Source of the "Forgery" Lies uncovered

[ConsAreLiars]

(Thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=291

-snip-
The source of his story, Cybercast News Service, is a well-known conservative ‘news’ machine headed by L. Brent Bozell III, who also serves as the head of the Conservative Victory Committee. CNS News was founded in 1988 to combat the “ liberal bias in many news outlets”.

Unlike Rupert Murdoch, whose empire includes the conservative television outlet Fox News, Bozell is not simply to be the leader of a conservative media company (the Media Research Center is also under his control); he has campaigned aggressively for conservative candidates, including Pat Buchanan. He is the nephew of conservative columnist William Buckley, and the son of Brent Bozell, Jr., who assisted Barry Goldwater with the writing of Conscience of a Conservative.

-snip-

His other ‘news source’ is a conservative blogger, who sits on the board of directors for a conservative thinktank.

Powerline blog is associated with the Twin Cities Northern Alliance Radio Network, a loose association of self-avowed conservative radio shows and blogs based in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The author, Scott Johnson is an attorney based in St. Paul who is associated and has written extensively for the Center of the American Experiment, “Minnesota’s Conservative Thinktank.”

[yardwork]

1. I think that these groups have a direct connection to the disruptors

who descended on DU in the past few days rapidly "debunking" the CBS broadcast. One of them accidentally wrote "CNS News" instead of "CBS News."

I believe that there are pr firms that hire people to troll internet sites and attempt to influence public opinion. They also hire people to alter online polls.

We lump all these disruptors as "freepers" but I think that most of them are not volunteers, they are paid operatives.

[SharonAnn]

3. Yes, there are PR firms who hire people to do this. They work the

Web all day/night long posting on all the sites where they might be able to affect things.

It doesn't matter what the "product" is. It could be a movie, or a new videogame, or a political campaign.

[ConsAreLiars]

9. They are organized with Talking Points - squads of paid agitators

We can learn much about how that operation is funded from this case study. Knowing the general outlines as published by Brock and others is one thing. Watching it work here and now is very instructive.

Professional agents operating under an assumed identity, working in cells, totally lacking all ethical constraints, tightly organized into cells of paid agents, tightly centralized, and with vaults of stolen gold behind them.

(And Congrats to Raw Story - I didn't notice the publisher at first)

[burythehatchet]

13. there's no doubt about it. I've long suspected these tactics were in play

[xrepub]

16. repug posters

<<We lump all these disruptors as "freepers" but I think that most of them are not volunteers, they are paid operatives.>>

The repugs maintain a website where they promise doodads such as mousepads and signs to people who post their junk on internet sites, or send letters to the editors. It's much cheaper for them than paying operatives. Of course, some of this low paid help produces posts that inadvertently work against the repugs.

[girl gone mad]

24. This is a big story, IMO..

They don't just post on internet message boards, they also do call-in shows. Ever wonder why CSPAN callers often seem so on-message (and sound like they are a few years short of a 6th grade education)?

I'm all but certain they recruit homeless people. Remember what Nader got in trouble for a few weeks ago?

We need a list of not just the bloggers involved in the forgery scandal, but the first media sources that came forward with the allegations. Remember that Lipscomb guy in the Sun-Times? Anyone who reported this story in the first two days should be under suspicion.

[yardwork]

39. I've seen this happen before on the internet

I saw this phenomenon at work while I closely followed a trial and posted to the Court-TV message board. A number of us noted a range of disruptions and media manipulation, as follows:

1. From the early days of the trial there were regular posters who were passionate supporters of the defendant. They had similar talking points - all carefully honed and on-topic. Sometimes they hinted about events that later took place in the courtroom. Their posts always steered the conversation away from incriminating evidence. They often deliberately muddied the waters to confuse other posters. Most interestingly, the same posters had different "voices." It was clear that more than one person was using the same poster name to make posts. Depending on the time of day, the same poster had different personalities, different spelling abilities, etc.

2. There were constant hit-and-run posters. They would post something insulting about the victim or posters who believed the accused was guilty, then disappear. Sometimes dozens of these one-time posters appeared in an hour, all with similar-sounding posting names.

