Bill Moyers, Iraq, a complacent & bullied press, and the WHIG

Look, I know it's TV Turnoff Week, but how could I resist watching a show on Channel 13 last night that started off with these opening paragraphs from Bill Moyers?

BILL MOYERS: Four years ago this spring the Bush administration took leave of reality and plunged our country into a war so poorly planned it soon turned into a disaster. The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn't have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on.

Since then thousands of people have died, and many are dying to this day. Yet the story of how the media bought what the White House was selling has not been told in depth on television. As the war rages into its fifth year, we look back at those months leading up to the invasion, when our press largely surrendered its independence and skepticism to join with our government in marching to war.

This 90-minute special edition of Bill Moyers' Journal from April 25, 2007 "Buying the War", which has a full transcript online here, was a good introduction or review for anyone interested in how and why the leading lights of the mainstream press were either dupes or collaborators in the march to invade Iraq. He did not (like the New York Times) ignore the group that gave WHIGgate Update its raison d'être.

BILL MOYERS: As the WASHINGTON POST'S veteran reporter Walter Pincus would later report, the propaganda machine was run by the president's inner circle — officials who called themselves the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG..... You wrote that WHIG included Karl Rove, the chief of staff, Andrew Card, Mary Matalin, Condi Rice, Steven Hadley, Lewis Libby and they were in charge of
selling the war.

WALTER PINCUS: Selling the war. Yeah.

PRESIDENT BUSH (9/11/02): Good evening. A long year has passed since enemies attacked our country.

BILL MOYERS: Their chief salesman had the best props at his disposal [spoken over a clip of Bush with the Statue of Liberty behind him on the 1st anniversary of 9/11/01]

PRESIDENT BUSH (9/11/02): …and we will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder.

WALTER PINCUS: They created that link.

BILL MOYERS: The marketing group?

WALTER PINCUS: The marketing group. And the link was a twofold link. One, he had weapons of mass destruction. And two, he supported terrorists. And they repeated it everyday. anybody who watches-- television these days knows you sell a product, not just by saying it once, by saying it over and over again with new spokesmen two, three times a day and it sinks into the public.

BILL MOYERS: But is there anything unusual about an administration marketing its policy?

WALTER PINCUS: It's, I think each administration has learned from the other, and with this group is just the cleverest I've ever seen-- and took it to new heights.

NORM SOLOMON: The TV, radio, print, other media outlets are as crucial to going to war as the bombs and the bullets and the planes. They're part of the arsenal, the propaganda weaponry, if you will. And that's totally understood across the board, at the Pentagon, the White House, the State Department.

COLIN POWELL (9/26/02): A proven menace like Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction

PRESIDENT BUSH (Discussion with Congressional Leaders, 9/26/02): The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons

DONALD RUMSFELD (DOD Press Briefing 9/26/02): We do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of Al Qaeda members.

PRESIDENT BUSH: The regime has long standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations.

BOB SIMON: Just repeat it and repeat it and repeat it. Repeat Al Qaeda, Iraq. Al Qaeda, Iraq. Al Qaeda, Iraq. Just keep it going. Keep that drum beat going. And it was effective because long after it was well established that there was no link between Al Qaeda and the government of Iraq and the Saddam regime, the polls showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans believed that Al Qaeda-- that Iraq was responsible for September 11th.

The Times, the Washington Post, and the major broadcast networks all come under fire in this show (as do the easy targets of the flag-waving cable news networks and saber-rattling pundits). The only heroes are two reporters for Knight Ridder (Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay) who saw the holes in the government's stories with basic fact checking rather than high-level cocktail party access to the lies of Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.
The New York Times STILL has not mentioned "WHIG" or the "White House Iraq Group" in its news pages even though one of their reporters, Judith Miller, has been exposed as their chief tool (or maybe even an honorary member of the Group). When the White House Iran Group starts feeding their reporters information from "Important High Level Administration Sources" (i.e., Liars), maybe the Times editors should think about the following quotation from a Knight Ridder editor before uncritically printing government "information" about Iranian WMDs on their influential front page.

BILL MOYERS: Knight Ridder's early skepticism was a rarity inside the beltway bubble…..

