S'up Duers. I miss this place. The following is not an 'I told you so.'

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

I'm finishing up a book right now, so I haven't had time to post, though I have been keeping up on reading the board. Awhile back I told you guys about a project over at Fox (John Gibson's show was named) where they would begin scanning the internet for leftist/liberal sites and show what we're up to. Andy Sullivan did it a while back (which is what prompted my predictions--I don't feel like searching for the original thread, so take my word for it or go find it on your own :-)). Like I said, I have a couple of friends in low places, editors, some ad stuff, just geeky grammar hounds. But they give me copies of the faxes they see. This is how I know about the attempts to go after the "fringe left." The lastest Byron York screed and its coverage by Faux and Brit Hume is testing the waters. They are attempting to take a page out of Clinton's playbook. They hope to convince their viewers that all of the attacks on Bush are created in fringe "think tanks"/internet sites. I am told that Gibson's show is still thinking about developing the "net watch" segment. Watch very carefully: the cable channels are always talking about Dean's web presence. If you notice, the right wingers seem to be singing his praises of finding new people. Just wait. This is where the narrative will come to fruition. They will tie Dean's rise to the internet. But who exactly is on the internet? Well, these lefty kooks, no doubt.

It must have been two months ago that I gave you the original heads-up. The people at Fox are still testing it out. Expect an article or two out of the Weekly Standard. Takebackthemedia.com, of course, has already been targeted. Andy Sullivan has already posted posts from DU. It will continue. If it gains traction with the viewers, it will become a regular addition to one of Faux's programs (unless Scarborough beats them to it--I've heard nothing about this).

Peace all.

[tom_paine]

1. Ah yes, accusing us of doing what they do...usual Orwellian 101

Yes, our ragtag unorganized "organization" with combined funding of probably less that $1,000,000 (if you count every single webpage and blog" sure is scary compared to the $200,000,000+ Scaife money and other money that funds the VRWC Machine.

Of course, it doesn't bear mentioning that the Right started it as far back as the 80s (not on the Internet, natch) or that they have practiced a much more ruthless version during the Clinton years or that they seized up the internet as "marketing" and Freeping tool much earlier while we dozed

Of course they have no shame. They are vile.

[prolesunited]

2. If your contention/prediction it true

what would you suggest as the remedy?

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

5. I don't see it as problem/solution.

I just see it as bound to happen. Their intention, at least from the snippets I've read, is to intimidate discussion boards and blogs. The right wants to do to the net what it's done to the media. It wants to create an environment that always is threatening exposure. It will "expose" anything that it deems unbecoming to civil political discussion (read republican domination of the discourse). It will attempt to define "moderate" according to rhetoric as opposed to ideas and programs. The more "radical" the rhetoric appears, clearly, they hope their viewers will believe, the more radical the ideas are. And if the mainstream media happen to embrace any of the ideas, well then, they can be lumped in with the radicals as well. In fact, because the mainstream media don't expose leftist websites, like the way it did reports on the "Clinton Chronicles" (insert some Lexis/Nexis search statistic), this proves that the mainstream media is not only liberal but radical as well. You get the picture.

[Sterling]

3. Yes Faux selects their liberal straw men guests to embarrass the left

That is why I advise all liberals to avoid Faux like the plague. Do not watch do not discuss and above all do not validate what they do be being a guest on their shows. It is now common knowledge what their agenda is and if someone is asked to appear on their network you can bet it is calculated to embarrass the guest and the left in general. I have yet to see an appearance by a liberal guest go well for the guest. Even the man who lost his father on 9-11 was shouted down for the amusement of the Bushbot idiots. Most of the time the liberals they have on are pretty lame anyway, and that’s what they are going for. Straw men to paint a pathetic picture of the left.

The bright point is that no one outside of the dumbest Bushbots takes Faux seriously anymore, so if liberals will just ignore Faux they will become more irrelevant everyday.

DONT FEED THE WHORES! There is plenty of alt media to promote so stop following the whores like a pack of pathetic groupies.

[Karenina]

4. Na Du, Grendelsuncle!!! Grüß Dich!!!

DELIGHTED TO SEE YOUR POST!!! :bounce:

[grasswire]

6. the strategy has become clear in the last week..

...that criticism of Bush is to be characterized as "Bush hating" -- partisan attacks. Any thinker with a bit of strategic savvy sees all the plusses for them if they pull this whole thing off. The press will be cowed into covering Bush haters, as if there were moral equivalence between the criticism of Bush policies and the hunting of the Clintons.

I only wish that the Dems had a rapid response team that could counter this insidious maneuvering by the VRWC. It's sooooo frustrating!

[Robbien]

7. Came across today a right site which just put up an article

blasting Will Pitt.

Sample:

While claiming to represent America and purportedly seeking to “get the truth out,” Truthout.org conceals who they really are: A cornucopia of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-Palestine sedition. Its primary purpose: dumping extreme, Far Left rhetoric into its own little private black hole on the Internet – to anyone and everyone desperate enough to read its acerbic pontifications.

Yes, they are out there right now trivializing the left.

Source
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article2596.html