What is the number 1 reason for the neo con's amazing success?

[Philosoraptor]

Here we stand on the edge of global chaos, total societal meltdown, economic collapse, in a constitutional crisis, at war with two nations and more coming, how, exactly did things get this fucked up?

Their audacity, their secrecy, their supremacy, their piracy, their tyranny, their war crimes, their arrogance, what exactly went down to have given them this much unrestrained power?

What exactly gave them the keys to the kingdom, the complete and utter vice grip they have on our souls, what could possibly have happened to allow Americans to accept torture, genocide, and multiple wars?

Until only lately they've appeared invulnerable, unstoppable in whatever dictatorial, monarchical decision they've made, only now are we finally hearing a majority of people voicing rage at what they've gotten away with in the last 6 years, now that it's too late.

How do you explain the amazing durability and success of the neo con's agenda, how will history explain it?

[Beelzebud]

1. The stupidity and gullibility of the American electorate is to blame.

We have no one but ourselves to blame.

Many people hear what the neo-cons say, and it sounds good to them. Never mind that none of it is grounded in the real world. It just sounds good. Especially when you have no idea about geo-politics.

[Felix Mala]

6. Lots of easy answers -- same as Hitler...

[AllegroRondo]

10. Yup. As Jon Stewart so aptly put it:

"They figured out that if you get the stupid vote, you win"

[bamacrat]

61. That is exactly right.

And in this country stupid is as plentiful as....well...its everywhere.

[lonestarnot]

87. They know how to fucking cheat.

[Johonny]

43. Yeah but they have

great marketing. Their stick works very well in the 30 second talking point world of video media and talk radio.

[KittyWampus]

77. Go ahead and go for the easy answer. I guess you leave yourself out of the "stupid" crowd.

It couldn't be a corrupt media, could it?

It couldn't be incompetent opposition members who can't frame a debate that resonates with people.

It couldn't be the opposition leadership who did NOTHING to counter the rightwing tactics such as buying media, stealing elections, fear mongering.

It couldn't be the 'activists' who are stuck in the 1960's and think all you have to do is hold a rally.

It's couldn't be the utter depravity of the NeoCons and their willingness to do and say anything no matter how destructive or illegal or immoral.

It couldn't be the Far Right's use of sophisticated psychological techniques to control people.

it's just mainly the stupid/gullible American people.

[Zenlitened]

2. Reading "The Assault on Reason" these days, and Gore would argue that...

... it's control of the media message that's at the root of this mess. The neo-cabal has been wildly (and dangerously) successful in setting the terms of the national conversation.

And We the People are poorer for it -- bamboozled by lies, left to search out the facts on our own, and fighting the effects of near-constant attempts to manipulate our emotions.

[Rydz777]

19. I think you've nailed it. They've controlled the media message.

[bdamomma]

23. the media has alot to it, and those citizens who obviously

remain ignorant.

[Terri S]

75. Yes, but...

the responsibility still lies with the individual. We were also seeing the same media messages. We were not fooled. Many were not. The media is an accomplice to the fear-mongering of neocons and their mind-set, but personal responsibility is still the key to whether the assault on reason is successful or not.

[Octafish]

3. Blackmail

Perhaps someone possesses the negatives...



The neo-cons probably have the goods on the whole Bush Crime Family -- at least from when Poppy and the Ayatollah pulled off their October Surprise in 1980 through Iran-Contra and BCCI-Iraqgate and a whole lot more warmongering, drug-dealing and stealing on through to the present times.

[Karenina]

56. Spot the LIE

follow the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

It's a resource neocons possess in ample supply
which facilitates the financing of their Schweinerei...

Hey, Octafish! Ya think I should I get into D'englisch rap? :silly:

[Octafish]

92. Schoom-schoom. Schoom-schoom. Ya!

Oder ist es:

"Schum-schum. Schum-schum. Ja! Schum-schum. Schum-schum. Ja! Schum-schum. Schum-schum. Ja! ..."



...mit Kokosnuss.

DU knows Karenina can bust a rhyme,
Whenever she thinks of the Bush Family of Crime.

Lying's Just the Tip of the Iceberg

by Andrew Greely
Published on Friday, November 4, 2005 by the Chicago Sun Times

Since it is apparently not a crime to deceive the American people into supporting a foolish and unjust war, one must be content with the indictment of I. Lewis Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice. The indictment is an example of a mountain laboring two years to bring forth a molehill. Libby will have the best trial lawyers money can buy and stands a good chance of acquittal. If he is convicted, the president will surely grant him a pardon before he leaves office.

