{"article":{"id":119201,"heading":""Democracy Now" Propaganda for Electoral Fraud and Fallujah Massacre, by Scott L","author":"Scott Loughrey","created":"2004-11-13 18:58:59","modified":"2013-11-11 00:31:39","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:31:39","article":"Note: Thanks to the Webfairy for the images which are reproduced under Fair Use guidelines.<\/em>

\r\n\r\nOn November 3rd, 2004, John Kerry conceded the Presidential race to George Bush\r\nwhile hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots were still uncounted in Ohio. Either\r\nhe quit believing that he could not win—or something more sinister happened. Specifically,\r\nI’m referring to the possibility that Kerry was never running, that his campaign was a\r\ncharade. Technically this idea implies that something very similar to a coup d’etat\r\nhas been executed in the US, since a political organization has retained power\r\nwithout an election.

\r\n\r\n#file_1#\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\nQuestions about Kerry’s lackluster “campaign” are natural when considering how\r\nlethargically he waged it. For example, his campaign simply skipped the\r\nMarch for Women\r\nprotest in Washington, DC. (Held on 4\/2\/04, it drew 1.2 million, high-energy\r\npeople many of whom enthusiastically supported him.) Many commentators\r\nhave also noted that Kerry was swept into the role of\r\nDemocratic front-runner after the mainstream media abruptly\r\nsabotaged\r\nHoward Dean’s effort. In addition, much has been said about Kerry and Bush’s\r\nsimilar station and ties to the same mysterious Skull and Bones fraternity at Yale.

\r\n\r\nWe should also take note of Democracy Now!’s revealing programming on 11\/3, 11\/4,\r\n11\/5 and 11\/8\/04. (DN is an immensely popular hour-long daily news program\r\nwhich airs on Pacifica Radio and which is reportedly now owned by its\r\nleading figure, Amy Goodman.) At no point during this period did DN have\r\nsomeone mention that a single company had counted sixty\r\nmillion votes. While DN provided some useful information during this\r\nperiod it provided no single fact (like Christopher\r\nBollyn’s claim) that would galvanize the dejected Left into action. In addition,\r\nI will argue that DN served a propaganda function for the pending US assault of\r\nFallujah. Not bad for a news resource that many anti-war activists regard as a treasure.

\r\n\r\n\r\nDemocracy Now! – the Aftermath of 11\/2\r\n\r\n11\/3 Broadcast\r\n\r\nIn reviewing the news shows aired by Democracy Now on 11\/3, 11\/4, 11\/5 and 11\/8\/04\r\nit is clear that DN was very narrowly framing its discussions about the\r\nPresidential election. For example, on the (two-hour) 11\/3 program host\r\nAmy Goodman mentions an email she received asking why Kerry quit with\r\n“a quarter of a million provisional ballots” still uncounted. As if\r\nspeaking for the Kerry campaign she asks rhetorically whether a candidate\r\nis entitled to quit.

\r\n\r\nAll of the other people who appear on DN’s 11\/3 program authenticate the election\r\nresults. DN producer Jeremy Scahill impatiently compares Kerry’s quick\r\nconcession with the weeks-long, post-election suspense in 2000. (Phyliss\r\nBennis later draws the same comparison.) In addition, guests Mahdi Bray and\r\nPacifica National Board member Leslie Cagan all affirm that Kerry lost an\r\nelection that he was seriously contesting. Michael Ratner expresses only a\r\nmarginal amount of concern over the uncounted votes in Ohio.

\r\n\r\nAn ironic choice, Scott McConnell of the American Conservative Magazine\r\nappears for a lengthy segment. McConnell argues that Kerry quit because\r\nhe could not be regarded as the legitimate winner, having lost the\r\npopular vote. No one reminds the audience that this is exactly the\r\nsituation that Bush was in when first inaugurated.

\r\n\r\n11\/4 Broadcast\r\n\r\nEarly on the next day (11\/4) Amy Goodman asserts that Bush won the\r\npopular vote. She states that Kerry had quit because of a determination he\r\ncould not win. We then see an excerpt of Kerry’s concession speech. This is\r\nfollowed by an unusually favorable clip of Bush’s acceptance speech. In it\r\nBush is shown at his most likeable and conciliatory; i.e., Bush humbly\r\nasking for the support of all Americans.

\r\n\r\nCo-host Juan Gonzalez then proceeds into a lengthy segment. First, he’s\r\nastonished at how the Black vote largely went to the Democrats. Then\r\nGonzalez takes issue with the long lines that some people had to endure when\r\nvoting. Then Gonzalez cites voting irregularities with the New Mexico\r\nelection. (According to news reports most of the allegations of fraud and abuse\r\ncame from Florida and Ohio.) . Moving to the Buckeye State, Gonzalez is “amazed”\r\nthat Ohio is publishing voting statistics at the county and not at the precinct\r\nlevel. Then Gonzalez legitimates Bush’s claim he won in Ohio by arguing that it\r\ncame about from the inherent racism that goes along with that area of the country.

\r\n\r\nAmerican University law professor Jamin Raskin then appears for a long\r\nsegment. Raskin urges reform of the 225+ year-old Electoral College. He also\r\nlegitimates the results by suggesting it came about from the GOP’s use of\r\ngerrymandering. Following this author Esther Kaplan appears. She also\r\nvalidates the election results by claiming that the GOP won because of a\r\nbacklash against social concerns like gay marriage. (Goodman and Gonzalez\r\nagree with her.) Robert Parry is the last guest on. Parry validates the\r\nelection by explaining Bush won because of the conservative media infrastructure.

