Scarcely had the President even left the podium at Bagram Air Base on his surprise visit to see the troops in Afghanistan, and Fox News was running a news-feed crawl that pointed out it had taken him over a year to get to the region. Implication: Johnny-Come-Lately Doesn't Care About the Troops. A friend of the blog, a person with long-time military ties and a Fox News / Beck / Limbaugh devotee told me by phone, "Obama has never liked the military."
You may recall that as a candidate, Obama paid a visit to Afghanistan on July 20, 2008. At that time, Fox News found it inappropriate, if not entirely too late, that someone running for the highest office in the land should take such a "high-profile" tour, turning the war into a "political opportunity."
And once Karl Rove is done making phone calls and the top three Fox goons (Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck) are all reading from the same script, it's only a matter of hours before their entire echo chamber is reverberating with the same talking points, right down to your local weekend tea-party patriot host, with his one hour of AM radio air-time paid for by a hastily-assembled group of Beck fans operating as a PAC with a dot org address. By week's end, the Tokyo Rose of the party, Monica Crowley, will wrap it all up for you in her succinct, snarky, tough-lady tone, pretending as though her thoughts are her own, made up just now for your enlightenment.
They're only a step away from allowing Mr. Rove mobile access to the news-feed crawl. We are witnessing the genius of the most effective Propaganda Minister ever, who operates behind the scenes and sometimes comes out to deliver the message himself. On his speed-dial are Newt Gingrich, Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol. (He long ago deleted "David Brooks" from his phone list, that sell-out wimp.) He orchestrates the noise and blames the Commander-in-Chief, but won't ever refer to him as that. Call him, "Mr. Obama," or in Crowley's case, just call him, "The Bama," and every time you say it, drag it out as though the very words on your tongue are causing you to gag.
Fox News had no comment whatsoever about the warm reception the President received from the troops, and next time, they will lower the input on those crowd microphones to create the illusion of a lukewarm reception, much the same way Howard Dean got screwed by the media with the infamous "Scream!" which when taken along with the crowd noise, was not in the least bit inappropriate. Isolated from them, he appeared a maniac.
That is media's job these days. Gone from either side, be it Fox News or MSNBC, is any sense of objectivity, though Fox still likes to pretend with their slogan, "Fair and Balanced," another phrase heard from the mouths of the tea-party faithful who decry "the mainstream media bias." They always seem to forget that Fox News is about as mainstream as it gets. But nor can I much stomach Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow, equally snide, smirky and "See! They suck just like we told you they sucked!" There is a war on, and the warring factions now have their own media.
But in this game, Karl Rove has no match. You can't throw a whining David Axelrod or an old porch hound like James Carville into a fight against Rove. He is always one step ahead, his network cohesive and always on point.
At this rate, things are going to get ugly, but be sure everyone will be saying, "We condemn all acts of violence," while at the same time saying,
"I want the people of Minnesota armed and dangerous."
We have a nation nearly at civil war, and when it boils to a head, I hope some history books will remember this man, who single-handedly created deep division where there should've been minor disagreement, who fanned the flames of fear, alluding to every imagined sacred cow or mortal enemy of America, convincing a vocal minority that those cows were being eaten alive by the mortal enemy, the forces of evil in power in Washington. They will quote Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants," justifying their every act as patriotism.
Labels: afghanistan, Barack Obama, david axelrod, Fox News, Glenn Beck, james carvile, Karl Rove, Keith Olbermann, left wing, MSNBC, patriotism, Rachel Maddow, right wing, Sean Hannity, spin, tea party
