Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Mask Slips
What I find the most frightening about the current administration is the misinformation, disinformation and outright lies they use to manipulate the American public.
There's little doubt now that the Bush Administration used our fear after 9/11 to terrorize us into Iraq. The invasion was planned as soon as they entered the White House over three years ago, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told CBS news on 60 minutes.
"Weapons of mass destruction", the administration's catch phrase of terror-mongering, is likely to be invoked again in the debate tommorrow.
The psychological tactic in play here is, if you meet with objection, keep repeating your message, and don't give an inch. This is what store clerks and telephone marketers rely on in dealing with "difficult customers". The Bush team is hoping to stonewall it's way into the next four years.
Paul Krugman gives us a pre-emptive list of lies we might expect to hear in tommorrow's debate.
Eight Lies You'll Hear
Along with the lies, we can expect more Freudian slips.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush, Aug. 5, 2004
The Administration's "terror alert" tactics have mercifully fallen by the wayside, thanks to an increasingly skeptical public.
On the Today show last month, Bush said, about the often-invoked war on terror, "I don't think you can win it." The United States, he said, can "create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world". This rare glimpse of the bureauocrat within the flight suit spawned a massive control effort among the Bush handlers and hawks to make up for the Commander in Chief's fall from message.
Are they so nervous about the naked Bush that they would rig him up with a wireless transmitter?
Bush's Mystery Bulge
Although the Bush team continues to rely on the darkest cast of a war on terror as a between good and evil to get re-elected, the rhetoric may be wearing thin.
"It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life,'' says Kerry in this week's New York Times Magazine. It's best to skim the first five pages of bending-over-backwards Bush boot-licking, but you will find out more in this article about Kerry's forward-looking philosophy to contain the threats we face.
Kerry's Undeclared War
Despite his own terror slip, the Bush campaign is already trying to spin the quotes in this article in the hopes of making Kerry look "weak" on terror. But Kerry's ideas will resonate with many Americans, for whom it's beginning to sink in that the war in Iraq is a complete failure and a new approach is needed. This is a post-debate public that has seen Kerry's calm presence and thoughtful demeanor, in the face of Bush's peevish bullheadedness.
Osama is counting on inflaming our terror to recruit more young Arabs to the cause. Bush and Cheney are counting on inflaming our terror for their re-election.
Now the question is....will the people continue to swallow the lies?
There's little doubt now that the Bush Administration used our fear after 9/11 to terrorize us into Iraq. The invasion was planned as soon as they entered the White House over three years ago, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told CBS news on 60 minutes.
"Weapons of mass destruction", the administration's catch phrase of terror-mongering, is likely to be invoked again in the debate tommorrow.
The psychological tactic in play here is, if you meet with objection, keep repeating your message, and don't give an inch. This is what store clerks and telephone marketers rely on in dealing with "difficult customers". The Bush team is hoping to stonewall it's way into the next four years.
Paul Krugman gives us a pre-emptive list of lies we might expect to hear in tommorrow's debate.
Eight Lies You'll Hear
Along with the lies, we can expect more Freudian slips.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush, Aug. 5, 2004
The Administration's "terror alert" tactics have mercifully fallen by the wayside, thanks to an increasingly skeptical public.
On the Today show last month, Bush said, about the often-invoked war on terror, "I don't think you can win it." The United States, he said, can "create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world". This rare glimpse of the bureauocrat within the flight suit spawned a massive control effort among the Bush handlers and hawks to make up for the Commander in Chief's fall from message.
Are they so nervous about the naked Bush that they would rig him up with a wireless transmitter?
Bush's Mystery Bulge
Although the Bush team continues to rely on the darkest cast of a war on terror as a between good and evil to get re-elected, the rhetoric may be wearing thin.
"It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life,'' says Kerry in this week's New York Times Magazine. It's best to skim the first five pages of bending-over-backwards Bush boot-licking, but you will find out more in this article about Kerry's forward-looking philosophy to contain the threats we face.
Kerry's Undeclared War
Despite his own terror slip, the Bush campaign is already trying to spin the quotes in this article in the hopes of making Kerry look "weak" on terror. But Kerry's ideas will resonate with many Americans, for whom it's beginning to sink in that the war in Iraq is a complete failure and a new approach is needed. This is a post-debate public that has seen Kerry's calm presence and thoughtful demeanor, in the face of Bush's peevish bullheadedness.
Osama is counting on inflaming our terror to recruit more young Arabs to the cause. Bush and Cheney are counting on inflaming our terror for their re-election.
Now the question is....will the people continue to swallow the lies?