JOHN WALCOTT: A decision to go to war, even against an eighth-rate power such as Iraq, is the most serious decision that a government can ever make. And it deserves the most serious kind of scrutiny that we in the media can give it. Is this really necessary? Is it necessary to send our young men and women to go kill somebody else's young men and women?

crossposted from WHIGgate Update (http://whiggate.org)

My First BlackBerry Sighting

The little BlackBerry breakdown yesterday, which substantially slowed the moving and shaking of movers and shakers all across this great continent of ours, reminded me of my first sighting of one of these devices in use. I wish I had noted the date of this incident, but I didn't think at the time that this little gizmo would take quite the prominent place in our culture that it has in the past few years. So the date is inexact, but here's the scene:

Time: Around 2001, during the evening rush hour.
The Place: A New Jersey Transit train leaving New York's Penn Station
The Characters: Middle-Aged White Man in a Dark Suit #1 & Middle-Aged White Man in a Dark Suit #2

Man#1 is watching Man#2 type on a tiny keyboard with his thumbs.
Man #1: What's that thing?
Man #2: A "Black Berry".
Man #1: What are you doing?
Man #2: I'm talking to my boss right now!
Man #1: Why the fuck would you want to do that?

Why indeed? thought the man sitting across the aisle from them who was trying to read a book.

Isn't it great to have Paul Wolfowitz back in the news?

It gives us another chance to post this!

Where was the fire?

Governor Jon Corzine's piece-of-shit full-size SUV was traveling at 91 mph on a 65-mph highway before his crash last Thursday according to the Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police today. It also seems to have been scaring other hard-to-control trucks out of their lanes with its hectic approach. At least this "accident" didn't claim any innocent victims.

Is anyone else pissed about this? I voted for Jon Corzine and I probably will again, but I also drive on the Garden State Parkway in a Volkswagen, and I have a son with a fresh driver's license. What am I supposed to say to him about speeding when the New Jersey State Police not only do NOTHING to stop an average speed of 75-85 mph on a crowded 65-mph highway, but they treat this busy highway as their own personal racetrack. It's bad enough when they do it in their cruisers, but these top-heavy oversized trucks are potential murder weapons when driven at that speed.

I have this naive belief that nobody is important enough to speed unless they're responding to an emergency. The Governor of New Jersey is not a fireman, and he was not on his way to the scene of a crime. I know that most people in his position probably do it routinely, but I think they need to explain why (though the obvious answer, I'm afraid, is "because I can").

New drivers are also told that they are responsible for making sure that their passengers are belted. Why didn't this State Trooper/Chauffeur insist that his front seat passenger wear his seatbelt?

Jon Corzine needs to answer a lot of questions about this "accident" when he heals enough to resume his duties.
---------------------------------------------
UPDATE on 4/18/07: This morning's New York Times article on this news says:

"...the trooper driving the vehicle, Robert J. Rasinski, had told investigators that he did not know how fast he was traveling as he led Mr. Corzine’s two-car caravan, emergency lights flashing, from an Atlantic City speech to a meeting at the governor’s mansion in Princeton."

Funny, but "I don't know how fast I was driving" is never an acceptable answer for a civilian to give a trooper.

The article is also very good on describing how the official SUV caused the crash, and also how it was breaking the rules of engagement for non-emergency government vehicles.

Spread the Word -- Next Week is TV Turnoff Week -- April 23-29, 2007

You won't see an ad for TV Turnoff Week on the tube, so spread the word any way you can in the next week; click on the link to get more information and ideas from Adbusters.org, and think about reading and signing their Media Carta.

But the most important thing is simply to turn it off.

"The idea is simple: take your TV, your DVD player, your video iPod, your XBOX 360, your laptop, your PSP, and say goodbye to them all for seven days. Simple, but not at all easy. Like millions of others before you, you’ll be shocked at just how difficult – yet also how life-changing – a week spent unplugged can really be." --Adbusters.org

Enjoy a book.

This should be the last entry about that guy with the cowboy hat and the mean-spirited banter who used to be on the radio

The name of the man in the picture to the right will be forgotten before long. This is the first and last entry that will confront the readers of this blog with a picture of Don Imus, but the crawl at the bottom of the screen as he was uttering the slur heard round the world is telling. It shows something about the speed of news cycles; "..H RICHARDS SAID HE ONCE SNORTED..." of course refers to the big scandal that was breaking right before Imus created his own scandal, that Keith Richards said he had snorted his father's ashes in a cocaine mix. That story had legs about one inch long.

Now that CBS has followed NBC's lead by firing the original shock jock, he will quickly be replaced by another scandal on the front pages. But his story will be remembered and taught for years by those who work in the mass media. The uttering of casually sexist and racist "jokes" on the public airwaves (or basic cable) is now as clearly taboo as accidentally flashing a female breast during the Super Bowl halftime show or dropping an f-bomb. There's no gray area here. The next Imus who says something similar on the air will have his microphone pulled during the next commercial break.


