The mainstream media in this country fall for conservative propaganda so often, it is maddening. They puppet Republican talking points, over and over again. Now, we have yet another example in how they have fallen into the trap of thinking that critics of the Iraq War now suddenly believe it is going well.
In the video below we explain what a load of bull that is:
This is the Associated Press article we refer to in the video above. And if you type in "Iraq Critics Concede Military Progress" into a search engine, you will find that hundreds of media outlets ran this fake story because of the Associated Press.
The reality is that Michael O'Hanlon is an original signer of the Project for a New American Century (these are the people who thought it would be a great idea if we invaded several Middle Eastern countries to bring them "freedom," starting with Iraq). He even wrote an editorial with one of the chief neo-conservatives in the country, Fred Kagan, in April, 2007 saying what a great idea the surge would be. But now the lemmings in the press repeat the insane talking point that this man, who is an ardent proponent of the Iraq War and the surge was a critic of the war. Please. Of course, he's going to say the surge is working -- it was his idea in the first place!
This is terrible reporting. Unlike the right-wing, we don't want to destroy the press in this country. We want to help them to do a better job. You don't have to skew the facts in our favor, as the right demands all the time (they couch this in terms of "neutrality" -- if the press was unbiased, then they would give equal weight to the conservative and liberal points of view, no matter who was right). We, on the other hand, want you to report the truth, no matter what side it falls on. We ask for this because we have the benefit of knowing that "reality has a well-known liberal bias."
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The Media Falls for Conservative Propaganda -- Again
Posted Aug 11th 2007 5:25PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Media, Young Turks, Republicans, Video
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. It's not strictly that the mainstream media falls for conservative propaganda; it's that the mainstream media IS conservative and is OWNED by conservatives! Some of the reporters are not conservative, but their BOSSES are! And who controls what gets in the news?
Steve Hill at 6:15PM on Aug 11th 2007
2. As a American that doesn't listen or read American news (BBC) only you get to know the real stories and news around the world.
Is the surge working
95% of Iraq isn't under the control of the Iraqi gov't--break down in Iraqi congress (Kurds and the Suddi's will not sign the oil deal with Exxon)--95% of Iraq does not have running water--no food being grown in Iraq at all--No electricity (99% of Iraq has none-but Baghdad has less then 1 hr a day)
So now less look at Baghdad where the suger should be working--killings everyday-Who lives in Baghdad-30,000 American Troops, 15,000 America contractors and only 3,000 Iraqi's. Still only 2% of Baghdad have running water--water isn't drinkable--and all of the food being brought in by the UN.
Is the Surge and is the Surge working for the Iraqi's?
Dancerpl2 at 6:37PM on Aug 11th 2007
3. ....."trap of thinking that critics of the Iraq War now suddenly believe it is going well".
The problem with and your buds Cenk, is that you want the United States to lose. This is understandable, you're a fan of Jimmy Carter. i.e the United States is in decline and is the source of all trouble in the world.
Well, the surge is working, and the United States is winning. Now that's bad news for you and your pals Cenk. The left has little use for people who have out lived their usefulness....remember Cindy Sheehan?
willet at 7:34PM on Aug 11th 2007
4. ^We're winning?!?!?!?!?!?!?! We're losing lives by the day. This is the worst foreign policy disaster in history. They should send all you neo-cons to fight the war.
For political commentary & blogs, visit:
http://www.politidose.com/
Patrick at 8:13PM on Aug 11th 2007
5. I agree with Dancer about BBC news. It is one of the best sources of news. Also Jim Lehrer on PBS - Jim does strictly news - no fluff. Needless to say, his ratings are dismal compared to the networks.
David S. at 8:24PM on Aug 11th 2007
6. Of course it isn't working. It was never going to work. Willet, it is not a matter of wanting America to lose, which is nonsense, and shows an astounding refusal to see reality. How do you figure we are winning? Is the country more peaceful, safe, and pleasant to live in? Are the various resistance groups surrendering and being defeated? Have a majority of Iraqis suddenly changed their minds and decided they want us there after all? You have no real idea of the situation, and when people try to present it honestly, as not everyone carries your "America the invincible" delusion, you accuse them of not only lying, but wishing that we would lose. Conditions in Iraq are appalling, people are bombed and murdered every day, including our forces, political reconciliation is not happening, and people in both our country and theirs want us gone. Here's a question, if we went there to help and aid the Iraqis, and theyre now a democracy, should we not listen to the majority of the population that wants America out? Or perhaps you could explain to me, and the rest of us, how having our brave soldiers stand on street corners as targets for car bombs is a winning strategy? Your belief in the war is delusional to say the least, if you really do feel that "victory" is about to, or even able to be achieved. What, if we just "stay the course" at a cost of about 100 soldiers a month, eventually everyone fighting us will just give up and go home? As for your assertion that they "blame America first," I'd like to ask who you think is at fault. Did another country unilaterally invade a sovereign nation without enough troops or international support with insufficient gear, planning, or strategy, sparking off a civil war and never considering the possibility of resistance or internecine warfare, whose strategy, after years of disintegrating conditions, made the dramatic shift from "wait it out our enemies will go away, just keep setting up road blocks" to "wait it out our enemies will go away, just keep setting up road blocks" with a few extra troops. Despite the fact that control of this war has solely and completely been held by this administration, I fully expect the failure to be blamed on Democrats, even though they have not made any of the decisions. Oh yes, a tidbit for you; Petraeus, that fellow in charge of the Iraq war at the moment, has said we need to be there for another 9 or 10 years. Mission Accomplished! Well, not really. It's a real shame that it is our soldiers who are paying the price for the ignorance of people like willet, rather than those who are ignorant.
