MIND FUCKING Revelation In Blumenthal's New Article!!

[Beetwasher]

Holy FUCK!! Did Anyone Else Know THIS?!?!?

"Most of the media was on the bandwagon or intimidated. Cheney himself called the president of the corporation that owned one of the networks to complain about an errant commentator. Political aides directed by Karl Rove ceaselessly called editors and producers with veiled threats about access that was not granted in any case. The press would not bite the hand that would not feed it."

I mean I suspected it, but this is an amazing little tid bit of info here!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4955048-103677,00.html

Read the whole article it's damn good and encouraging...

[SheepyMcSheepster]

1. wow. that is crazy.

that damn liberal media! you got to keep them in check!

[liberalmike27]

66. Solution?

Were the media to really want to, the solution would be to widely publicize that this administration was calling them, and trying to get them to not report the truth. I think the calls would dry up then. But I'm not so sure they want to be anything but conservative anyway. When the Bushies call them, it just tells them who they might want to fire or demote.

Anyone seen Ashleigh Banfield lately? Se spoke to some college group, and made some sort of allegation about the media being controlled, and the last I heard of her she was covering a hurricane in the Atlantic somewhere.

[graham67]

2. Who didn't already know...

that the media was being strongarmed when it came to access to the White House? :shrug:

[Beetwasher]

3. Well, As I Said, I Suspected, But I Didn't Think Cheney Was Making

personal threats like that...That's fucking crazy man...That's out of control fucking nuts...

[KoKo]

10. It's been all over DU about the threats to the media since the "Selection"

I don't know how you missed it. :shrug:

[Beetwasher]

12. I've NEVER Seen The Allegation

That Cheney PERSONALLY picked up the phone to call a Network CEO about a PARTICULAR anchor person in order to influence what was being broadcast. Maybe you have, but not me. I dunno, I think that's a pretty big revelation...I'm sure nothing will come of it, but IMO, it's pretty fucked up to see that allegation made, especially by someone like SB...

[graham67]

15. No, not Cheney

I've never heard his name mentioned. I think its always been assumed its KKKarl Rove twisting the arms.

[graham67]

13. There have been articles and comments

about the intimidated press at the WH gaggles since Bush* took office.

[onecitizen]

41. Remember when this misadministration........

moved into the White House that they held some reporters up getting their pass to cover the WH? Joel Mabry was one. And I THINK Suzanne Malveaux was another. Mabry was absolutely livid at first. Then he was cleared and he loved them again. So this tidbit doesn't surprise me at all. The WH has had a problem of not liking the Press from the git-go.

[Eric J in MN]

4. nameless company, namless CEO, nameless commentator

nameless company, namless CEO, nameless commentator.

Sydney Blumenthal should put up or shut up.

I hate that nameless stuff.

[Beetwasher]

Pfftt! Dude, You Don't Have

a fucking clue what you're talking about...Do you even know who Sidney Blumenthal is?

[Eric J in MN]

23. A Clinton advisor. Is there something else I should know about him?

nt

[Beetwasher]

25. Yes, His Credibility Is Beyond Reproach

n/t

[Eric J in MN]

29. I believe him. My point is that it's annoying to be told that Cheney

I believe him. My point is that it's annoying to be told that Cheney complained about a "commentator" without saying which one.

I'd have preferred if he didn't print the story if the source wouldn't let him say who the "commentator" is.

There are lots of commentators.

[ElectroPrincess]

11. I wholeheartedly agree ... and so should "Bob Novak" (put up)

[WilliamPitt]

22. Are you serious?

You know exactly zero about journalism, I take it. Sources that demand to remain anonymous must remain anonymous, period. No one ever finds out anything about anything ever again if that one rule goes down.

[Eric J in MN]

24. I'm not saying he should reveal his source. I'm sayng that

I'm not saying he should reveal his source.

I'm sayng that one shouldn't charge Cheney with complaining about a "commentator" without saying who the commentator is.

If Sydney Blumenthal had some bizzarre arrangment with the source in which he was allowed to say that Cheney made a phone call, but not TO whom, or ABOUT whom, he shouldn't have cited the incident at all. It's a worthless factoid with 2/3 of the names left out.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

43. Anybody that's been paying attention has a very good idea who...

...the commentator is. Give it a rest.

