Grover Norquist Controls the Media Message to 'Neuter' the Democrats

[kerrygoddess]

Grover Norquist Controls the Media Message to 'Neuter' the Democrats
11 May 2005

Grover Norquist thinks he has a way to “fix” the Democrats. He’d like to neuter them. Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, actually has it all figured out and he’s been working it for some time now.

E.J. Dionne reported in his column Tuesday, that “stakes in politics are about to get a lot higher.” In A GOP Plan to 'Fix' the Democrats, Dionne says, “their quest is persuading Democrats, or at least a significant number in their ranks, to accept long-term minority status.” While most of Dionne’s column was focused Tom DeLay, the comment from Grover Norquist at the end of the column was most telling…

"Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans," he told Richard Leiby of The Post. "Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they've been 'fixed,' then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful."

Norquist has been very busy the past few years making certain that he can indeed “fix” the Democrats. As a matter of fact, if anyone wonders just what has happened to the media, aka MSM or the Republican Noise Machine, the answer to that was in the May issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in an article pegged to be the epilogue to the paperback edition of his recent book Crimes Against Nature, neatly laid out the lengths that Norquist has gone to neuter the Democrats. Norquist has a lock on the media message that is so tight that it’s positively frightening. Kennedy, in his article The Disinformation Society, lays out Norquist’s control of the media using some references from David Brock’s book, The Republican Noise Machine…

… “the cues by which mainstream news directors decide what is important to cover are no longer being suggested by The New York Times and other responsible media outlets, but rather by the “shadowy” participants of a Washington, D.C. meeting convened by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform., an anti-government organization that seeks to prevent federal regulation of business.”

“Every Wednesday morning the leaders of 80 conservative organizations meet in Washington in Norquist’s boardroom. This radical cabal formulates policy with the Republican National Committee and the White House, developing talking points that go out to the conservative media via a sophisticated fax tree. Soon, millions of Americans are hearing the same message from cable mews commentators and thousands of talk jocks across America. Their precisely crafted message and language then percolate through the mainstream media to form the underlying assumptions of our national debate.”

MORE & LINKS - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=874

[dbeach]

1. I am ashamed to admit that this traitor was born in Mass..

he is a Iran intel neo-con according to many rumors

but so is dick cheneman...

[kerrygoddess]

5. I read that he was

Being originally from MA myself, I was dismayed!

[UCLA Dem]

2. So we're not even people anymore? Just barnyard animals??

That jackass has another thing coming.

[catzies]

6. Yes, and some are more equal than others.

/obvious

[kerrygoddess]

8. But the repukes

are the sheeple!

[orwell]

3. Vast

right wing conspiracy!

Oh...that's right...there are no conspiracies.

Just well planned coincidences...

Never mind...

[wtbymark]

4. Heil Bushler!

and i invite Grover to my house just once, c'mon pleeeeeease
:nuke:

[bloom]

7. The New York Times...

"“the cues by which mainstream news directors decide what is important to cover are no longer being suggested by The New York Times and other responsible media outlets,"


I generally notice what the balance is in op-ed writers of what is sent to my inbox. Today they all leaned right. (It's not ususally this bad). The James Baker thing about Bolton is basically an advertisement.


OP-ED COLUMNIST
Brussels Sprouts
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Unless China and Europe get serious about the problem of nuclear nonproliferation, it's not going to get fixed.

GUEST COLUMNIST
Wanted: Responsible Demagoguery
By MATT MILLER
Democrats should quit carping about President Bush's evil "cuts" to Social Security and instead punish him with Responsible Demagoguery.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
The Best Man for the Job
By JAMES A. BAKER III and EDWIN MEESE III
The United Nations needs John Bolton.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The Tipping Point
By BELINDA BOARD
If reports of John Bolton's behavior are accurate then both his supporters and critics could be right.

[kerrygoddess]

9. I think what RFK, Jr was refering to

with the NY Times, was the times past when the NY Times was looked to as a primary news source and was far more liberal.

[bloom]

17. Yes

What worries me is if they think they have to "join the band" to stay "relevant".

They are not usually as lopsided as they are today (probably to get a wider audience). I often read Krugman, for instance.

I hope it's not a trend.

[EVDebs]

22. Conservatives overtake the CIA's Operation Mockingbird

By playing the money-game and payola, Operation Mockingbird has been co-opted by their Republican benefactors in the military/industrial/congressional/K-St. machine.

They make themselves obvious when the wanted to shut out Dems from the money lobby on K Street.

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. Grover Norquist is Muqtada al Sadr on steroids. n/t

[billbuckhead]

12. Norquist is an NRA nut

Right to Keep Bullying Americans

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. Someone should have de-programmed him long ago

Just like they USED to do with kids that got caught up in the Moonies.

[TexasLawyer]

11. Is this still America?

Anyone who could say this should not be near the seat of political power.

"Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they've been 'fixed,' then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful."

[Norquist Nemesis]

13. He's a traitor intent on overthrowing the government

He's said so. How else would one define "starve the government till you can drown it in the bath tub"? Starve and kill = Weaken and overthrow. There is no other definition of his statement.

That is treason.

[dbeach]

19. '"know them by their words.."

Like your moniker...

treason is in like sin..

