Remember Rather!

[Lucid American]

Everyone, as we know, the grassroots effort here is the driving force of the campaign. We don't have designated editors like networks and professional campaigns -- hell, we don't know the guy next to us in these forums in most cases.

Remember Rather in all likelihood reported the truth in outing Bush as a lame national guardsman who shirked his duties through his connections and in so doing successfully avoided Vietnam. However, we also know that the media through which Rather risked this story turned out to be a forgery.

My own theory on this is that this was a master work of Rove, who decided once and for all to silence the question on Bush's service by discrediting a major network anchor and also serve as a warning to the rest of the mainstream media.

That's my own theory, and if so, it proved perfectly successful -- but that doesn't really matter in the end except to convey this WARNING TO THE GRASSROOTS!

We ARE the campaign, and therefore we MUST be skeptical about info discrediting other candidates so we don't lose our own credibility. PLEASE make sure you can verify claims that are too good to be true before making any major YouTubes or claims in the press.

Our credibility and principles of pursuing truth are our horse -- we must not allow ourselves to be knocked off that horse!

[Kingfisher]

Rather was CFR. Maybe he got out of line.

[RJB]

Rather was CFR. Maybe he got out of line.

He keeps making general accusations about the media that most people like us already know. However, he had such an inside look that if he was serious he could name some serious names. The problem for him would be he would be ratting himself out as well. Dan has no credibility.

[dircha]

Of course we should always strive to accurately portray other candidates, but remember that Dan Rather was a primetime, national broadcast news anchor, with paid research staff.

It was right for him to be held to a much higher standard.

But the thing is, I strongly suspect that the average American couldn't even tell you today what the controversy that lead to Rather's departure was. People really are that uninformed.

[Lucid American]

The point is, we need to make sure we cover our bases, since WE are the core of the campaign. We can't just run with any little juicy bit about a competitor, else we look like fools.

We have great credibility rolling here, we can't deflate it.

[JMann]

Dan Rather is a cock mite.

[fuzzybekool]

Dan Rather helped in reporting the lies the government was telling after JFK's murder.

[lucius]

"To give a little more background on publicly revealed psychological operations, in 1977, after the Congressional Church Committee investigated CIA manipulation of the news media, and right after George Bush Sr. left his post as the Director of the CIA, famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein searched a little deeper into what was known as Operation Mockingbird. He revealed that over 400 US journalists were actually carrying out clandestine CIA PsyOps services. Bernstein identified operations involving almost every major US news outlet, most notably The New York Times, CBS and Time magazine. The CIA responded to all of this with a “limited hangout.” A “limited hangout” is CIA speak for when classified information gets out and you have to make it seem as if you are “coming clean” with all the information on the operation, but in reality you are really just admitting part of the operation so you can cover up other deeper parts and continue the program. This worked very effectively for them, as the US public quickly moved on and this operation has largely been forgotten. Currently, I would estimate, with cable news and the Internet now, that there are well over a thousand covert operatives spread throughout the news media. They have a firm grip on television, newspapers, wire services, radio and magazines. However, with the Internet - that’s their weak spot - it’s too decentralized and difficult to control."

The Art of Mental Warfare: http://artofmentalwarfare.com/pog/category/features/