[Eric J in MN]

67. Media_Lies_Daily : ok, then who? (nt)

nt

[Bushfire]

69. Try Keith Olbermann

for straying too far from the company farm...

[Beetwasher]

70. It Most Definitely Is NOT a Worthless Factoid

It's a very serious and specific allegation even without names...I think Sidney Blumenthal knows a great deal more about the business he is in than you do and knows exactly what he's doing...Will Pitt too for that matter...

[librechik]

40. no doubt Blumenthal mentions it in his book "The Clinton Wars"

but I don't have my copy here to check. Anybody?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

42. Okay, tough guy...try this scenario on for size....

...Peter Jennings is the commentator that dared to question the bravery of FratBoy on 911. Cheney then called Michael Eisner, Disney's top dog, who then called Jennings and told him to keep his mouth shut.

That matches up very well with what we know about Disney's attempt to keep F911 from being distributed.

FYI for anyone that doesn't know this...Blumenthal doesn't throw information out to the public unless he has the facts to back it up.

[Tosca]

5. It's what this Administration DOES

If you Don't play along with the Party Line, you don't get access.
They CUT you OFF. Bye bye! Go to the back of the bus.

[Redleg]

6. Sorry to say but this won't amount to squat.

It's probably true but Americans just don't care about this stuff. They want an aggressive and decisive "leader" to bring us through these difficult times.

[billbuckhead]

9. Cheney personally owns over 30 machineguns

Dick is a scary mofo.

[Stephanie]

39. Can you document that?

That's a weird and plausible assertion. Got a link for it? He's a crazy guy.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

44. Here's a NewsMax link on Cheney's MASSIVE gun collection...

<http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/5/3/125421.shtml>

Scroll down to article #1.

Excerpt:

"Cheney's collection, our sources say, is in the hundreds of guns, including pistols, shotguns and machine guns -- from antique Thompsons to the most modern European automatic machine guns.


To let off some steam (God knows he has some to let off these days), the Vice President has been known to go out to the federal training center in Maryland where the Secret Service does its own gun practice.


A typical Cheney visit, told to us by a person who attended one, included the Vice President bringing some 30 guns from his own collection."

[Stephanie]

54. Good God!

These people are freaking psychopaths!

[libhill]

71. Now you know

why repukes are so eager to give the N.R.A. a blow job.

[Tosca]

18. Not so fast...

/It's probably true but Americans just don't care about this stuff.

Americans are capricious, wrong-headed, and ill-advised.

And yet Clinton's job performance ratings continued to rise during the right-wing Congressional circle-jerk lynch-impeachment. Explain that to me.

[libhill]

33. Yup -

just too bad we don`t have one.

[ElectroPrincess]

51. I agree, it won't get any traction ...

However, I fear far too many American People view foreign policy is equivalent to an Hollywood Action Movie. Unfortunately, especially young men have embraced too many errant concepts contained within such fiction. Their love of GWB is both erroneous and deleterious to their future welfare. I hope F911 wakes-up some of these people to consequence within the real world when a super power behaves like a bully.

A truly aggressive and decisive leader should only be admired if his instincts are right and he proves successful. GWB has always been a miserable failure. Unfortunately "Daddy" can't bail him (or our Country) out of this fine mess. :P

The Great *posturing* Leaders were Ike, MacArthur and Patton because more important than their profound "bravado" they demonstrated insight and were proved successful. Bush? Give me a break. The world views this pathetic and intellectually challenged man as both a moron and a bully. Yet, no one in the corporate USA media dare state the obvious.

It's not "the Emperor has no cloths" but "the Emperor hasn't the sense God gave a turnip." The unspoken lock-down of the media is producing a *hush* in this Country that is deafening. :(

[Beetwasher]

62. LOL,Great Line!!!

"the Emperor hasn't the sense God gave a turnip."

[Octafish]

7. If Cheney threatened Congress -- "Do not to investigate 9-11..."

... you know Sneer would stomp all over the teeny tiny lapdogs of Corporate McPravda.



"Ever wonder why Republicans never get Anthrax?"

