I’m Sick of Divisive, Dishonest Destructive Media Manipulation

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
Carl Sagan

Obviously an Obama presidency will not vanquish the overwrought, pompous media demigods but if he wins perhaps FOX, National Review Online and others will spend more time talking about issues that matter- like the economy, the budget, foreign policy. Certainly an Obama win will discredit the incessant focus on Bill Ayers and the demarcation of certain sections of the country as“pro-America”. I truly hope that a victory by the Democratic ticket will increase the level of respect and improve the quality of public discourse.

One of the best things about living in the “information age” is the ability to cross check references on any and every subject. Of course the information consumer must separate the reliable resources from junk science and extremist rants. My guess is that most people rely on one to three sources for most of their information. It is not enough to have numerous sources we also need balance. Alas it is much easier to reject entire information sources as “elite liberals” or “liberal media” than it is to research, analyze, listen and discern.

I seek balance in my information. I listen to various points of view on a frequent basis. I grew weary of Rush Limbaugh- long before his repeated incidents of prescription drug abuse and quite awhile before his third divorce- but I read NRO and Instapundit. Even though I weary of their numerous commercials for tax lawyers who specialize in resolution of IRS tax liens, Fox News is a prest button on my car’s satellite radio.
Much, not all, of what is broadcast on Fox News fails to meet the standard for “fair and unbalanced” news.

“Obama and Friends: History of Racialism.” (Six sections of this video can be found on youtube) is a representative example of the standards at Fox News. It was viewed by three million people.

One of the “consultants” who collaborated on the documentary is David Bossie. On camera Bossie uses innuendo, guilt by association and assertions without evidence to portray Obama as a dangerous man but it is actually Bossie who has been discredited in the past. In the mid nineties he was an investigator for the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. He was fired for editing tapes of Webster Hubbell. He edited the tapes to create the impression of billing irregularities in the law firm where Hubbell worked with Hillary Clinton. Editing to create a false impression, he cut out sections that cleared Hillary of any wrong doing. He is a liar. Bossie was canned by Republican Congress bosses. Bossie has been strongly condemned by Republicans for unethical conduct. President George H.W. Bush, filed an FEC complaint against Bossie's group after it produced a TV ad inviting voters to call a hot line to hear illegally and probably doctored tape-recorded conversations between Clinton and Gennifer Flowers. Bush said of Bossie's organization, "We will do whatever we can to stop any filthy campaign tactics"; and that his son, George W. Bush, sent a letter to 85,697 major donors urging them not to contribute to the group.

There are many other incidents of Bossie’s unethical actions and self promotion. His “work” is so slimy and his contributions to the documentary doo not meet standards for research or accuracy that would be required in a high school journalism class. Any news organization that uses Bossies’ work fails the “fair and balanced test.”

Bossie has fewer credibility problems than another or Fox’s “expert” panelists, Andy Martin. Martin is such a whacko that he was barred from admission to the Illinois bar in the 1970’s in part because his Selective Service records showed his thoughts exhibited “a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character.” There are many examples of his bigotry. In 1983 in his personal bankruptcy case he called a judge a,, “crooked, slimy Jew.” In court papers he said, “I understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did.” Martin has been barred from filing Federal lawsuits without preliminary approval.

Martin ran a TV commercial in New Hampshire that accused George W bush of using cocaine and admits to being behind the false rumors that Obama is a Muslim and, as a lame excuse for spreading lies he says, “when the facts aren't all there.... you are allowed to draw an adverse inference." Ahhh- no you’re not. Just because someone refuses to talk to you it is not ok to make up stories about them.

Despite his instability Fox allowed him to assert that Barak Obama was organizing people to overthrow the government and that the presidential candidate is linked to Castro. I am not making this up!

Martin and Bossie were major sources for the hour long documentary in which Hannity asserted that not much was known about Obama’s time at Harvard. Whey didn’t Fox he interview or give air time to any of the people who elected Obama as head of the Law Review? Several of his classmates and fellow members of the Law Review went on to work in the Bush administration but I guess Fox rejects them as “liberal elites.”

I know that it is entirely possible that an Obama presidency will actually fuel the Fox fire of sensationalistic attacks and fear based journalism but a strong turnout for Obama will be evidence that the majority of our fellow citizens are not willing to be bamboozled anymore.