the republicans learned in '04 that they can swiftboat any opposition

[spanone]

doesn't have to be a politician, they can lie about and cloud any issue and it works.

all it takes is a media that presents their swiftboating as plausible opposition.

how does democracy survive in this environment?

maybe it doesn't.

:shrug:

[RagAss]

1. We lost our "democracy" on November 22, 1963.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. That put it in the hospital. April 4 and June 6, 1968 finished off the job.

[spanone]

13. i remember that year like it was yesterday.....still not over it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Key word - LIE. They realize many Americans believe whatever they hear on the teevee.

Mission accomplished for *Bush - knowledge is useless. Ignorant/stupid is the goal. A crying shame.

[edhopper]

3. As long as the media

has given up real journalism and reporting facts and replaced it with "he said / she said" it will work every time.

[spanone]

5. they made john kerry look like a loser in 04 when he was in fact a war hero

why deal in facts when lies work just as well

[kentuck]

4. We need to "swiftboat" the media that helps them...

They have to be called on their accessory roles.

[spanone]

6. hard to do when the media owns the airwaves and print..

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. As people realize this, the relevancy of the traditional MSM shrinks and shrinks

This is something I never understood. The people who read and watch news on a regular basis is a pretty small market anyway. It's like having a candy store with only Butterfingers and Reese's Pieces. Most candy lovers would discover pretty soon there's no point to stopping in regularly, if at all.

What I find most incredible is that someone under a government gag order testified under oath in open court about matters massively concerning national security, blackmailing of a member of Congress, among other things - HUGE!!! And yet not a peep that I can see from the MSM. This is newsworthy! This is worth the ink! It makes the Profumo affair in the 60's in Britain look like Winnie the Pooh.

I find this really, really upsetting as it is the MOST demonstrable proof that the news is controlled and contained by ---- who knows who? I wonder how all these so-called "journalists" and "reporters" look at themselves everyday knowing what a complete sham they are.

[RagAss]

8. It's amazing how they took advantage of a decayed educational system.

[DFW]

9. The media is the key

I was talking with Helen Thomas about this yesterday (see my thread for details), and we agreed that the
big difference to the Republicans of JFK's time and now is that today they have a huge media presence
where the intellectually lazy can get their heads filled with propaganda disguised as news 24/7. They
get themselves indoctrinated while at the same time get deluded into thinking they are informed.

It's a hard nut to crack. If forbidding them and sinking to their level are not options, what options are left?
They are a distinct minority with attention beyond proportion due to their decibel level.

[spanone]

10. it must be heartbreaking to someone like Ms. Thomas who has lived through 'real' jounalism

how do you mount a defense when they own all the microphones?

[DFW]

11. It is

I can't repeat all that was said for the reasons I mentioned on my post.

But she is most aware of the evolution of the media in our country, and what it has done to her profession.

[high density]

14. Fox News and talk radio are creating a strong mob to strengthen the disinformation campaign

I don't know how democracy survives. I mean we have no political discourse any more. The right wingers are acting like the country has been totally destroyed in the past eight months, when in fact little has changed in the big scheme of things.

It is impossible to have reasoned conversations and find middle ground when the Republicans are creating such crazy scenarios that aren't valid in reality. We have 25% of the country that is literally brainwashed by Fox News and another large part that doesn't seem to care either way or simply latches onto the last thing they heard. I'm getting increasingly pessimistic that the politics of this country are going to improve any time soon. I don't see how it ever changes when one side of the argument has so successfully used disinformation as a political tool, and their only future requires keeping that bullshit machine running.

[TwilightGardener]

15. I agree, we are in a new era where the most crazy bullshit is presented

as plausible, where disinformation, empty accusations and lies are given the same weight as truth.