[RBHam]

8. We all knew it, so did everyone in the mainstream, media.

The reason THEY didn't say anything is obvious. A little weaponized anthrax (the Fort Detrick strain, that is) goes a long way!

there's an idea for a cartoon - cheney holding a bag of anthrax, his evil smile beaming, in the background a Dem congressman sweating and a dead National Enquirer producer, another shot of media types with tape on their mouths, all with the heading : "A little goes a long way."

[2Design]

17. yes that is right they used anthrax against the media tooooo

[shraby]

19. I just sent the article to Russ Feingold

my senator.

[2Design]

14. Making phone calls to suppress the media.....outrageous

With Congress in Republican hands, checks and balances were effectively removed. Most of the media was on the bandwagon or intimidated. Cheney himself called the president of the corporation that owned one of the networks to complain about an errant commentator. Political aides directed by Karl Rove ceaselessly called editors and producers with veiled threats about access that was not granted in any case. The press would not bite the hand that would not feed it.


<snip>
But the neoconservative prophesies had been advanced by suppressing the scepticism of the US intelligence agencies, the military and the state department. Without deranging and dismissing the professionalism of the basic institutions of national security, Bush would not have been able to sustain his reasons. Bush's battle is not with image, but with the unravelling of his reality.
<snip>

the press have succum to threats.......interesting....

good thing we have international organizations who couldn't be touched....

and the few apples who got the pictures into the press helped a lot... even though they were convicted by rummy for taking pictures..

[Spazito]

16. The part about the coersion of the media doesn't surprise me at all, but..

this part about Rumsfeld says alot, imo:

"The Pentagon, Rumsfeld said, was nearly "at a stop" because of them. Rumsfeld admitted he was startled by the uproar over Abu Ghraib: "There are so many international organisations."

It is symbolic of the netherworld that the bush administration lives in, there is very little reality entering through the doors of either the Pentagon or the White House.

They are definitely in panic mode and that is good news, imo.

[Cheswick2.0]

20. do you think the media will report that they caved?

So how do we get this information out?

[KoKo]

46. Cheswick, you are surprised by this, too? The Media knows...there's

no reason to tell them about it. I'm surprised by your and Beetwashers surprise about this, because both of you have been around here so long.

Well, at least you know now. When all those letters to the media didn't seem to be making a change, some of us figured it out. But, we kept writing and urging others to do it also, because we had to do SOMETHING to try to keep some kind of balance. It had to go higher than freepers with their e-mail spam, although freepers were the troops Cheney, Rove, Powell and Rumsfeld were the big guns who only stepped in when the Freeps couldn't hold the fort.

And, there was the Anthrax that was a big tip off early on.

[Beetwasher]

63. *Sigh* I Am NOT Surprised that they bullied the media!!

However, THIS SPECIFIC ALLEGATION, IMO, is a BOMBSHELL! That Cheney himself, the VP of this country, PERSONALLY called a Network Exec about a SPECIFIC Anchorman to influence what was being broadcast is, while not SURPRISING, still, IMO, a MAJOR revelation! Yeesh...

[eek]

21. wow. and Clinton saying that he'd

"disrupted the natural order" by being elected...stuff is getting so interesting.

Apart from the fact that this is all scary and that these people are ruthless, doesn't it feel sort of good to be vindicated to our friends and family that we are not just a bunch of tinfoil-hatted Cassandras?

[Tosca]

28. Let me tell you something

The neocon Republicans think that power is reserved for them and anyone who gets in the way should be destroyed. They've had this idea since reagan. They believe they own the White House and the Congress and anyone who threatens ownership deserves complete and utter political anniliation. It's why the all-out attack on Clinton happened. They truly believed he had usurped the power that comes with the presidency and is rightfully owned by them. He was illegimate in their eyes, so the only thing left to do was to bring him down by any means necessary.

This is the story. It's NOT about a blowjob. Ken Starr just got lucky.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

45. Considering the fact that Lewinsky was being controlled by Tripp,...

...I sometimes wonder if that was just another operation run by the Arkansas Project.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

26. Nazis!!!

[TreasonousBastard]

27. Unfortunately...

there's nothing new here. I think it was CBS that got the call referred to, and it was hammered by every leftwing blog and site out there.

Every administration does damage control and tries to influence the press. The difference here is that these guys are less subtle about it, and have so much more damage to control.

Anybody have some personal recollections about the press control during Iran-Contra? Watergate?

