Don't fall for the Saving My Agenda nonsense. The only agenda Team BushCo cares about (winning the Class War) isn't reported in the corporate media in any kind of meaningful way and as I've written, they're making excellent progress on that front. But the midterms are a problem. * What we saw on Veterans' Day was the official opening of the '06 races. The corporate media is asleep at the switch, or worse, if it fails to put every one of BushCo's speeches from November 11 on in that context.
* When I write that the midterms are a problem, I'm setting aside the fact that essentially the entire country will be voting on unverifiable machines in 2006, which, of course, knocks everything off the table. I'm waiting to see when exit polling will be outlawed and guessing that it will happen very shortly after some seriously confusing results turn up nationwide just a little under a year from now.
Good stuff! I agree on the number of campaigns. However, I disagree that they will attempt to outlaw exit polling. Too obvious. I think they will try to discredit exit polls. You can add a seventh campaign to your list; that of "The campaign against exit polls."
Great blog! I'm going to blogroll you so I remember to come back. -JJ
Posted by: Jaundice James | November 15, 2005 at 02:37 PM
Good stuff! I agree on the number of campaigns. However, I disagree that they will attempt to outlaw exit polling. Too obvious. I think they will try to discredit exit polls. You can add a eighth campaign to your list; that of "The campaign against exit polls."
Great blog! I'm going to blogroll you so I remember to come back. -JJ
Posted by: Jaundice James | November 15, 2005 at 02:38 PM
Good stuff indeed! And brilliant analysis of BushCo's machinations!
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Posted by: DavidByron | November 16, 2005 at 11:39 PM
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Posted by: eRobin | November 16, 2005 at 11:51 PM