We are unlikely ever to learn who ''outed'' Valerie Plame and thus ruined her career. That the leak came from a cabal inside the White House has been evident for a long time. But if the special prosecutor was unable after two years of effort to find out the who-how-and-why of this gratuitous and vicious mischief, the historians of the future might not be able to tease out the truth. They might observe, however, that the scandal was proof of how far down the path of evil the Bush administration would go to defend their case for a war that has turned out to be foolish and unjust.

Did the president know what was going on? It is hard to believe that he did not -- any more than President Ronald Reagan was unaware of the Iran-contra deal. Libby's clumsy lies -- attributing the ''leak'' about a CIA agent to journalists -- were probably an attempt to protect the vice president, who is far too clever to be caught in any legal trap. Yet we know enough now to understand that the Iraq war is his war. He and the crowd of neo-conservatives around him and the secretary of defense planned the war even before the president defeated Sen. Al Gore (if he really did). They even tried to blame the World Trade Center attack on Iraq. A democratic Iraq, they argued, would transform the balance of power in the Middle East. The way to Jerusalem, they claimed, was through Baghdad.

Cheney proclaimed to the bitter end that weapons of mass destruction would eventually be found in Iraq and has never retracted or apologized for this claim, which was decisive in winning support for the war from the American people. More recently, he has claimed that the Iraqi insurrection (better called, perhaps, the Iraqi resistance) was in its ''last throes,'' despite overwhelming evidence that it grows ever stronger. Is he lying, or is he the kind of true believer who sees the world differently than everyone else?

Who knows what the answer is to that question? In truth, it does not matter. The Bush administration, led by the vice president, systematically deceived the American people about the war and continues to do so. There were never any nuclear weapons, never any raw uranium, never any Iraqi involvement in the World Trade Center attack. The Iraq war was never part of a ''war on terrorism.''

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1104-33.htm

Sie sind wunderbar, Doña Karenina!

[WinkyDink]

68. Wouldn't this pre-suppose that the Bushes were somehow RELUCTANT to get with

the game-plan?

I don't think they were.

[Octafish]

93. You are correct, WinkyDink. Sorry I implied they weren't.

The Bushes may not've written the PNAC manifesto, as they aren't all that literate, but they have gone along with all the suggestions -- starting with the Pearl Harbor part.

They also aren't into the "Vision Thing."

[siligut]

84. They are complicit

Do you think a media blitzkrieg on the BFEE would matter? Corporate America is our ruler. All our basic needs read more here are filled by business and they know it. BFEE is a tool, egads bush is the biggest lamest tool around, but his cabal got the job done.

I appreciate the “look below the surface” perspective, we are finding our way further down the rabbit hole. My concern is that the MSM and the stock market have been holding hands since I can’t imagine, but they have been in the sack since 2000. Not saying we are screwed, we just have to get smarter in an exponential sort of way.

[Octafish]

95. How The Ruling Class Thwarts Democracy

Big Money and Power are as old as time memorial.
This illustration from the early 20th century spells it out nicely.



The following makes the case for why the War Party's in power since at least the Spanish American War:

How The Ruling Class Thwarts Democracy

by John Kirby
Published on Friday, June 1, 2007 by The Providence Journal (Rhode Island)

With the 2008-presidential-election cycle already in full swing, it seems a good time to revisit a perennial question in our country’s political life, namely, “Who really rules America?”

SNIP...

This past year I finished a film, The American Ruling Class, with Lewis Lapham, the long-time editor of Harper’s Magazine, in which we set out to ask many of these questions. More importantly, we wondered how we should respond to the answers.

SNIP...

We were pleased and surprised to secure interviews with a dozen people from our extensive list: former Secretary of State James Baker, now running the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., investment banker and former Sen. Bill Bradley, former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, now a partner and financial analyst at Pincus Warburg, former World Bank Chief Economist and then-Harvard University President Larry Summers, to name a few.

Every one of the men with a “former” in their title now occupies a position in a major law firm, a powerful consulting concern, a private equity bank, or a major university. And some of them regularly travel back to Washington, as James Baker recently did as co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group.

SNIP...