FWIW, when Giuliani was mayor of NY, he was one of the most tyrannical press antagonists ever. Absolutely no access, and there were daily threats about reducing it to even less than nothing if they didn't toe the line and make him look good.

Even Ed Koch had a New Yorker reporter banned. Andrea whatshername wrote a scathing piece, and Koch almost banned the whole New Yorker, but settled for her.

Say what you want about our corporate press, they live in constant fear of not getting their calls returned, losing access to TPTB, having credentials pulled, and generally being frozen out of things. To say nothing of real threats like being rained on by the Law.

[Eric J in MN]

32. Do you know who the commentator is Cheney complained about? (nt)

nt

[TreasonousBastard]

38. Not offhand...

I just remember there was a real tempest in a teapot over it at the time. Might not have been CBS, either.

Did a quick search and looked through my inbox for old FAIR, On the Media, etc., emails about it and came up blank.

Gotta run off to work now, but might get a chance to look for it later.

[Beetwasher]

64. I Had Never Heard This Specific Allegation Before

:shrug:

[SarahB]

30. Anyone remember Pravda during the Cold War?

Are we any better? All I can say is thak God(dess) for the internet. Gesh. :eyes:

[Kazak]

31. Wasn't it made pretty much obvious that this shit was going on...

with that whole Letterman/CNN squabble a while back. Yeah, it's not good.

[leesa]

34. It's good. They are starting to make excuses for themselves

The implosion is near.

[shraby]

35. One night Olbermann showed some talking

points the White House had sent him when he was interviewing Joe Wilson. Mentioned that there was only one question on it worth asking.

[Shopaholic]

52. Ever notice how the press ask questions from the same script?

The round of interviews with Michael Moore is a prime example--they all keep asking him the same question--which was in reference to the 9/11 commission and the interviewing of Saudi citizens allowed to leave the country in the days after 9/11. Couric, Lauer, & Georgie Boy on ABC allasked the exact, samequestions! Hell, I don't think they even bothered to rephrase it. I've seen it happen time and time again. These jokers don't even know how to ask their own questions anymore--they just read from the script they've been handed--they're not about to jeopardize their fat paychecks or risk losing their fine jobs and are more than willing to keep their corporate bastard bosses happy.

[merh]

36. Sure, that is why the press is so reluctant to ask legitimate questions

during press conferences. That is one of the many ways they have controlled the spin. If you ask the wrong question, you are banned from the press corp. (Like at FR, if you ask too many pointed questions and back your posts up with facts, they revoke your privileges.)

During our governor's election, debates were held. I had sent a reporter that I knew was on the panel a lot of statements made by the GOP candidate while he was chair of the RNC and as a lobbyist. I knew the statements would contradict his campaign positions and his whole persona. I watched the debate, hoping that the reporter would use the material, but he did not. I emailed him during the debate and after wards asking why he didn't use any of the material I gave him, material that would show the GOP as a liar. His response was that they had to follow certain protocol set forth by the campaign or they would not be privy to any courtesies from his campaign or his office if elected. He said he would have lost his job if he violated the "understanding". Alas, the GOP was elected. They use intimidation in every form they can. They control all they can.

[NJCher]

49. that's a very revealing story, merh

and it shows the permeation of the grassroots they have cultivated over the years. It fits right into the overall strategy that we see nationwide.


Cher

[merh]

65. It sure does, they were successful in TX with weed boy's

race for governor and with the theft of the prez office, and they are honing their skills and using their tactics in ever state with the intent to control all forms of government, local, state, federal, legislative, executive and judicial. They work from the top, they work from the bottom and they squeeze the rights right out of us.

When they are in state government, they allege judicial misconduct and instigate bogus prosecutions so that they can change the state laws so that the GOP gov can appoint the judges - all judges.

They cut the budget and interfere with the funding and operations of departments that they want to privatize, appointing their heads to the department that slow down the process of the department, then the governor rides in and saves the department (e.g. Human Services) by finding a private corporation that can run it more effectively and efficiently. (GOP=Divide and Privatize)

The governor cuts state taxes or does not support a tax increase and the sheep legislative members of the GOP follow and they cannot afford to budge education. The local governments have to pick up the slack, increasing local taxes, property taxes and the gov stays out of the bad press because he "was against a tax increase".