3. The threads on the board had a rating system, and it was always "freeped." The vast majority of posters believed that the defendant was guilty, but the ratings of threads suggested the opposite. When the verdict was announced (the defendant was found guilty), the rating system crashed!

4. Call-in comments to court-tv during the trial were overwhelmingly in favor of the defense. They had suspiciously similar talking points.

5. Court-tv's on-line polls about the trial were constantly "freeped." No matter what happened in court, the polls indicated that viewers were overwhelmingly sympathetic to the defense, even when the prosecution made strong points.

6. The news reporting on the trial was hopelessly biased in favor of the defense. We later learned that one of the defense attorneys was having an affair with a local TV reporter. Not only that, we learned he had done the same thing in a previous trial!

The whole thing was so obviously being manipulated by a pr firm employed by the defense, a lot of us became very committed to posting positive feedback about the prosecution. We learned later that friends and co-workers of the DA were reading the boards, and our posts made them feel more hopeful.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Believable.

[Chelsea Patriot]

46. Bozo-ell is one Butt Ugly Son-of-a-Bitch!!!

All these Right Wing Media Operatives are so physically repellent:
Candy Crowley, Novak, Ann Coulter, Adam Nougraney...

Pretty is as Pretty does!

[grasswire]

4. Bozell...

...is also part of the nonprofit organization funded by Richard Mellon Scaife, Media Research Council.

[ConsAreLiars]

42. Info on Bozell and the LIES the MRC has spun to dumb/corrupt media

are covered here:
http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipients/mrc.htm
(includes more specifics on the memos, as well as other disinformation campaigns by the Media Research Center that have used the Big Lie approach)

Top funders (in no particular order) are:
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
Sarah Scaife Foundation
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.


and here: http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Media_Research_Center

[Doosh]

5. figures it was Bozo Bozell

[oasis]

6. They're paid but we're about to have our own little army of volunteers.

The freep/trolls will find the fruits of their labor dying on the vine.

[pengo]

7. Republican Spin

This is a classic example of Republican spin. They have effectively changed the subject from 'Did Bush go AWOL and disobey orders' to 'Are these documents forgeries'. Republicans aren't denying the content of the papers but are questioning their legitimacy. They know that _most_ people will confuse the two sufficiently so that the arguments are the same in their minds. The Kerry campaign needs to press the CONTENT of the documents and not get caught up in the details.

[ConsAreLiars]

10. The Kerry campaign will expose the criminals

He's done it before and he knows who they are.

[girl gone mad]

28. We can hope..

but they've got paid operatives inside of the media.

Guys who pass themselves off as being mainstream, maybe even as "liberal", but are getting a little extra on the side to promote the GOP agenda.

[yardwork]

40. I think it is even worse than that

Billions of dollars can buy a lot of corruption. Billions of dollars are missing from the Iraq budget. Billions of dollars in defense contracts are being awarded.

The news media - especially television and magazines - have a lot of conflicts of interest with partners and advertisers.

[Lefta Dissenter]

25. Welcome to DU, Pengo! (eom)

:hi:

[Pax Argent]

43. Welcome aboard, Pengo!!!

Did you name yourself for the Linux symbol or for the Pengo game back in the 80's?

[pengo]

44. Pengo

I'm an avid linux user. Didn't know there was a game. Thanks for the welcome. Nice to be among forward thinking folks. That seems to be rare down here in GA :(

[newyawker99]

45. Hi pengo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[UTUSN]

8. This Is Outrageous. Just Outrageous. n/t

[UTUSN]

11. Kick for Why-Is-This-Thread-Moving-Out?? n/t

[CatWoman]

17. well, looks like it needs another

:kick:

[starroute]

12. Bozell is yet another member of the Council for National Policy

That's a sort of umbrella group where the members of the vast right-wing conspiracy hang out together. SwiftBoat funder Bob Parry is a member. So is Morton Blackwell, the guy who was handing out the purple heart bandaids. And so is Bozell.

I don't know if they're conspiring together or if they just all think alike. But it seems more and more as though the real hatchet men for the Bush campaign all come out of the CNR.

[burythehatchet]

14. yeah, this is the real bushtail's campaign

what a group of patriots.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ConsAreLiars]

21. That particular point

is good example of misdirection. An endless debate on obscure trivialities.

