As you can imagine I've been following Scotty McClellan's book publicity tour with some interest. Each interview he gives seems to reveal more and more about the tactics of the Bush clan. This latest Fresh Air interview was particularly interesting. He went into detail about the direct pipeline between the Bushies in the White House and their friends in the media. About how the pundits would get packets of exact talking points to repeat over and over.
This is just disgusting. O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, they live off the reputation of the entire media to sell themselves as independent sources of information. While all along they are simply unofficial spokespeople for the White House and for the Republican party. Not that this is news, but to hear it confirmed, just makes me upset and angry. The pundits love to talk about how they dissented on Harriet Meyers, but that was once during an eight year administration. They dissented just once! How is that independent?
The 'left wing' media, if there ever was such a thing, never got 'talking points' from the Clintons. The Clintons had a press secretary who gave the party line and the news chose to report on that or not. They weren't sending packets of talking points around to every AM radio jock.
What the right wing calls fair and balanced news is far from. It's simple coordinated propaganda. It amazes me that even with that machine Bush still has the lowest approval rating of any Presidency (*).
* Stolen
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