They must have gone off message

July 1, 2005

In his speech about Iraq the other night, the president touted a new website created by the Pentagon: AmericaSupportsYou.mil. The next day, Scott McClellan bragged about the fact that the website was generating more than 10,000 hits per second after Bush’s speech.

As it turns out, many of those hits were from visitors who also wanted to send a message thanking the troops. Indeed, since the site was unveiled earlier this week, more than 26,000 Americans have left messages, all of them offering support and encouragement to the troops, and many of them backing the war in Iraq.

Were there any messages that supported the troops but not their mission? Yes, but we can’t read them. The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire reported today that there were at least two notes on the site that questioned the war — which promptly disappeared shortly after being posted.

As usual, ideas that run counter to the Bush agenda are to be deleted, edited, and/or “fixed.”

That sure fits the pattern. See the recent AP story about the Park Service “emending” of an 11-y/o tape about rallies at the Lincoln Memorial. The idea is to excise any indication that the place was ever used by ML King, or gays, or pro-choice groups and cut in rallies by Jesus folk and the Promise Keepers.

The service bought footage of President Bush, pro-gun demonstrations and pro-Iraq war rallies and even considered cutting out a section showing former President Clinton, a Democrat.

  • This fits right in. But what to do? Create a frame about this issue and pursue it in media and with politicians.

    Here’s a look at how Rove’s 9/11 comments were a great move, and how the Democrats fell into the trap by responding to the frame. There’s also great ideas for what Democrats could have done instead.

    So what frame here? Here’s a couple ideas:

    “Bush is silencing America’s voice�
    “By silencing Americans’ voices, Mr. Bush is using the techniques of terrorists and dictators�
    “What is the president afraid of?�
    “American voices speaking out about an issue is the foundation of this free nation. Mr. Bush should immediately explain why he has chosen to repress this tradition of freedom.�

    Silence, American, terrorist, fear, freedom. . . not just for Republicans anymore.

    I mentioned this before, but if anyone has a free second, go on-line to your local newspaper(s) and send a letter to the editor with something like what’s above (or your own take). They actually tend to publish stuff and that stuff actually gets to people. Imagine that.

    Here’s what my paper says their criteria is:

    Please include “Letter to the editor,” or something similar,
    and a word or two indicating the topic of your letter, in the
    subject line of your e-mail (Example: Letter to the editor–
    Iraq war).

    Letters for publication should be no longer than 200 words
    and include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone
    number. If you have failed to include this information,
    please add it to your letter and resend.

    We cannot open attachments. If you have sent an
    attachment, please copy and paste your letter into the body
    of your e-mail message and send it again.

    Thank you for writing.

  • Even the “10,000 hits per second” is a lie. Google gets only 2,500 hits per second; are they telling us that this website was 4 times more popular than Google? Yeah, and I have two heads and four arms, too. Lying.Fucking.Bastards. [Sorry, Eadie, the name fits perfectly here; I just had to curse!]

  • Others have mentioned this before, but this administration is bearing a stunning resemblance to Mohammed Saeed al-Sah, or “Baghdad Bob” of Iraqi Information Ministry fame. Bob’s hyperbolic disinformation during the early part of the war was entertaining but obviously false. The Bush guys are getting the same way. And we, as U.S. citizens, are becoming like the old Soviet citizens who would read Pravda and have to read between the lines to figure out what really was going on. …Lies and lying liars who can’t bear to see the truth staring at them in the mirror.

  • Was this type of activity that lead Germany into the path of distruction and World War Two, along with the rhetoric of anti-everything when not in agreement with their views ?.

  • Eadie has very good advice, and I can’t overemphasize
    how much more effective it can be than preaching to
    the choir in blogs, or writing your representatives.

    Write your newspapers. Not the New York Times – you’ll
    never get published. But smaller circulation or local
    papers. Your word will get out to those who need to
    be educated.

    I live in Idaho, the most conservative state in the
    nation, and I write our leading newspaper regularly.
    Every one of more than fifty letters – they allow
    no more than one per month per reader – has been
    published, and I know the people are reading them.
    I’ve got hate mail and hate phone calls to prove it!

    Sound advice indeed.

  • Hark (and Eadie),

    How right you are. I, too, often write our Bellingham Herald. Some of it gets in, some what gets in gets read, some of what gets read has an effect, some of that effect isn’t forgotten. It’s very much worth it. Always remember: all politics is local.

    The mass media may be centrally owned by an increasingly small number of conglomerates. But the old sociological research from way back in the ’50s was right — the mass media don’t connect directly with the individuals watching/listening. There is still a “two-step flow” of communication (I think Paul Lazarsfeld said that) through which the mass media messages get filtered and digested in smaller, local groups. That’s where the letter-writing you both talk about matters so much. It’s not over-night, but it definitely has effects. it’s like the small town rumor mill. And I’m just Jeffersonian enough to believe that most of it still works for the good.

    And, btw Mark, thanks for your kind words earlier today. In addition to not having to pay tuition, there are no pop quizzes here (unless CB decides to start them), and every essay is open-book. Who could ask for anything more?

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