They have their blue print and they follow it, in every state they take over. It is scary and it is real.

(Sorry I have run on so long.)

[Stephanie]

37. CEO of the corporation = WEAPONS CONTRACTOR

GE? These guys have bigger deals to do than little news shows.

[dmr]

47. Scaife investigator targeted CNN Reporter

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/04/cov_17newsb.html

PRIVATE DETAILS ABOUT TV CORRESPONDENT JOHN CAMP'S LIFE ENDED UP IN HOUSE COMMITTEE FILES.

BY MURRAY WAAS | Associates of conservative philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife hired a private investigator to probe the personal life of a Cable News Network correspondent, after he reported on CNN that drug allegations against President Clinton were groundless.

The charges against Clinton were disseminated by the Arkansas Project, a four-year, $2.4 million campaign to investigate and discredit the president that was funded by Scaife.

The investigation of CNN's John Camp was conducted in fall 1996 by Rex Armistead, a former director of the criminal investigative division of the Mississippi Department of Safety. A file detailing Armistead's investigation of Camp was obtained by Salon. The file contained information about Camp's personal life and that of two members of his family.

more ...

This is disturbing. Very disturbing.

[Karenina]

48. Kick!

:kick:

[Killarney]

50. that's sickening.

I wish more in the media would stand up and tell the public exactly what's going on (the threats, the influence, etc.) because the majority of the American public has NO IDEA that this goes on. They think the White House is too busy running the country to call CNN and give them talking points. Everyone needs to know about this.

[Mandate My Ass]

53. Rummy was "startled" over the torture flap?????

He is such a soulless monster.

[scrotim]

55. MOST annoying is that the press does not report these acts of intimidation

by the bush administration as news.

When government officials begin calling news organizations and their owners to influence news coverage, that in and of itself is newsworthy.

Naturally, we were told nothing about it.

[NewJeffCT]

56. sorry, nobody outside of DU will care... instead

It's an article published in the UK, so most here outside of DU, and a few other places, will even read the article.

Instead, they will be subject to more crap about the "librul" media, like this article from today:

>>>
Yes, the media tilt left and the Earth is round. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center that has journalists debating themselves reports that the elite media are far more liberal than the public ("ordinary Americans," as the elites like to call you). Although 34 percent of journalists self-identify as liberal, only 20 percent of "ordinary" Americans do. Only 7 percent of journalists consider themselves conservative, compared with 33 percent of the public.

In 1992, 89 percent of Washington journalists voted for Bill Clinton. Ninety percent of journalists believe in a woman's right to abortion. By contrast, 49 percent of "ordinary" Americans voted for Clinton, and more than half think abortion is morally wrong, though six in 10 don't want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-parker0624.artjun24,1,4212908.story?coll=hc-headlines-oped

[tom_paine]

57. Confirmation of the obvious. THE OBVIOUS.

Those newspaper editors and other should be OVERJOYED that thi isn;t Germany 1933.

The Dick Cheney and Karl Rove of THAT time and place would have been much less gentle with these Liberal Traitors.

may God Have mecry on our diseased Imperial national "Soul" (does it even pass for a "soul" anymore?)

[CWebster]

58. Instead of threating the press with a lack of access

The press should give the whitehouse lack of access to the press.

[keithyboy]

59. Keep this "kicked" and print up some flyers to distribute. The word must

get out. Lots of people don't read books or articles but a few hand flyers with short and to the point information does wonders. Post them in Wal-Mart parking lots and public places where freepers frequent. Believe me, some are ignorant because they don't have access to other information. The ones who are just plain ignorant won't change their minds but they still need to know that we all know what is going on and we will work hard to change it!

[JHB]

60. This has been GOP SOP since Reagan....

...although in the Reagan days they nice friendly lunches and dinners with media owners and top editors, while intimating that their investigative reporters reporting on Reaganite activities were falling for "communist disinformation" and such.

Guess 9/11 DID "change everything": now they don't even bother being polite about it.

[porphyrian]

61. We Should Threaten Press With Lack of Access To An Audience

If we aren't already. I haven't watched TV more than two hours since Bush was selected.

[Oddman]

68. Remember what Katie Couric said to Michale Moore

as he assailed the media for letting bush get away with war.

"We did ask the tough questions"

Puke . . .