Since President McKinley and the Spanish-American War, overseas adventures have been the oligarchy’s response to the public’s demand for reform. Whether it was Populists or Progressives, rank-and-file Republicans or Democrats leading the charge for domestic change, the major party bosses and their partners on Wall Street have worked together in “collusive harmony,” in the words of political historian Walter Karp, to divert the country from its just demands by embroiling them in deadly foreign entanglements.

Reform movements are an ever-present worry for both parties’ bosses, because any successful reform put forward by regular citizens and insurgents in Congress tends to excite the electorate with the possibility of actually controlling their own government. The ruling class well understands that as the engagement of the citizenry waxes, their own power wanes. And it is war and the threat of war that provide the best excuse for not passing social-welfare legislation, and calling anyone who demands it “unpatriotic.”

The tactic of imperial expansion as domestic diversion, begun in Cuba and the Philippines a century ago, has achieved its ultimate expression in the “War on Terror” and the over 130 countries where our military presence is felt.

The cost to Americans is not just measured in our thousands of dead and wounded child soldiers, but in the persistent lack of national health care, decent schools, adequate housing, fair wages and a livable environment.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/01/1598

As you know, the BFEE fears the Truth for good reason, siligut.

[siligut]

102. Glad to have your feed back.

I know the unapologetic elite (it doesn’t matter who/what you are as long as you have money) views your (devastatingly lovely) illustration as a business guide. I just don’t know that those who would expose the truth are in a position to make a difference, because we are sustained/fed by corporations now, that’s all. Not a capitulation, please, just a call to step it up.

[mudesi]

4. Ignorance, decades of cutting education, the media, and the religious con men (nm)

[Christa]

8. You took the words right out of my mouth

agree 100%

[ThomWV]

17. I Disagree

Not to be nasty, just to say that I think that view is wrong.

I don't know how far back you want to go to get a benchmark to compare today's education, media, and religious con men to what we once had but lets use the period right around the Second World War or even the time of the founding of the Republic as examples - there are far more literate people in the country now than at either of those two times, more libraries and books on every subject too. Today's media exposure is great. Considering what constituted media at the founding one has to suspect that availability of radio and TV today is greater than pamphlets and newspapers were two centuries or seven decades ago. Religious con men? I don't even want to speculate how long they have been thick as fleas on a mangy dog. Some would say that Jesus himself led the pack but others would go back even farther than that to find plenty of people who have preyed on others after praying with them.

So I don't think that at its base those are the causes of our current delima.

[mojowork_n]

41. The only difference is

that in the bad old days, the talking points weren't all coordinated, cross-indexed and as clearly contrived as they are now.

P.R. firms are very well reimbursed for manipulating public opinion, and they know exactly which buttons to push, in what sequence, to get people to think a certain way.

And the liars and whores in the media who are paid to be a part of that noise machine are so much more shameless than they used to be.

[ThomWV]

5. A Nation Of Sheep

Nothing else answers.

[bryant69]

7. I suspect good Feng Shui

Used for evil purposes, of course.

Actually I think in the long run they have failed and are failures and will be consigned to the dustheap of history (to borrow an image).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Giant Robot]

31. I was thinking more

Multiple sacrifices and pacts with various demonic entities myself.

[BOSSHOG]

9. The ignorant trash who swallow like bourbon street whores

The cons don't even have to put much effort into it. They succeed because so many americans are stupid jerkoffs who think they are patriotic and who think liberals are evil and who think that never ending war is somehow good and that corporate greed is american and that george bush is a christian and served proudly and honorably in the military. They think what they are told to think by people they think are fine upstanding Americans. The last thing conservatives need or want is intellectually curious Americans thinking independently.

[Sapere aude]

11. Control of the message

[Dinger]

12. Bingo nt

[Sapere aude]

15. I am a senior and we use to be able to trust what we heard on the news.

People today think that the news they get is the same news we use to get. Only now the news is manufactured.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

45. From the right-wing media? How come the right and the left think the media..

is against their political views? Everybody hates the media, not that there's anything wrong with that!

[Sapere aude]

47. I heard on C-Span the other day a quote from a Dem congressman.

He was being asked similar questions and was being told that his point of view was wrong. He said that everyone has an opinion but there is only one truth.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

48. True dat...as my Father used to say, opinions are like assholes...

everyone has one and they all stink.

[Z_I_Peevey]

13. People's unwillingness to look full-on

at reality.

[Marr]

14. Ultimately it's all rooted in wealth disparity.

They were able to take and keep power mostly because our big media is the voice of big money, and the GOP is the political tool of the wealthy. That's also what's driven the "loyal opposition" so far to the right.

