NYT Herbert: The Art of the False Impression (Gore, Bush*, media)

[chimpymustgo]

Excellent indictment of AWOL and the media who serve him.
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August 11, 2003
OP-ED COLUMNIST


By BOB HERBERT

l Gore slipped into Manhattan last week and gave a rousing speech downtown before a very young audience at New York University. He got some coverage, but Mr. Gore has never been mistaken for an entertainer. In the superamplified media din created by the likes of Arnold and Kobe and Ben and Jen, it's very difficult for the former vice president, a certified square, to break into the national conversation.

That says a lot about us and the direction we're headed in as a nation. You can agree with Mr. Gore's politics or not, but some of the points he's raising, especially with regard to President Bush's credibility on such crucial issues as war and terror and the troubled economy, deserve much closer attention.

"Millions of Americans now share a feeling that something pretty basic has gone wrong in our country, and that some important American values are being placed at risk," said Mr. Gore.

-snip-

The essence of Mr. Gore's speech was that these corrosive false impressions were part of a strategic pattern of distortion that the Bush administration used to create support not just for the war, but for an entire ideologically driven agenda that overwhelmingly favors the president's wealthy supporters and is driving the federal government toward a long-term fiscal catastrophe.

What if Mr. Gore is right? There's something at least a little crazy about an environment in which people are literally stumbling over one another to hear what Arnold Schwarzenegger has to say about the budget crisis in California (short answer: nothing), while ignoring what a thoughtful former vice president has to say about the budget and the economy of the U.S.

-snip-

The Bush administration has managed to dodge the hard questions and benefit from an atmosphere in which the media and much of the public would rather contemplate Jennifer's navel and Arnold's fading pecs than pursue a possible pattern of deceit at the highest levels of government. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/opinion/11HERB.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

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[Cassandra]

1. This is a wonderful piece

You beat me to it. :-)

[searchingforlight]

2. This whole thing has Karl Rove and the repug control

of the media written all over it. One little call to the boys in charge - "play up this story" "ignore that one". It can all appear legit on the surface but it is a consistent, unrelenting system.

If the DNC wants to spend it's money wisely, it should purchase major air time and have the speech replayed on mainstream television. It would be hard to ignore then and money well spent now.

I saw a piece that said that the Bushies plan to have the election all wrapped up before we even have our first caucus. Big money spent, etc. We need to be fighting against that now. IF WESLEY CLARK AND AL GORE intend to get into the fight, they need to get in NOW. If some of the other candidates believe in their hearts that they don't have a chance, they need to pull out NOW. This is a fight to the death and we need to marshall our forces.

[stopbush]

3. Election wrapped up?

As Brigadoon opined, "I saw a piece that said that the Bushies plan to have the election all wrapped up before we even have our first caucus."

I saw the article as well. It's just more rovian disinformation - the disinformation of "inevitability." It's the "bush-hole is going to win, so don't bother" disinformation.

What's important to consider is that the right-wing is getting THIS aggressive and discombobulated this far out from next November. It smacks of desperation on their part.

rove-Nero is indeed fiddling as bush-Rome burns.