Eric
Eric Barlow at 8:37PM on Aug 11th 2007
7. Keep it up Turks. We need you.
JamesLevin at 9:54PM on Aug 11th 2007
8. very well put eric barlow
i also fail to see in what way shape or form
we are succeeding in Iraq.
To me, this war is a result of a buisness and personal vendetta on the part of the Bush family for some deal gone bad.
In short, Bush Lies, we die. To speed up the end of this unjust war lets start drafting the children of the rich and the politicians. I guarantee the troops will be home much sooner.
George Morales at 10:10PM on Aug 11th 2007
9. Bravo Cenk!!! Thanks for bringing to public attention a great part of how the dumbing down of News (propaganda) is accomplished. For too many years now I've pointed out the utter lack of real hard NEWS reports. How can facts come to light when the rush to bring together a news SHOW for broadcast too often relys upon selecting daily topics and then editing to suit a network standard. What we have across the board on TV are mere talking heads, all with very little substantive information. Please Cenk, keep sounding the alarm, I'm becoming a maybe - fan! You at least have recognized part of all media news problems and brought it to light, now perhaps some solutions can begin to take place>Keith Olberman is one more sorta real reporter of NEWS!
Steve at 10:11PM on Aug 11th 2007
10. I spent two years in Vietnam and this
is nothing like it. There we fought
the North and the Democrats tied our
hands behind our back. There we lost
more than 58,000 dead in ten years and
the Democrats were not against the
war untill they wanted back into the
White House.
There we seen more than a million die
after we turned our back on some good
people and we let them get killed. It
left a bad taste in my mouth and I do
not want to have to go through what I
felt when we ran then all over again.
The Democratic "far left" want us to
tuck our tail and run from bin Ladin
as he has said to defeat us in Iraq is
what he needs.
I do not want Bin Ladin to do anything
but face his maker. Does the left think
we will not see pictures of people that
are being butchered by these extremists?
Why don't they see it was the terrorists
that were killing both Sunni and Shiite
to start a civil war. The hard left news
never said that, they kept saying
sectarian violence and never said anything
about Iran supplying weapons to kill
Muslims on both sides. If we reported it
to the ones in Iraq that these care only
about themselves, some would be bomber
might not do it. Neither the ones leading
the terrorists or the ones leading
Iran care anything about Iraqi people as
long as they can defeat the US and the
left media play right into their hands
just as they did in Vietnam.
Why do it again?
William Ehlert at 10:25PM on Aug 11th 2007
11. The Young Jerks are at it yet again.Talk about propaganda! ALl the libs want to do is DRAG this out so they can control the govt,as i recall all the libs were also screaming "go get 'em" after 9-11.Funny how soon the moronic libs forget and how quickly they try to be "polictically correct".yeah people DIE.its called WAR,but you woudn't understand that would you?You are the type to throw a rock then run and hide.If you had any guts you would be fighting alongside your FELLOW libs,who also believe in what they are doing.We are not fighting iraq,we are fighting TERROR,there is no country for that,they are worldwide,they just happen to be concentrated there.I hope all the people who died on 9-11 come to you in your dreams,or all this would be in vane.You wouldnt understand that either.go back and hide under your rock,or better yet,move to a country that wants to hear you BS over and over.Libs have traded faces so many times its pathetic.Carter was perfect? Clinton? HAHA yeah right.Go hide and let REAL AMericans protect your sorry behind.When we are done we will find you and kick your A also.
Brad Kirkland at 10:44PM on Aug 11th 2007
12. Sadly, the so-called "liberal" media is almost as big a tool for the Republicans as the Republicans' own propaganda network, aka Fox "News".
Dan Griffin at 11:48PM on Aug 11th 2007
13. About the only comment that seems appropriate is, the turks are jerks! Anyone thinking that the mainstream media has a conservative bias, must be blind and deaf. They have already demonstrated the dumb part.
Tom at 11:57PM on Aug 11th 2007
14. 9-11! 9-11! 9-11! By god, are you not listening? I invoked the Day of Infamy! So many people died, and all because of a terrorist network! That we... um... didn't go after in Afghanistan right away even though we knew there were high-ranking members there. But Sadam! Sadam! Boo! Hiss! He helped Bin Laden! Or... wait. Didn't those two guys hate each other? Well, whatever, they're Not From Round Here, so they gotta die!!! I'm sorry? No, I'm not going to donate money to the Tsunami Relief Fund! Screw those people! They're taking our customer service jobs, the jerks! I don't care if exponentially more people died in the tsunami than died in the Twin Towers. They weren't 'merican!
necgray at 12:10AM on Aug 12th 2007
15. Sarcasm aside... Mr. Ehlert, I know what you're saying about 'Nam. We pulled out and left decent people to clean up our mess and you don't want that to happen again. I'm sure all the ground troops in Iraq feel the same. Nobody's asking you to stop caring. Nobody's saying that they LIKE the idea of pulling out or that they WANT to abandon the country. What we're saying, those of us who want to see a withdrawal, is that we're doing those people more harm than good by sticking around. Withdrawal is the lesser of two evils at this point.
necgray at 12:11AM on Aug 12th 2007