Right wingnut propaganda machine--renewed interest in Dean

[janx]

From the Moonie Times--(from Tyrell himself, actually...)

<snip>

Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, has just written Pennsylvania's seven members of the Democratic National Committee recommending they support former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic Party. Now what does he mean by that?

Mr. Murtha is relatively conservative. He was an early supporter of the invasion of Iraq. In running for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Dean was the pre-eminent antiwar candidate. He had cornered the left liberal elements in his party and seemed poised to turn the party away from the moderately liberal politics of Bill Clinton and toward the left's ideological rigorists.
In fact, observers speculate Mr. Dean's left turn is what cooked his goose with those Democrats intent on maintaining the party's 1990s posture, namely the Clintons. Has Mr. Murtha turned to the left?

What does it MEAN? ;-)

http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050106-082217-6943r.htm

[NYCGirl]

1. It means that Dr. Dean still has power to make the wingnuts crazy.

And that's a GOOD THING!
;)

[janx]

4. I didn't look for more, but I'd be willing to bet it's out there.

Tyrell is a founding member of the wingnut propaganda machine. This is really funny!

[wtmusic]

2. He's right

He was poised to turn the party away from the DLC and $$. I wish he would have.

[janx]

5. DFA is still doing it!

http://www.democracyforamerica.com

[madfloridian]

8. Membership grew sharply after the election.

Ours grew more this month as well. Many local DEC folks are expressing interest now, where before they would not give us the time of day.

[janx]

23. It's no wonder...

and it's good news.

[Zeke]

3. Scared of Him.

The RW ses Dean for the threat he is.

That is, the RW knows Dean can rally the country, and Democrats & Independents, beat GOP's, and that's that.

They shout him down hoping his voice won't be heard.

[janx]

6. This is some kind of renewed effort!

I'm going to search some more...

[msgadget]

7. Not really.

The title of the article is Dean for center Democrats? and goes on to say:

It means Mr. Murtha is aware of what those of us who have known Mr. Dean knew throughout his run for the presidential nomination. He is no radical. Whereas earlier champions of the left in the Democratic Party were left-wing ideologues, for instance, Sen. George McGovern, Mr. Dean is simply a party-line Democrat who left the practice of medicine because he relishes the great game of politics.

I didn't read anything past the opening teaser that painted Dean a liberal lefty.

[janx]

9. You're right!

An interesting question is: Do the Clintons recognize this? Do they realize Mr. Dean was one of their most fluent defenders? Surely they do. Might that be why seasoned Democrats such as Mr. Murtha are lining up for Mr. Dean? The Clintons still control vast reaches of the party. The front-runner for 2008 is certainly Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Possibly they see Mr. Dean as a fit replacement for Mr. McAuliffe. That raises another question. Is Mr. Dean still yearning for a presidential nomination? Is he peeved about being rejected by the Clintons in 2004? What does he mean by going after the chairmanship of his party? Where is Prince Metternich when I need him?

Ultimately, Tyrell spins something else.

But why is he writing about Dean at all?

Edit: I edited the title.

[msgadget]

10. It's not the first time I've heard or read the right

basically stumping for Dean. I nearly choked one day in late fall when I heard Newt Gingrich say he'd have been 'tough to beat' if he'd been the presidential nominee. Naturally I take this to mean just the opposite. Evidently they think he'd be bad for us, perfect for them. Just my suspicion.

Edit: verb tense.

[janx]

11. "stumping for Dean" ?

Not likely.

Have you ever read Blinded by the Right, by David Brock? It's a pretty concise look at the wingnut propaganda machine.

[msgadget]

14. Stumping by praising him.

Why would they do that if they really thought of him as a major threat? The right NEVER gives any credit to those they perceive as enemies. If they feared him they'd have the smear machine in full gear already. Instead, I think they're holding it all back, just waiting for him to get a leadership position of some kind.

No, I haven't read that book. Does it have a section on how they tear down the opposition? They're brilliant marketers.

[janx]

16. I think Julie has it right.

Tyrell is trying to paint Dean as nothing but a run-of-the-mill politician who cares about nothing except getting elected, and he's trying to paint him as being a Clinton ally.

To be sure, Mr. Dean has, since his youth as a counterculture fellow-traveler in the 1960s, picked up some of the sentimental memorabilia of that era. But his record in Vermont was that of a practical politician who very much wanted to be re-elected. He has no grand ideological scheme for America, just re-election in mind.
Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s I appeared with him regularly on "The Editors," a PBS show taped in Montreal. Through all those shows he was a centrist. He was also an automaton of the Clinton party-line. Whatever the issue of the hour, whatever the Clinton scandal in need of defense, Mr. Dean was there. We taped on Saturday mornings, and it often occurred to me he had been sent the Clinton "talking points" the night before. He had them down pat. He elucidated them smoothly. He loves politics.
To the surprise of all of us on the panel, this rather ordinary governor from a rural state actually contemplated taking on Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.

[msgadget]

18. I can see that,

yes, especially since many here view Dean as anti-DLC and by pairing him with Clinton he appears anything but.

But, why the faint praise or even the attention? They don't want a pro-life dem as DNC chair.

[janx]

19. It's the talking point. Freepers are already lapping it up from two

difference wingnut sources (note how Freeper #1 interprets the article):

Moderating Dean (Howard could be back -- as the Clintons’ man.)
The American Spectator ^ | 1/6/2005 | R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315066/posts




Dean for Chairman?
townhall.com ^ | 1/06/05 | Emmett Tyrrell

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315053/posts

[msgadget]

21. He knew they'd either never read the whole thing through

or would latch onto the Clinton connection...and they did both.

[janx]

17. About your question--

It's not so much brilliance as it is organization of media. For instance, now that Tyrell has blanketed this talking point in three major wingnut sources of propaganda, watch for it to be repeated on the wingnut talk shows, etc.

Talking points and messages are distributed and repeated ad infinitum.

[msgadget]

20. Organization of media and the words they use.

Did you catch Perle on Fox and in a Newsmax article blaming Powell for the occupation of Iraq right after he was non-renewed? It was nowhere in the msm but their sites and stations had a little shadow ops thing goin' on.

Whatever their motives, Dean is in their sights.

[JNelson6563]

12. An interesting article for sure

So many little things. For one thing Dean is always referred to as "Mr. Dean". Not "Dr." or "Governor". Not even news-story style of first reference full name (Howard Dean) and subsequent mentions, last name only. No. It's "Mr. Dean".

I wonder what he means by that? ;-)

Frankly I don't see him painting Dean so much as a hard leftie but, worse in Rethug "minds", he works hard to make sure Dean is as closely associated as possible with the *gasp* Clintons. Booga! Booga! Booga!!

Funny how hard they work to keep the Clinton-boogey-(wo)man thing alive and kicking but you sure don't hear 'em talking about a real boogey-man, Osama bin Laden.

Julie

[janx]

13. The MISTER title is meant to be demeaning.

Did you notice the reference to the question of a 2008 run at the end of the article?

[JNelson6563]

25. Oh yes, I agree 100%!

They fear him. They always have.

Julie

[janx]

15. ALSO--

I noticed that this column of Tyrell's appears in two other right wingnut publications as well:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050106-082217-6943r.htm

They're pushing it.

[Cheswick2.0]

22. it means Tyrell is as clueless as some people here at DU

by trying to stick Dean and those who support him into some box they recognize.

This cracks me up.

[janx]

24. Well they seem to be on some kind of a roll with it--

;-)