[fasttense]

25. I agree with you Marr.

Wealth is the answer. They accumulated excessive wealth and bought the media and the repuke party. They are trying to buy the Democratic party and it is working to some extent. They buy up everything they can get their hands on and turn it to their purposes.

[Annces]

16. Maybe somebody wants to accelerate the demise of the humans

and get us off the planet. What we do to others, will eventually come back to ourselves.

[ComerPerro]

18. well, when you don't care about anything and your only goal is immense profits and complete power,

it is extremely easy to succede.

No genius to it.

They just don't value human life, and aren't constrained by morals, ethics, or law.

[DemGa]

20. A willing vehicle (The Republican Party)

[Forkboy]

21. Simplistic,easily digested messages for the masses.

[The Stranger]

22. Their cunning, audacity, organization, single-mindedness and exploitation of millions via religion..

[porphyrian]

24. A complete lack of effective opposition?

I mean, who has REALLY stood up to them yet, despite every despicable thing they've done. We might as well have been complicit for what resistance has been offered yet.

[gatorboy]

26. Because America's dumb?

Don't believe me? Check out the Repugs next great presidential hope: An actor. Because they know Americans are suckers for celebrity.

Still don't believe me? Fred Thompson has hardly made a peep, wasn't in any debates, has spent nothing and yet he's in third place.

[Clark2008]

37. And he'll be in first place after he officially announces.

Count on it.

[Philosoraptor]

27. I was going to say 9-11, terror, fear, indimitation, bullying, & media.

But didn't want it to become a nine eleven thread.

Great answers here though, proving that there are a multitude of reasons, not one single one.

[Make7]

28. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil...

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

To a large extent, I think most Americans do little or nothing to get involved in a meaningful way in politics. That is an advantage for anyone trying to accumulate power. However, it should be noted that there are plenty of good people making tremendous efforts to counteract the current Administration and everything that goes with it. But liars and cheats often have an unfair advantage against people that play by the rules.

The larger problem seems to be that people with wealth and power have historically tended to protect and/or expand their wealth and power at the expense of those less fortunate. This transcends political parties and geographic boundaries - it is the underlying cause of the majority of the problems in the world. It continues because not enough people are aware of it or are actively working against it.

Although I certainly see progress, especially in Latin America and also in the micro-lending trend that has blossomed in many parts of the world recently. Education, organization, and activism are making a difference. That needs to continue and be expanded upon.

I am reminded of a story from Noam Chomsky where he contrasts the questions people ask him in different parts of the Western Hemisphere. He says people in the United States always ask, "What can I do?" While people in Central and South America never seem to ask that because they are already doing it.

- Make7

[HamdenRice]

29. Media conspiracy, bribery and blackmail

I will venture into tinfoil hat territory here, but the most remarkable thing about the administration has been its ability to get the media to present a coherent, if counterfactual, picture of what is going on to the American public. It is simply a bizaro world of opposites: Bush the war hero; Kerry the coward. Democrats' election fraud; Bush won 2000 and 2004 legitimately. It goes on and on.

Now why the media is doing this is the question. I don't think corporate media interests alone can explain the level of disconnect from reality.

After learning that Colin Powell's phones were tapped by the NSA for John Bolton, I came to the conclusion that wiretapping and surveillance must be ubiquitous in Washington and among media elites. I think many of them are being blackmailed.

Also I believe that the Armstrong Williams scandal is the tip of the iceberg. Obviously everyone on Fox is basically a paid repug shill, but there are no doubt many on the payroll.

Once Harpers editor Lewis Lapham wrote that when he was a younger journalist, he was approached by a creepy intelligence/think tank type who told him that if he wrote a certain way, they would pay him a hefty salary for life, no matter what his real job (cover) was. He declined

I suspect he isn't the only one to get that offer, but one of the few to turn it down.

[Az]

30. Greed, Arrogance, Fear, Ignorance, Apathy

All you need to allow a group using appeals to our sense of grandeur, fear, insecurities, and greed to take over. That and modern psychology and marketing allowing them to kill off any attempt to form a critical response.

[librechik]

32. lots of cash and the good-old-boy network

they keep getting booked, their mistakes are overlooked, their books are cooked and the American People get took.