And Don Imus will remember that it's not nice to fool with the Scarlet Knights. He started the conversation that ended his career by saying, "That's some rough girls from Rutgers." He had no idea. He had no idea that the real strength of these talented young women was in their intelligence and their quiet dignity. While others (including this blogger) immediately jumped into the fray, they showed how vile Don Imus's comments were just by being themselves (and making all of us with connections to Rutgers even prouder to be Scarlet Knights than we already were!).

crossposted from the Rutgers football fan blog BeatVisitor.com

Kurt Vonnegut (11 November 1922 -- 11 April 2007)

When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendants and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, "Reflections on My Own Death"

in Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (Opinions),

page 184 of the yellowed 1976 Dell first paperback printing

MSNBC does the right thing (for the obvious reason); all pressure now shifts to CBS

ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

It may turn out to seem like a Pyrrhic victory when some right-wing pressure group leans on sponsors to get rid of something we like on the radio (though we only listen to NPR, which doesn't have sponsors), but for now it's just a victory. It was for the money (or fear of losing it) that major American corporations, afraid of being tarred as sponsors of racism, caused another major American corporation, NBC Universal (a subsidiary of General Electric), to pull the plug on the cameras this evening.

It would have been nice if NBC has made the decision immediately, a week ago, for less mercenary reasons, but it still feels good to know that this insult against the Scarlet Knights, women, and African Americans, has finally been appropriately addressed. The online announcement included the key lines here:

The network’s decision came after a growing list of sponsors — including American Express Co., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. — said they were pulling ads from Imus’ show for the indefinite future.

But it did not end calls for Imus to be fired from the radio portion of his program. The show originates from WFAN-AM in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS Corp. For its part, CBS has not announced plans to discontinue the show.

If the sponsors don't get to WFAN to pull the plug on his microphone, then the pressure has to be put on athletes to follow Cal Ripken's example and refuse to deal with Imus or his sports-talk station. I don't think it will take even that much though. CBS will not want to look more racist than NBC. It's as simple as that, or it should be.

OBAMA & HILLARY ARE TIED

Later in the MSNBC announcement was this bit about Barack Obama's statement today on Imus and the young women of Rutgers:

Before the announcement was made, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had appeared on the MSNBC program "Hardball," where host David Gregory asked the senator and presidential candidate if he thought Imus should be fired.

"I don't think MSNBC should be carrying the kinds of hateful remarks that Imus uttered the other day," Obama said.

He went on to note that he and his wife have "two daughters who are African-American, gorgeous, tall, and I hope, at some point, are interested enough in sports that they get athletic scholarships. ... I don't want them to be getting a bunch of information that, somehow, they're less than anybody else. And I don't think MSNBC should want to promote that kind of language."

Obama went on to say that he would not be a guest on Imus' show in the future.

So, based on the statement I made in my last entry, both Obama and Clinton gained a point today in my early calculations to see who I'm voting for in the New Jersey primary next year.

crossposted from BeatVisitor.com (a Rutgers football blog)

Hillary Clinton's Respect for Rutgers

The Rutgers Women are starring on the front page of HillaryClinton.com this afternoon with a call to "Join Hillary in sending the young women of Rutgers a message of respect and support."

We here at trueblueliberal.org haven't yet made our decision about who we're voting for in the primary of 2008, but we have to say that putting the women of our favorite university on your splash page certainly earns you a brownie point (we should also warn candidates that any appearance on Imus in the Morning that we hear about will earn a candidate a minimum of 10 demerits -- yes, we are keeping very careful score!)

Now go send your message of Respect for Rutgers.
Then give to the charity Don Imus should be supporting (and the place where the bulk of True Blue Liberal's charitable donations go): The Rutgers University Foundation

It was great seeing this front page of the New York Daily News . . .

... being held by my fellow commuters on the way to work this morning.

Every article about this scandal from now until the name "Don Imus" is long forgotten, should include at least as many pictures or profiles of these dedicated, talented, and intelligent young women as it does of the cowboy-hatted one (and has anyone else noticed how the cowboy hat suddenly disappeared when he stared The Apology Tour -- was that the work of a style consultant trying to tone down his swagger?).

And CBS radio and MSNBC should give C. Vivian Stringer a show of her own, but only in the off season, of course. Her contract is up at Rutgers this year, but it's just as important for the university to reward her appropriately as it is for us to retain Greg Schiano.

I'll say it again. I've never been prouder of my school since I started at Rutgers College in the fall of 1973!

GO KNIGHTS!