(The tone of your message says more about your affiliation than your explicit message). Therefor have no reason to doubt the accuracy of your characterizations of Republicans. And while I must commend you and thank you for your candor and honesty, I must advise you that your admission does not come as a "news Flash" to most people.
Other good sources are The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock a former print political assassin of the Right, who knows where-of he speaks. (all emphases are my own_JW)
David Brock, the reformed conservative noise-maker, on how the Right has sabotaged journalism, democracy, and truth.
—By Bradford Plumer
As a young journalist in the 1990s, David Brock was a key cog the Republican noise machine. Writing for the American Spectator, a conservative magazine funded by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, Brock gained fame for his attack pieces on Anita Hill and President Bill Clinton. Then, in 2002, Brock came clean. In his memoir, Blinded by the Right, Brock admitted that his work was based on lies and distortion, and part of a coordinated smear campaign funded by wealthy right wing groups to discredit Clinton and confuse the public.
Since then, Brock has continued to expose the conservative media onslaught. In his newest book, The Republican Noise Machine, Brock documents how right-wing groups pressure the media and spread misinformation to the public. It's easy to see how this is done.
Fringe conspiracies and stories will be kept alive by outlets like Rush Limbaugh, the Washington Times, and the Drudge Report, until they finally break into the mainstream media. Well-funded think tanks like the Heritage Foundation overwhelm news reporters with distorted statistics and conservative spin. Mainstream cable news channels employ staunchly right wing pundits -- like Pat Buchanan and Sean Hannity -- to twist facts and echo Republican talking points, all under the rubric of "balance." Meanwhile, media groups like Brent Bozell's Media Research Center have spent 30 years convincing the public that the media is, in fact, liberal. As Brock says, it's all a sham: "I have seen, and I know firsthand, indeed from my own pen, how the organized Right has sabotaged not only journalism but also democracy and truth."
And more recently, from Newsweek: (all emphases are my own_JW)
Poof Goes the Purple Dream
Say sayonara to "kumbaya." Bipartisanship is all but dead in Washington. President Obama cut a deal to win passage of his necessary—if not sufficient—stimulus bill with the last three moderate Republicans in Congress.
~~
~~
After the economy tanked last fall, every sentient economist, including the top economic advisers to Ronald Reagan and John McCain, knew that we needed a large stimulus to avoid a depression. It looked like the new president would get at least a handful of GOP members of the House and as many as 20 Senate Republicans.
Then, before even listening to Obama's pitch, House Minority Leader John Boehner sent out the word: no. Even after the president readily agreed to take out controversial "cable bait," such as money for contraceptives and seeding the grass on the Mall, the Republicans shifted to new bogus arguments and examples of tiny programs that weren't pork but could be made to look that way.
Republicans made up a story that they had no chance to voice their views (the bills were, in fact, marked up in public sessions) and claimed that tax cuts are a better stimulus than government spending, which is demonstrably false (2/3rds to 3/4ths of Bush's tax cuts last year were either saved or used to pay down debt by sensible people hunkering down for more bad times_JW). When the deal was finally cut, the new GOP chairman, Michael Steele, put out a press release that perfectly captured his party's vacuous argument. His lead example of what was wrong with the bill was that it contained $200 million for AmeriCorps. As it happens, AmeriCorps is an almost perfect vehicle for stimulus because it's set up to create jobs instantaneously.
.. and then there is: Stimulus Package Unleashes Onslaught of Republican Lies
... and: http://mediamatters.org/items/200901280027?f=h_top">Myths and falsehoods surrounding the economic recovery plan
.. and regarding the media: GOP Lawmakers Outnumber Democratic Lawmakers 2 To 1 In Stimulus Debate On Cable News (Updated)
..and: http://mediamatters.org/sundayshowreport">If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative Special Report: How the Right Continues to Dominate the Sunday Talk Shows
Last Sunday's Meet the PRess had Newt Gingrich on without any Democratic party representative to respond to Gingrich's partisan pitch - incredible (Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham squared off in the first half of the show, but Gingrich enjoyed the last half (without anyone from the Democratic side) with three news reporters.
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