[tandot]

33. They owe their success to 9/11 and stupid people.

Remember Bush's approval rating before 9/11? It shot up right after it and people just blindly believed anything they said. They just knew how to manipulate the masses by politicizing and using 9/11 to escalate and spread fear.

They also made sure that anyone opposing their policies were publicly labeled and propagated it.

[gravity]

34. They're amazing bullshitters

[Clark2008]

35. A compliant media that keeps Americans uninformed.

Tell me, how often in a day or a week or a YEAR, do you hear the corporate media mention the PNAC?

[leeroysphitz]

36. Nine Eleven. Fear.

Don't tune me out. I'm not crying mihop or lihop. I'm just saying that 9-11 gave the neo-cons everything they could need or want to fulfill their agenda.

From a compliant and fearful media to a tractable and fearful public.

[BrotherBuzz]

38. Leo Strauss

Noble lie, my ass.

[Az]

39. A song to sum it up

Ignore the video if you want. Its actually pretty good if you like Naruto and AMVs but the song is the point here. Its KMFDM playing to the poem Indictment. The poem was written in the late 90s and seems to have a pretty good grasp the social condition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKiv5LBWuRM

[CJCRANE]

40. Planning.

They've been planning world domination for years, look at PNAC, look at Philip Zelikow's theories on "public myths", look at all the think tanks etc etc.

When 9/11 happened the neocons were ready to hit the ground running.

[Philosoraptor]

71. Exploitation of fear and terror.

BUSH KNEW screamed the headlines several years back, but America is cool with it.

[RestoreGore]

42. When you control the media you control the masses

[Philosoraptor]

72. The internet makes lying about war almost impossible.

The t.v. news just ain't what it used to be. If it weren't for the modern day miracle of the web, America would be 100% in the dark.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

44. Because bush ran as a conservative, not a neo-conservative...most of America...

is conservative, they voted for bush and his limited grey-matter allowed him to be guided by a bunch of jag-offs and he veered right, along with fvcking up just about everything he touched.

[pansypoo53219]

46. keep the other side

DIVIDED. because they know their side will follow like lemmings no matter what. liberals? they don't play to win, they all want their PERFECT candidate. ooh, kucinich is the most pure, so if he doesn't get nominated i won't vote. nader has the best message so i am gonna vote for him.
so, CAN WE NOMINATE SOMEBODY WHO CAN INSPIRE FUCKING COUCH POTATOES and not lurch?

but beware the teevee gnews taking down the inspiring one. they tried to take out clinton, but he was too good.

[pitohui]

49. because good people pull their punches and evil people are bold and fearless

while we moan about being called bad names, they don't care about being called a bad name, being called "chimpy" and "darth vader" don't hold them back for a minute

we focus on minutae and wring our hands over trivia, they look at the big picture and their over-arching goal of total control

we shoot our best in the back a la clinton, they support even their worst

"the best lack all conviction, the worst are full of passionate intensity" -- not the exact quote but good enough for gov't work

[Ezlivin]

50. Can you go shopping right now? Can you get almost anything you want?

Case closed.

In Milton Mayer's "They Thought They Were Free" he examines why "ordinary" Germans didn't rise up and oppose Hilter. Basically it boiled down to this: For most ordinary Germans things were getting better. Hilter's policies had helped to stabilize the economy, improve employment and allow people to go about their business.

Look around you. How do things appear? To most Americans this country is humming along. Sure, you read about layoffs and foreclosures, but is that big shopping mall down the street going out of business or going gangbusters?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

51. Flag waving nationalism and corporate support.

America is the "greatest country" in the world leads to the inevitable conclusion that everyone else would just love to be just like us. And, in order to facilitate the wonderful "civilizing" effects of free-market capitalism, we must pave the way, by any means necessary, to bring happiness, democracy, and WalMart to the rest of the benighted savages who ignorantly "hate us for our freedom". First by subverting their economies with corporate "investment", stripping them of their natural resources, enrolling their poverty stricken populace as cheap labor, and then abandoning them when they demand more. Or, if that doesn't work, brute force whether by us or by hired proxies is thought to be useful.

The Romans and Brits were better at it but, sooner or later, the exploited caught on and threw them out.

Which is what's happening in spots all over the world to our fragile empire. The "barbarians" are the gates demanding redress and an end to our plundering.

