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Politics : FREE AMERICA -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (11763)	9/20/2006 8:26:27 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

highly recommend this book for your education maybe your nanny can read it to you: "The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina by Frank Rich The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina Cover Publisher Comments: New York Times columnist Frank Rich examines the trail of fictions manufactured by the Bush administration from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, exposing the most brilliant spin campaign ever waged. When America was attacked on 9/11, its citizens almost unanimously rallied behind its new, untested president as he went to war. What they didn't know at the time was that the Bush administration's highest priority was not to vanquish Al Qaeda but to consolidate its own power at any cost. It was a mission that could be accomplished only by a propaganda presidency in which reality was steadily replaced by a scenario of the White House's own invention-and such was that scenario's devious brilliance that it fashioned a second war against an enemy that did not attack America on 9/11, intimidated the Democrats into incoherence and impotence, and turned a presidential election into an irrelevant referendum on macho imagery and same-sex marriage. As only he can, acclaimed New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivers a step-by-step chronicle of how skillfully the White House built its house of cards and how the institutions that should have exposed these fictions, the mainstream news media, were too often left powerless by the administration's relentless attack machine, their own post-9/11 timidity, and an unending parade of self-inflicted scandals (typified by those at the New York Times). Demonstrating the candor and conviction that have made him one of our most trusted and incisive public voices, Rich brilliantly and meticulously illuminates the White House's disturbing love affair with "truthiness," and the ways in which a bungled war, a seemingly obscure Washington leak, and a devastating hurricane at long last revealed the man-behind-the-curtain and the story that had so effectively been sold to the nation, as god-given patriotic fact. Review: "This blistering j'accuse has vitriol to spare for George Bush calling him a 'spoiled brat' and 'blowhard' and his policies, but its main target is the PR machinery that promoted those policies to the American people. New York Times columnist Rich revisits nearly every Bush administration publicity gambit, including Iraqi WMD claims, Bush's "Mission Accomplished" triumph, the Swift-boating of John Kerry and the writing of fake prowar letters-to-the-editor from soldiers. He uncovers nothing new, but his meticulously researched recap-cum-debunking complete with appended 80-page time line comparing administration spin to actual events builds a comprehensive picture of a White House propaganda campaign to bamboozle the public, smear critics, camouflage policy disasters and win the 2002 and 2004 elections through trumped-up security anxieties. Along the way, he pillories a sycophantic media (Bob Woodward gets spanked hard), spineless Democrats and an infotainment culture that happily accommodates the Bush administration's erasure of the line between reality and fiction. Sometimes Rich's critique of Republican politics as cynical image-manipulation goes overboard, as in his 'wag the dog' theory of the Iraq war as a Karl Rove electoral maneuver; more often, though, it's on target. The result is a caustic, hard-hitting indictment of the Bush administration, timed to make a splash in the upcoming election campaign." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)Review: "Occasionally the right man is at just the right place at exactly the right time with precisely the right tools, and something of real value results. This is one of those occasions; Frank Rich is that man, and his new book, The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina, will be of particular value to those still struggling to bring this historical moment into focus." Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Review: "Though the administration may be remembered as the worst in American history, the people seem mostly silent. One wishes that Rich had explored that particular mentality along with the others he so fluently discusses." Kirkus Reviews Review: "If Rich is correct, which I think he is, the Bush administration has given hypocrisy a bad name." New York Times Review: "Rich offers a time line of events and commentary that makes the case that the government has played fast and loose with the facts regarding Iraq for political advantage." Booklist Synopsis: A New York Times columnist reviews the trajectory of fictions spun by the Bush administration from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, revealing the most brilliant spin campaign ever conducted.

To: longnshort who wrote (11763)	9/21/2006 10:54:37 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 14758

The UN on the US: 'We like Iran better' Manchester Union Leader ^ \| September 21, 2006 \| Editorial unionleader.com At the United Nations on Tuesday, the fanatical leader of a totalitarian regime that routinely executes homosexuals simply for being homosexual received a warmer welcome than the world's pre-eminent champion of democracy and personal freedom. That is how much of a joke the U.N. has become. Yes, yes, President Bush is unpopular because of the war in Iraq. But his message on Tuesday was one that echoed the founding ideals of the United Nations. Yet instead of meeting with applause, the President's call for increased freedom and democracy met with derision. Those ideals are not what the United Nations stands for anymore, if it ever did. The U.N. now represents the interests of a rogues gallery of thieves, thugs, bullies and dictators. Its heroes are men like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Both command autocratic regimes that oppress their own people and deny them basic human rights. Role models for aspiring tyrants, they are. That they also energetically poke sticks at the United States only enhances their reputations inside the diplomatic world's Shangri La. President Bush's great sin was not invading Iraq without the Security Council's blessing. It was pressing for democracy and human rights in countries that would rather ignore both. The United Nations exists to provide those regimes a cloak of respectability. Bush has removed the cloak. For that he, and the United States, cannot be forgiven.