I agree slimeball city..
he gives little speeches about home schooling and wows em with his anti-govt hypocrisy

[slay]

37. Good fucking question

He's the farmer and we're the animals. He's been trying to cut Americans' balls off for years. The bloody result is everywhere.

[dbeach]

15. gRover Norquist repuke hero and foreign agent

close ties to radical Islamic groups ...

but hey every day is a holiday when you are a neo-con chikenhawk and above the laws of man

http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/grover_norquist.htm


Washington Post
Nov 4, 2004
Richard Leiby

Norquist: "Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they've been fixed, then they are happy and sedate"

"They are contented and cheerful. They don't go around peeing on the furniture and such.




DLC
Blueprint Magazine
June 30, 2003

Starving the Beast

If President Bush keeps listening to Grover Norquist, Republicans won't have a government to kick around anymore.

"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape."

"We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals-and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship."

-- Grover Norquis

[EVDebs]

23. Here is the link you meant to get out there

http://www.insightmag.com/media/paper441/news/395263.html

where Insight Mag shows infighting with Gaffney vs. Norquist.

[Gloria]

16. So, my question is: where are our leaders of progressive groups?

Why aren't they meeting every morning. The head of Air America radio points a finger at the Nation for continuuing to help undermine everything they do. Progressives should get their heads out of their assesa and coordinate, or else they will all be...gone.

[kerrygoddess]

30. I hear that

We need to gather everyone together and start getting our message out in lockstep unison.

[MsUSA]

18. This just makes me sick.

:puke:

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. So like Orwell's "Animal Farm," and I imagine he knows it.

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." The pigs were the kings, as they are in our society.

This direct feed into the media needs to be publicized.

Will recommend if this post is less than 24 hours old - this is important.

[JRob]

21. who are the "ELITE"? nt

[kerrygoddess]

31. Not us! N/T

[yodermon]

24. This graf bears repeating and boldfacing:

“Every Wednesday morning the leaders of 80 conservative organizations meet in Washington in Norquist’s boardroom. This radical cabal formulates policy with the Republican National Committee and the White House, developing talking points that go out to the conservative media via a sophisticated fax tree. Soon, millions of Americans are hearing the same message from cable news commentators and thousands of talk jocks across America. Their precisely crafted message and language then percolate through the mainstream media to form the underlying assumptions of our national debate.”

[Cha]

25. I'm hoping there are Democrats

meeting somewhere with a George Soros to counteract and form messages of their own.

This is has been going on far too long without any battle plan.

[kerrygoddess]

32. Spread it around! Please!

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=874

[Gold Metal Flake]

26. 80 organizations in one place regularly.

And no pinecones? No Cessnas?

[blondeatlast]

33. Interesting, isn't it??? nt

[Toots]

27. So I take it the Democrats are "fixed"

He says so and from the way they act I tend to believe him. What was that vote again on giving Homeland Security secretary total power to disobey law. 99-0 "Fixed" is the truth.

[Guaranteed]

28. Well, he'd better hope we never get power back, because if we

do we now have the evidence to arrest the whole Bush administration for starting an illegal war.

[applegrove]

29. So last Wednesday it was "how to neutre Saddam's testimony about

Cheney, Rumsfield, Wolfowitz by blaming FDR for communism & the resulting neocon anti-democratic policy in the Middle East and the resulting rise of Islam".

Okay! I'll look to the 'news trees' that pop out every week after Wednesday.

[RAF]

34. So that's it. Thanks for this post.

It's now bookmarked.

For the life of me I can't figure why Pelosi,Reid or Dean don't jump on issues such as this. This story wouldn't sit well with most people.

So much ammo put the so called leaders of the party fail to use it.

*shakes head in disbelief*

[kerrygoddess]

35. We need to get this story out...

Everywhere!

[harpo]

36. self-delete

[bread_and_roses]

38. And where are the elected Dems with balls or ovaries???

Are they content to be "fixed" animals?

edit to change "and" in subject to "or" - since not too many have both, I would imagine.

[AzDar]

39. Well, SOMEONE has to run the government while Georgie is off on

his tricycle, right?
This man is a lunatic.Let's keep this post around so everyone can see what we're up against.

[kerrygoddess]

40. John Kerry: It's Time to Reign in the Spin

Yesterday I posted this piece about Grover Norquist’s control of the media message. Norquist and his cabal right-wing lobbyists, journalists and conservative groups meet weekly to coordinate policy and develop talking points that are sent to the “conservative media via a sophisticated fax tree.”

While this is not exactly the prepackaged news that Senators Kerry and Lautenberg are targeting with their Truth in Broadcasting Act, one cannot help but wonder if the Norquist’s cabal does not exert their powerful influence of the prepackaged news produced by the federal agencies. Today, John Kerry is saying “It’s Time to Reign in the Spin!”

The Truth in Broadcasting Act, authored by Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg, will require all prepackaged news stories produced by a federal agency to clearly identify the United States government as the source of the story.

Below is a statement by Senator Kerry on his legislation:

"The American people have a right to know they're not only watching the administration's spin on their local newscasts, they might be paying for it too. It's one thing to watch Jon Stewart on television, but it's another to imitate him with Americans' hard-earned tax dollars. We should stop this abuse of the public trust and waste of taxpayer money.

"It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news. It runs counter to everything we believe as Americans. I hope Congress will stop the legal hairsplitting and end this dishonest practice."

Links on LUTD: http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=882