[ljm2002]

52. Oh dear, trying to pick just one...

...from the plethora of choices:

(1) control of the media, including media plants and paid propagandists
(2) shadow government and shadow CIA (Poppy's influence lives on), providing among other things, some of the above mentioned media plants
(3) acceptance by the population of their role as consumers rather than citizens -- many look at demonstrations as a very odd activity and cannot for the life of them see why anyone would want to go and cause all that trouble
(4) active, intentional lies told about nearly every facet of government, at every level
(5) inside-the-beltway intellectual inbreeding, resulting in accepted wisdom by the ruling class that has little resemblance to the perceptions of the rest of the country -- or to reality, for that matter
(6) ruthlessness on the part of the Republic party, its leaders, its candidates, and all of its minions
(7) the rich
(8) the religiously insane
(9) right wing hate radio
(10) the lazy public
(11) anti-intellectualism
(12) plenty more where these came from...

[Edweird]

53. TEAMWORK. They are all committed to the same goal.

They have a plan. Everyone knows their job. They stick together and protect their own.

[OnyxCollie]

70. Max Weber's Ideal Bureaucracy. nt

[Hubert Flottz]

54. They always cheat

[EFerrari]

55. I don't think they have seceded. They are miserable failures.

Unfortunately, they've taken us all with them.

[SteveM]

57. They are highly intelligent, educated, aggressive, virulent...

The authors of THE RIGHT NATION noted that when walking down K Street, that there were more Ph.D's in the think tanks/lobbying groups than in all the right-of-center parties in all of Europe. The philosophy of the extreme right (of which the neocons are a part) came into being as a major force with the nomination of Barry Goldwater in 1964, then gained power in earnest with Ronald Reagan's election 16 years later. The Hallmark of the far right's disposition and methodology (leaving aside their ideology):
(1) short messages of crystalline clarity;
(2) short messages encapsulating their contempt for enemies;
(3) sublime aggressiveness;
(4) unending enthusiasm;
(5) repetition of the above.

Contrast this with modern "progressive thought:"
(1) laborious explanations of what they believe when it is unclear there is a belief system;
(2) fear of labeling their enemies;
(3) fear of trying anything new lest in upset some interest group;
(4) waiting out the enemy to see if they will make a mistake;
(5) repetition of the above.

Lack of philosophy means lack of policy means lack of message. In the absence of message, interest groups become the public face of "progressives" and, hence, the Democratic Party. And the interest group who can bellow the loudest and gain some measure of MSM support will be the group the extreme right will package and frame and sell relentlessly as the sum total of liberals & progressives.

In short, the Democratic Party is hardly worthy of the description "party."

The GOP, on the other hand, has a hard, simple set of ideological stands when shine like chrome steel in the sun. G.W. Bush is only a transient standard barrier who personifies this drop-forged unshakeability. He won't break, he won't bend. In fact, he will do what he can to spite the opposition in order to, as John Wayne said, "back them up." This shows to all (especially progressives) that they can't beat him at his weakest and in fact will cow down. The only thing left is for progressives to attack each other (their intent). This, of course, shows the public the difference between dominance and submissiveness. Guess which the public will prefer?

There is a good chance the far right will return to power by 2012,at the latest.

[trashcanistanista]

58. The American people's proclivity

towards stupidity and greed wrapped in a Christian superiority complex.

[BluePatriot]

59. TV and our educational system...

and, to a point, our "worker productivity." Are people going to learn about politics if they are bone tired after busting ass at work all day? (generally much longer hours worked and less vacations in the USA than, say, in Europe)

[BlooInBloo]

60. Americans are stupid bigots.

[LSK]

62. Read Al Gores book and find out

[Philosoraptor]

63. ...............

[camero]

64. American's fear and greed

The two being intertwined. Thier insatiable appetite for more stuff no matter how it's gotten (they know the rich are ruthless and they seek to emulate them in order to be rich themselves) and the fear either stemming from a guilty conscience or a fear of "losing thier stuff".

History will record us just as it recorded the Romans. Destroyed by the barbarians from within.

[Philosoraptor]

We are using the Roman model.

Hitler loved the Roman model, stealing many of it's icons and paraphernalia.

[ncteechur]

65. Because they are not guided by any sort of ethics.

[Philosoraptor]

79. It's good ta be da king.

[BlueIris]

66. Well, they've been planning this for a while.

A loooong while. So, they had time to get the system nice and ready for it. Primarily by amassing most of the resources for themselves, trashing the public school system and disenfranchising a significant portion of the voting public.

Then there's that ever-helpful total control of mainstream media they've got.

