I recently had an email conversation with two of my uncles regarding GOP political tactics and problems with political reporting in the mainstream media. The conversation came about when one of the uncles read a review of David Brock's new book Blinded by the Right, which details events at the American Spectator, and how Brock and other reporters deliberately lied, distorted facts, bribed "witnesses", and launched libelous attacks on liberals in order to smear Clinton Administration officials and promote other parts of the GOP agenda. The question he asked was, "Is this true?"
Sadly to say, it is. Sadder, is that it appears that, even today, most Americans accept the half-truths, lies, and innuendoes of the attacks on President Clinton as fact. Saddest, is the reason that it is accepted.
The reason, of course, is that the GOP has learned how to manipulate the media, and that most Americans accept as fact anything that appears on TV, especially if it is repeated to them often enough. Most Americans have neither the time, nor the inclination, to seek out reliable sources of news, or even to think about the motivation or bias behind the reporting they get. They also never get the opportunity to compare what is said by a candidate and what they actually do, because the news media rarely point out the differences in a way that is accessible to most people.
The reason I mention this now, is that Democratic Underground published a long, thoughtful article on this very topic today. Go check it out: http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/04/24_dumb.html
Of course, the fact that you're here reading this, implies that you've seen through at least part of the illusion, and are trying to get more information.
The fact of the matter is that progressives need to find a way to get an easy to understand message out to people, and to challenge lies and misrepresentations at every turn. Make the GOP fight for every bit of ground. The hard part is execution. I'm afraid that attack ads are the easy way to go, and I don't really like it. What we need is a really good PR/marketing firm, and they sell the shallow crap we're trying to get rid of.
It makes me wonder why no fuss was made about all the draft-dodging, the drinking, the womanizing, the drugs, etc... Think about it. Gov. Bill Clinton was crucified because he smoked marijuana, backed out of an ROTC commitment, Whitewater, and a sleazy affair with an intern. Gov. George Bush was given a pass on drunk driving, multiple arrests for drug use, being grounded for refusing National Guard drug tests, skipping out of the last two years of his service commitment, back room deals as a failed oil executives, and ties to the family of Ossama bin Laden. I guess we know where the media's loyalty lies.