Overthrowing America One Lie at a Time

By: James G. Wilson

What started as a cottage industry of AM hate radio demagogues led by Rush Limbaugh has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry in America. Today, cable "news" networks such as FOXNews, MSNBC and CNN are rife with consistent themes of Clinton-bashing, anti-liberal rhetoric and pro-Republican propaganda. Internet sites, including FreeRepublic, NewsMax and the Drudge Report, mirror these themes - but, in a more blatant and extreme way. Books purporting to expose the latest "Clinton scandal" or other liberal malfeasance are always at the top of the political Bestsellers' Lists. Proper manipulation of the mainstream media in recent years has led to this most disturbing monolithic trend in what used to be a diverse and open-minded society.

In that relatively short time, America's once credible news media has been irrevocably harmed by the growing insurgence of an assertive conservative agenda. Republicans invented the cliché of "liberal bias" in an effort to discredit the mainstream news services. Despite providing no clear-cut evidence that such a bias ever existed, the tactic worked like a charm when played to conservative audiences. A case could be made that the "liberal bias" accusation was merely a ruse designed specifically to open up the media markets to purely Rightist outlets that were once considered to be extremist and on the fringe.

As the "bias" message propagated through conservative circles, more and more of them turned away from the mainstream toward the blatantly one-sided news. It didn't matter that the Washington Times (owned and run by Rev. Sun Myung Moon) or the New York Post already existed with their openly conservative biases. It didn't matter that most rural towns had a conservative bias in their newspapers and radio/TV stations. All that mattered was that there was a new accusation of "liberal bias in the media." Eager to fill the skillfully engineered void, a frenzy of new conservative-only news sources sprang up like weeds in the fertile soil.

A dangerous trend of pandering to people's emotions and toying with their sensibilities emerged from the newly unchallenged forums. They could now say what they wished with impunity, and the conservative masses would nod in unison. With a galvanized base behind them, the Rightists knew they had a powerful political weapon to unleash on the rest of America.

No matter what the mainstream headlines were, the conservative news sources could now spin them to their advantage. Bill Clinton learned of the full wrath of their power the hard way. By contrast, George W. Bush is riding high. Had individual accomplishments and innate abilities alone guided the public perception of these men, the situations would be quite different. Unfortunately, political spin, obfuscation and widespread apathy contribute more to America's opinions than does the naked truth.

Bill Clinton, though charismatic, intelligent and fully engaged in the issues of the day, spent his entire eight years as president hounded by one unsubstantiated rumor or scandal after another. Although all the other rumors bore no fruit whatsoever, Clinton was eventually impeached over not being completely forthright about a tryst with an intern of all things. And, it only cost the taxpayers $55 million to do it! The constant dogging by the conservative media and a Republican Congress hampered his ability to govern to the best of his abilities. Yet, he led this country through the single greatest era of peace and prosperity America has ever known.

Today, George W. Bush, a man as unintelligent as his words indicate, is in charge. How did he get there? The conservative media (with the help of Bush's own cousin working at FOXNews, no less) tried to call the election for him when it was still too close to make that decision. Then, that same media worked intensely during the thirty-five-day standoff over the recount process spinning in favor of Bush and demonizing Gore in every conceivable way. Needless to say, they had a great impact on public opinion. Of course, it didn't hurt that in the end the Supreme Court, in its own wholly biased decision, installed Bush into the highest office in the land anyway. The conservative media spun and spun on that one, as well, to minimize the fallout.

What a difference there's been in America during Bush's first loooong year in office. The once vibrant economy is faltering, the projected surpluses have evaporated, we are in an engineered war of indeterminate length, the Constitution is being dismantled at will, the Enron fiasco is approaching critical mass and unemployment is at a ten year high. Yet, Bush has approval ratings of 82% by most accounts. How can this be?

As each of these disasters presented themselves, the conservative media immediately jumped to the "blame Clinton" offensive. They came up with all sorts of rumors, innuendo and trivialities to make their case. All the while, Bush was either not mentioned at all, or he was praised for his ham-fisted handling of the situations.

Only the Enron debacle has shown any signs of weakening Bush's ratings. A recent ABCNews poll showed that two-thirds of those questioned believe that the Bush White House is hiding something. Cheney won't release papers related to six meetings with Enron officials, and at least thirty-five appointees to Bush's cabinet have strong ties to Enron.

There is more than a strong "appearance of impropriety" on the part of the Bush administration when it comes to Enrongate. Yet, he campaigned on the pledge that he would not let there be "even the appearance of impropriety" in his administration. The conservative media is overtly quiet on that subject. It is obvious that they wouldn't be if it was Clinton or Gore instead of Bush.

It also stands to reason that this conservative media would not have given Clinton or Gore the same wide berth they gave to Bush when it came to the other disasters mentioned above. In fact, they would have likely already called for the impeachment of Clinton/Gore over 9-11 rather than rallying behind their President. They already blame them for it as it is. Clinton/Gore could never have enjoyed a united America in the face of foreign aggression. Trent Lott's own words decisively proved that when he declared that the people didn't have to support the President in times of war back in 1998.

These are but a few examples of how the conservative media are destroying America's integrity one lie at a time. It is not (and apparently has never been) about honor, dignity and patriotism with them. It is solely about whose party is represented in the highest office in the land. Partisan politics is the name of the game, and it appears that the conservative media is playing to win at all costs.