The rest lies in the dark, bigoted, misogynist greedy heart of America, which is, at its best, this close to fascism at all times.

Plus, W. Before 9/11, even I could (kinda) see his appeal.

[WinkyDink]

67. The Republicans' shameful willingness to LIE, LIE, LIE to their fellow Americans!!!!!!!

[Kip Humphrey]

69. SImple: stolen elections

[Bucky]

73. For the first time ever, I can sincerely quote my own sig file...

Nine fucking eleven, stupid.

Actually, you're not really stupid, except for that part where you question our God-chosen leader's destiny.
.

[deutsey]

74. They've been incredibly organized since the early 1970s

developing networks of think tanks and legions of pundits, gaining control of media, formulating messages and marketing strategies, getting lots of financial support from coroporations, rightwingers, etc.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

76. One of the things that neocons are taught is to lie, and lie, and lie until the uniformred public

believe that the lie is the truth. It's very successful tactic.

[KG]

78. cause this is the dumbest country on the planet, its citizens are happy to believe in any fairy tale

that comes along. a fat and sated populace finds it so much easier to do than face the ugly truth.

and i'm talking 'bout repooks and dems.

[Philosoraptor]

81. Myths are easier than facts, that's for sure.

We'd be astounded if we counted all the myths that the average American actually believes.

[Retired AF Dem]

88. At least we don't rape young virgins

as a cure to aids. We are far from being the dumbest country on the planet.

[Orsino]

80. The Big Money behind them...

...that owns most of the media voices that have propped them up. There is no true national forum that is willing to look at them critically.

They'll be listed alongside history's other tyrants, the only difference the sheer volume of the record against them.

[Philosoraptor]

82. Television, radio & print are their most destructive weapons.

And dammit I hate to keep referring to Hitler, but he exploited the loud speaker, the radio and the cinema and realized that they were the most powerful weapons in waging mass hysteria and mind control.

Triumph of the Will.

[dave_p]

83. Ignorance & fear

We fear what we don't lnow. And we don't want to know anything that may frighten us. And America has a head start when it comes to not knowing, and not remembering.

When people don't know and don't have a culture of getting off their asses & finding out, they're ready to accept any bite-sized fabrication that'll fill the void with the minimum of effort on their part.

And boy, do Americans like being scared. Europe lived under the shadow of theater nuclear war for decades and most shrugged it off as a minor inconvenience bequeathed by Hitler. Americans see an abandoned shopping bag & it's the opening salvo of World War 3.

And there's the absurd flag-waving nationalism, which western Europeans (not counting the Brits) grew out of in 1945, even though many clung to racism to take its place.

Throw in a bit of vengeful god, a pinch of chosen people status, a culture of casual violence, and incomprehension that the world isn't just there to give America an easy ride, and it's a short step to world domination and perpetual war as manifest destiny.

The ingredients were all there. They'll be there for a long time if Democrats don't do something to change it.

[Retired AF Dem]

85. The two ideas that kill us are

1. Being punished for being successful.
2. Guns

Taxes and guns is it.

[CabalPowered]

86. Sandra Day O'Connor

[leftofthedial]

89. utter ruthlessness and amorality

gullibilty, ignorance, laziness and stupidity of the Murkan public

a generation of planning and unceasing work

lots and lots and lots of money

greed and incompetence among the "democrats"

[Vanje]

90. they controlled the press

[Pierzin]

91. It's the MSM corporate interests, Lack of Indepedant Journalism

The Media is beholden to corporate interests, therefore their journalism is compromised. They can and have been compromised, intimidated into NOT criticizing the neo-cons. Their corporate sponsors can threaten to pull their ads, threaten to boycott networks, etc etc etc...
Democracy be damned.

[Hamlette]

94. oil

I have circled around this as the reason for the war for years but Bush's comments last week about being in Iraq for 50 years (like in Korea) makes it hard to ignore. We need bases in the middle east because our economy is based on oil. When Osama told us on 9/11 to get the hell out of Saudi Arabia we had to look elsewhere.

Of course to accept Cheney's view of the world you have to admit that the free market does not work. It is an ultimately pessimistic view. (Why won't they keep selling us oil for money? Does he imagine we'll get outbid by China's needs? Are we going to deprive China somehow to make sure we have enough?) But he strikes me as just that dark to believe all of it.

