George Bush’s Propaganda Exposed

Williams, who was a regular on America’s Black Forum, wrote articles and gave speeches praising the act and the administration. There was never any public disclaimer that he was being paid to do so. He claimed that his non-disclosure was an oversight. He was promptly removed as a commentator on America’s Black Forum. Some tried to paint this incident as an anomaly. Not true…

Somewhere Joseph Goebbels is smiling. His tactics are alive and well. The Nazi leader’s spirit has been reincarnated within the BushRove regime.

In a report released September 30th the GAO (General Accountability Office) scolded the Bush Administration for it repeated use of “covert propaganda” unleashed upon an unwitting public as “news” delivered in print, video and audio forms devoid of “the essential fact of attribution.”  The report found that the administration set aside a quarter of a billion to be used for such “news reports.” Wow.

No doubt many of you will remember the Armstrong Williams fiasco. He is the Black commentator who received a $240,000 contract to tout the administration’s No Child Left Behind program. Williams, who was a regular on America’s Black Forum, wrote articles and gave speeches praising the act and the administration. But there was one problem. There was never any public disclaimer that he was being paid to do so. He claimed that his non-disclosure was an oversight. He was promptly removed as a commentator on America’s Black Forum. Some tried to paint this incident as an anomaly.

But then there is the story about Karen Ryan. She is the public relations shill who posing as a “reporter” praised the administration for it educational policies. Then there is Maggie Gallagher who was paid around $21,000 to promote the president’s “marriage initiative” and another $20,000 to write a report about it. She claimed that she had “forgotten” to divulge that she was being paid for these services. Then we had the coming of the gay, prostitute “reporter” James Guckert a.k.a Jeff Gannon who (gay prostitution website and all) strolled the White House halls.
 
That this symbolizes the kind of bartering that Washington and the White House engages in shouldn’t be lost on us. Guckert , or “Bulldog” as he was know on his escort sites, is a person of interest in the scandalous outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame because her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, found that the administration’s NigerIraq uranium ties claims were false. Many wondered how an unknown “reporter” was able to get White House press passes (on a daily basis) that seasoned veterans often find hard to obtain.

In fact, on several occasions he stayed overnight. Talk about sleeping with the enemy. But perhaps as comedian Bill Maher said Guckert might have “an in-house boyfriend.â€? The irony here is that an administration that has consistently ridden the coattails of the “religious right” with there anti-gay program used, of all things, a gay whore to sell their propaganda. As I analyze this group of scoundrels, now in power, I am convinced that they are devious unlike any we have ever seen.

But there is another aspect of this story that is more troubling than this administration’s corruption. For sometime now many of us have decried the lack of bite in a media that fashions itself as a “watchdog.” But this report suggests that at the very least the “watchdog” has become a lapdog.  For if the GAO found out that our government is producing fake news for public consumption why didn’t our media? And now that it is evident that all of these incidents are based on deliberate manipulation why are they so silent? Do they not realize that if the American people pick up on this that their credibility will be seriously compromised?

But then again maybe that is exactly what they are afraid of. Because how can they justify not knowing about these nefarious actions? Where is the digging that is supposed to be the hallmark of journalism?  But this leads to another question: is the media largely being duped or are they just so greedy for profits that they are willing to look the other way? Or are they just afraid to stand up?

These revelations make me wonder how many other “reporters” are on the administration’s payroll. Remember the GAO states that a quarter of a billion dollars have been set aside to produce these “news” releases. It seems to me that a hell of a lot of propaganda can be procured with this sum. Also, which respectable news organizations have aired or printed these works of fiction? New York Times? CNN? CBS? Washington Post? Obviously, we need not ask about that “fair and balanced” paragon of journalism: Fox News. That the Bush Administration would engage in this kind of reprehensible conduct should surprise no one. Their whole presidency is a sham. They have lied and cheated about everything from the 2000 election to the war in Iraq. So we should not be surprised that they would package lies to try to create a sense of legitimacy.

Having a government this crooked is bad enough for a “democracy.” But the conduct of the mainstream media must be investigated. Are they just too lazy, greedy, or blind to see what is before them? Or is the answer much worse? The big media conglomerates must be made to address these questions for a democracy becomes null and void if we can’t trust the message or the messengers. This issue is of grave concern precisely because as Goebbles said “the best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative.”

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