AUG 1 - 15, 2004

VOL. 2 ISSUE 15

AUGUST 7, 2004 – The impotence and ineptitude of the Democratic Party has led to the setting of a dangerous precedent by frustrated liberals who feel voiceless and unrepresented.

Much has been made of Michael Moore’s latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11.  In it’s typical right-wing biased fashion, the media has allowed the Bus/Limbaugh echo chamber to prod it to run a slew of articles attacking or questioning the integrity of the film – all the while not a single article has been written in any of these news sources pointing out the daily lies Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and others have been spewing, not just for one two hour film but for hours and hours each day, every day.

In fact, Dick Meyer of CBS News actually did a column comparing Moore and Limbaugh, not citing facts that prove they lie comparably but simply using the echo chamber’s accusations of Moore to say he is just like a Limbaugh for the left.

Now all of this is part of the nonsense that led Moore to make his film in the first place.  The right-wing domination of the media makes it impossible for liberals to get their message out, or, as Moore sees it, to get even basic honest coverage of the news that presents more than just the President’s propaganda.  The game is to create a setup where liberals are bullied, and if they stand up for themselves and correct misinformation by the right-wing blame and lie machine, they are called just as bad.  That is the game Gingrich and Limbaugh helped to initiate and which the entire non-Moderate Independent press goes along with.

Moveon.org has tried to do its part to counter this, most recently by taking on Pravda-like propaganda station FOX News.  Their crusade started by the release of a video, titled Outfoxed, which actually went from video to theatres this past weekend (the opposite of the usual film cycle.

Again, the lie-and-smear right-wingers try to bash the documentary.

Now, while these attacks on Moore and Moveon.org may be entirely out of line, and in fact the comparison of Moore to Limbaugh is so out of line, unsubstantiated in scope by reality, and an unfair comparison for to be made, still what Moore and Moveon.org have done sets a very bad, dangerous precedent for the nation.

Propaganda films were a regular staple of Nazi Germany.  While Moore and Moveon may be honest and simply filling a void, that they have to resort to a combination of guerilla tactics and Nazi/Soviet-like propaganda filmmaking is a horrible turn of events.

And, worst of all, seeing the financial success Moore has had with his movie, you can bet the right-wing will jump into the fray.  They will love this medium for the reason the Nazis did – like talk radio, you completely control all sides of the conversation.  It is only a matter of time until Bush/Limbaugh/Murdoch productions takes advantage of this new medium to further propagate their lies and distortions – in fact, you see they already have, putting up on the Bush campaign website a “documentary” claiming to show John Kerry flip flopping on Iraq.

Of course, it turns out that if you look at the video and read the transcript you see they don’t actually show a single contradiction, but instead try to make it seem Kerry is contradicting himself by taking his quotes out of context and splicing things together in a way that makes it seem like he is saying things he is not.

Now this may be terrible, this may be nothing like what Moore or Moveon did, but it is still to the point.  Republicans have already taken to abusing this new medium.

And you might notice, not Dick Meyer nor any of the media that assailed more with headline story after headline story has had word one to say about this intentionally, obviously dishonest and misleading “documentary” put out directly by the Bush campaign.

In the end, if the situation remains as is, the Republicans will dominate this situation as well.  And so you might ask what else are Moore and Moveon and the entire non-Bush/Limbaughian world supposed to do to get their message and the truth out?

The simple reality is the biggest threat to our nation is not George Bush or Rush Limbaugh, it is Terry McAuliffe and Pat Leahy.  The ineptitude, impotence, and absolute uselessness of the Democratic leadership has both allowed the lying Bush/Limbaugh right to come to power and left their own people voiceless and unrepresented to the point they have had to create their own non-party party.

It is the Democratic Party that should be outfoxing Fox.  It is the Democratic Party that should be getting out the reality about President Bush’s Saudi ties, getting out the story about the fear mongering, getting out the story about how 9/11 has nothing to do with random people hating us but instead is just Reagan/Bush I blowback.

But if there is one thing you can rest assured about the current Democratic Party is that it really doesn’t matter what policies they claim to stand for, in the end you know they won’t stand for what they stand for.

What does the DNC exist for?  To communicate the views and promote the policies of the people they represent.

In this endeavor, no one can question that the party has failed miserably.  Their people feel voiceless.  They feel they have to take to the streets, the web, the theatres simply to get a few basic facts shared with America.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have set up a massive communication network to get their views out, their party leadership constantly and swiftly stands up for their policies and people.  Think about the fact that, even with the media so right-wing biased at the moment, you do not hear peep one from the Democratic Party or any Democrat about the bias.  Meanwhile, the Republicans have been bashing the media for decades.

In fact, instead of bashing the media and taking action such as setting up a network of their own or at least boycotting Fox News, telling all Democrats to avoid going on the station, McAuliffe arranged to have three of the primary debates hosted by Fox, and Kerry and the rest of the Democrats regularly help give Fox legitimacy by appearing on their station for interviews and crossfire shows.

Even beyond not boycotting Fox or setting up a communication channel, though, is the simple reality that the Democratic Party, even if it had a network of its own, would not be able to simply speak truth and claim back their portion of the national conversation.  They are wimps and “nice guys,” they are, as with Leahy, people who you tell to their face to “fuck yourself” who simply pretend it was never said.  They are people who can’t even speak truth to hang 9/11 duly around the necks of the opposition party that caused it.  They are a party that clearly doesn’t have the stomach, patriotism, or balls to simply stand up for what they stand up for.

And make no mistake, Democrats are aware and believe in all of these things.  When they are amongst themselves they bash Fox and hang 9/11 around the Reagan/Bush buildup of Osama and Saddam.

But then they sit on the 9/11 panel and allow absolute lies to be put in to cover up that fact in the Commission’s report. (see article: September 11 Report's Integrity Suspect)

In the end, Ralph Nader actually had a point when he said there is no difference between the two parties.  In fact, though they may seem diametrically opposed, they are two sides of the same story.  The Democrats are the helpless, begging side that complains about “the powerful” and “the rich” who abuse them, and the Bush Republicans are the powerful and rich who want to keep everyone else down so they don’t have to share their riches and exploit the lowly people to help increase their wealth, power and leisure time.

Together, they make up the two sides of a typical third world nation.

Dick Meyer is right that we don’t need Republicans putting out one-sided crap on AM and the Democrats putting it out in theatres.  Not only does it, in the long term, solve nothing, it makes things far worse.

The Democrats may feel they have finally gotten a voice out there thanks to Michael Moore and Moveon.org.  But three hours total of having their say doesn’t counter the three hours every single day Rush Limbaugh gets, on top of Hannity, Elder, Rantel, Drudge, FOX News, etc., etc., and in fact all they will have really accomplished in the end is giving the Republicans the go ahead to abuse yet another medium with their dishonest propagandizing.

If Moore and Moveon really wanted to help fix things, they need to either entirely replace the leadership of their chosen party or strike out to form a new party of their own.  The Democratic Party is useless and cannot seemingly be fixed.  Moore and Moveon together could form what would be a useful party.

But they would have to step to the middle, otherwise they would simply become a Nader who helped one party and hurt the other, helping America not at all and having no real chance at winning.

If Moore and Moveon actually care about America as they claim to, stop following in the footsteps of Nazis and instead follow in the American path and form a new party that actually speaks truth, stands up for what is right, and communicates it all in a useful way, defending what is best for all Americans.

In other words, come join the hordes of us Moderate Independents who seek to create a new, useful media that serves the American people regularly rather than putting so much effort into getting one big scream out there which quickly disappears into the void, only to be replaced by a thousand screams from those who seek to destroy America.