They got the keys to the kingdom because none of us like the choices we will have to make to give up oil. We were scared like that commercial where everything disappears that is made of plastic. And we were scared by 9/11. It could not have happened without that. Remember the neocons left the democratic party (all except Perle who says he's still a dem) because we would not carry out their plan.

It wasn't just the media. Mass hysteria travels in many other ways. Frankly I'm scared of radical islamists (and radical christianists and radical zionists). They have choosen humiliation and turned it into hate. A "suitcase" bomb in a major American city could mean a long and devastating war. Iraq was not the answer but neither is doing nothing.

[Jade Fox]

96. They invested 30 years into gaining power....

after the blow of Watergate, with the gradual takeover of the media, the building up of Right-wing talk radio and now TV, and funding Right-wing think tanks.

I'd say the number one reason is: MONEY. All the above mentioned accomplishments required huge amounts of it.

The Neocon mistake is assuming you can force a minority world view on all the people of a country/culture. The majority of Americans, for instance, do not have the same values as Religious Fundamentalists, and will ultimately not allow science to be replaced by unprovable religious theories.

[midnight]

97. HI Jade Fox. I agree with your statement "They invested 30

years into gaining power", but would just add that it was all stolen power. Maybe it doesn't matter at this point, seeing that we are sitting in a quagmire of ****.

[Jade Fox]

98. Actually, I'd call it Purchased Power.....

As I said in my answer the the original thread, the Neocons could not have done what they did with out tons of money. But you can't buy the will of the people, at least not when they reap the rewards of their power grab while we pay the price.

[donsu]

99. pre planning - they got people in place starting 2 decades ago

they were dedicated in getting neo cons in every dept.

pre planning and testing the vote fixing and fraud (which included getting states to buy pc voting machines)

buying, bribing, threatening the media well in advance of 2000. which includes starting their own neo con channel, Fox. buying up the newspaper media. making neo con radio a gated community.



pre planning

[havocmom]

100. Psy-ops

Been washing minds for decades now.

Later, rinse, repeat for decades. Just add more and more shampoo each year until you have the masses so lathered up they are disengaged from reality.

Changes in media ownership laws were the necessary first step, so the messages would become THE MESSAGE

All the study into human behavior.... all the study into chemicals working on the brain... all to make the psy-ops work better

[Philosoraptor]

103. They're using 1984 as a guide book.

Sometimes I wish I'd never read that book.

[havocmom]

110. Throw in some Margaret Attwood and Robert Heinlein for finer points

and you can see why I don't sleep much at night these days.

[spanone]

101. 911

[nadinbrzezinski]

107. BINGO

and tehy knew it

IN the PNAC plan they did say they needed a new Pearl Harbor

[dysfunctional press]

104. they own the media.

plain and simple.

[seemslikeadream]

105. ESPIONAGE AND TREASON

sorry two

[BornagainDUer]

106. The same as it was for Hitler's success. Brute force and corruption

got him into power along with a population easily duped due to their ignorance and own yearning for glory.

That 30% approval rating for Bush says alot. There seems to be a large segment of people who are impossible to inform.

[mitchum]

108. AMERICANS ARE SLACKJAWED IDIOTS

[diva77]

109. they wrap their message in religious righteousness and that is enough

to move large numbers of otherwise reasonable people to vote against their own best interests

[mdmc]

111. to thy own self be true

the neo-cons are straight shooters...

[Generator]

112. Propaganda

I was thinking this morning listening to Democracy Now about the Plame Case. All that skullduggery to slime Wilson/Plame and you know what? I don't think the media or the public gave a shit. That was a shitload of wasted energy on the Bush admin. Obviously, they still don't as the outrage is NOT there. Lies to get into war, lies to smear those that told the truth about lying. Does anyone give a shit? Of course if you listen to Mainstream Media/not even counting FOX "news"-you would have to hear it as a "balanced" story-meaning that the lies are maybe not lies because according to our media today there is no objective truth. I can bullshit on that. There are facts. And that is all. If they are spun and twisted and emotion-fear fear fear is used-THAT is propaganda. That is not news or facts.

Therefore, Joseph Wilson told the truth. The IRAQ war was not necessary. They lied to make us believe our children would be dying in the streets from a nuclear attack. And then they attacked the truth tellers. But the truth teller would have been ignored and the focus of the news on to something else. The Bush admin didn't realize how well the propaganda was working. They didn't need to out Plame and smear Wilson. They could have ignored it and SURE AS THE SUN SHINES, the "media" would have let it fade into the memory hole.