Exposing the liars for what they are is a part of exposing the threat to democracy posed by this gang of corporatist warmongers and their underlings, hirelings, shills thugs and dupes.

[Lefta Dissenter]

23. HA

speak of the devil... :eyes: Fancy meeting you in this thread, too!

[EST]

29. You wanna punch him out or ya' want me to?

[Lefta Dissenter]

31. Oh, I'll let you do it

I punch like a girl. :D

[EST]

33. T'ank ya. Feel soo beeg an' tuff!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

32. He just keeps repeating the same BS over and over

the poor Mods have had a lot on their hands lately with idiots like this...

[EST]

27. Here's one--right here!

n/t

[AmyStrange]

38. Where are ALL the originals to ALL of Bush's TANG service...

because many of the charecteristics that prove the memos are fake are also characteristics of many of those other docs released by the WH concerning his TANG service. Either way Bush lied. You can't have it BOTH ways,

d

[goodhue]

18. wow

Center of the American Experiment is think tank for the MN GOP. Scott Johnson is well known right wing attorney here in the Twin Cities.

[VOX]

19. They lie, lie LIE! I am so sick of this right-wing tactic....

It's become such a familiar pattern, that I'm surprised that Kerry hasn't really prepped hard for it -- although the way it's played with such a RW-enabling media, maybe's there's no other way to work it.

The pattern: the RW lays out a stinker of a lie; the corporate media sticks it in their echo chamber; the RW might finally make a retraction or "refinement" (a la Cheney's lie about getting "hit hard"); but by that time, the news cycle has moved on, and some of the shit has stuck in the collective consciousness.

Which is why Republicans will say and do **anything** to get in power, and to stay in power.

[rawstory]

20. yay buzzflash for linking us!

They've started linking our stuff quite often now! ;) But y'all should come directly to Raw Story for this stuff -- we ran this article the DAY drudge started spinning these things as 'fakes.'

anyway. thanks guys for reading raw story! glad to see it's actually making a difference.

[ConsAreLiars]

34. yay rawstory !!!

(I didn't see the credit line until a second reading.)

Now that the "forgery" attack has taken place, the counter-attack depends on throwing a little more sunlight on the slime behind it. We know where these CNR types get their money (sort of), and we can see evidence of paid operatives doing the agit-prop scutwork. Can we expose the links to butthead (does "Buck Head" refer to his professional status?) or the self-declared expert? What PR firm is running the Rovian trolls through the net? Do CNR-Scaife ties up the media chain cross lead to the Heritage, AEI, operatives in the media? Lots to be exposed.

Watching how they work is sort of interesting, but knowing how their work is controlled is more.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lefta Dissenter]

26. AARRRgggggggggghhhhhhhhh

I am SUCH a sucker!!! I can't believe I clicked!!! :eyes:

[brook]

30. hahahaha...

so did I. It's cool now - just threw a little clorox on my hard drive.

[AmyStrange]

35. I did too and here's what I sent him...

" ...if the 60 Minutes II Bush docs are forgeries then many of the docs released by the WH concerning his service in TANG (Texas Air National Gaurd) are also forgeries, because they have the same characteristics (especially the small superscript "th") as the current 60 Minutes II Bush docs.

So I guess what you are saying is that ALL the TANG Bush docs are forgeries and that means the WH is releasing forged docs. That seems to me to be a BIGGER story than proving the 60 Minutes II Bush docs are "alleged" forgeries.

Either that or they are NOT forgeries and you don't know what you are talking about. I vote for the latter,

d"

[Ladyhawk]

36. I think the idea is not to get drawn into their reframing of the argument.

Um...no room for n/t in subject line. :)

[AmyStrange]

37. The arguement is that Bush lied...

And if the WH released forged docs - THAT makes ALL of Bush's service a lie.

And if the docs aren't forgeries (which I believe thay aren't forgeries) - THAT also makes Bush's service a lie too.

Either way, the WH (i.e. Bush) lied, and that's how I'm sticking on message,

d

[yardwork]

41. I'm nominating this thread for Front Page

I think it is very important to expose the little men behind the curtains who are really running the BushCo campaign. If you agree, please nominate!