\r\n\r\n11\/5\r\n\r\nOn the 11\/5\/04 program Goodman says little of significance about the election. She\r\nmentions 4,500 lost votes in North Carolina. Also, she briefly mentions that\r\nVoteProtect.org reports over 1,100\r\ncalls to their phone number from people protesting the election.

\r\n\r\n\r\n11\/8\r\n\r\nOn the 11\/8\/04 program Goodman again brings up the issue of Kerry quitting the\r\ncampaign so quickly. However, she directs the conversation towards\r\n“…the use of the electronic voting machines...\" Then she proceeds to offer a\r\nbrief list of some of the irregularities with voting.

\r\n\r\nE-voting activists Bev Harris and Professor Aviel Rubin appear. Harris\r\ndiscusses her organization’s upcoming freedom of information\r\nrequest (FOIA) campaign. She describes her request as requesting audits of\r\nselected selection machines at selected, individual precincts. During Rubin’s\r\nsegment he advocates the use of paper audits. Goodman and Rubin both wonder why\r\nthere are so many who are not embracing the paper ballot panacea. Neither\r\nmentions the alternative of requiring the use of open source software with the\r\nelectronic voting machines.

\r\n\r\nAll in all, Democracy Now!’s news reports from 11\/3 to 11\/8 were so favorable\r\nto the outcome of those benefiting from the “election” that\r\nanti-war activists should\r\nreevaluate the integrity of this program and the people on camera.\r\nIf this weren’t enough, DN simultaneously provided a great\r\npropaganda service to the military with regards to their\r\nupcoming assault\/massacre of civilians in Fallujah.

\r\n\r\n\r\nDemocracy Now! and Fallujah Top<\/em>\r\n\r\nDemocracy Now!’s propaganda effort on behalf of the US military assault on\r\nFallujah is obvious when reviewing the 11\/5\/04 broadcast. Early on\r\nBush is seen at a press conference. Speaking about Fallujah the\r\nreporter asks him “What the objective is, stakes are for the\r\nUnited States, the Iraqi people, and the Iraqi elections coming up in January.”\r\nCuriously, Democracy Now! letter boxes both the reporter’s question and\r\nBush’s reply. Bush’s reply to the question appears smarmy, smirking,\r\nsadistic and rambling. However, the red letter box featuring animated sound\r\nwaves dispersing above Bush’s head distracts attention from Bush’s\r\nlack of statesmanship. The chaos that DN is inserting above Bush’s head is\r\nwindow dressing designed to improve Bush’s effectiveness.

\r\n\r\n\r\n#file_2#\r\n\r\n#file_3#\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nShortly after this Amy Goodman has on Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the\r\nHoover Institution. Diamond is also affiliated with the\r\nNational Endowment for Democracy. Goodman never mentions it but both the\r\nHoover Institute and NED are said to have long-time connections with the\r\nCIA. (So does Pacifica, apparently.)

\r\n\r\nGoodman and Diamond both discuss Fallujah with just their faces and\r\nbodies lit; the background is black. Diamond repeatedly states that\r\nthe objective of the US military is to remove the threat posed by\r\nAbu Musab al-Zarqawi. (As with any ghost story Zarqawi’s menace is enhanced by the\r\nlimited lighting.) Goodman never hints that there is\r\nenormous skepticism around the world about whether\r\nZarqawi is CIA fiction designed to justify the slaughter of Fallujah’s\r\ncivilian population. When Diamond concludes his presentation with only modest\r\ncriticism of the top military brass Goodman effusively praises him, saying:

\r\n\r\n“…this is very powerful coming from you, working at the Hoover Institution. We\r\nhear this from others, actually, in government as well, but\r\npeace activists, but for you to be at the prime Bush think tank in the\r\ncountry, for you, who was a senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional\r\nAuthority in Baghdad, is quite astounding…(Goodman, 11\/5\/04).” What\r\nhappened to the ‘Exception to the Rulers’ here?

\r\n\r\nSpace precludes conducting film analyses of the audio and visual\r\nmontages that DN aired in the four programs cited (from 11\/3 to 11\/8\/04). In\r\nbrief, they all appear to this author to be examples of cinematic\r\npropaganda designed to serve the Pentagon’s interests. The most obvious is\r\nthe video clip DN aired (11\/4) of a smiling Bush standing with his\r\nlovely wife and daughters (11\/4) as they wave to people off camera after\r\nKerry’s concession. Did Karl Rove select it?

\r\n\r\nIn conclusion, Democracy Now’s propaganda function on behalf of power was\r\nnever more transparent than in the aftermath of the 2004 Presidential\r\n“election”. If DN is not currently being sponsored by the\r\nCIA--it should be.

\r\n\r\nScott Loughrey<\/em>\n","contact":"notsaying@nowhere.com","link":"","address":"Cyberspace","phone":"555-555-1212","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Amy Goodman and 'Democracy Now' never have appeared more like CIA assets than in the aftermath of the November 2nd, 2004 "election".","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2004\/11\/bush_11_05_2004.jpg","filesize":"13.7 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2004\/11\/119201.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2004\/11\/bush_11_05_2004.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2004\/11\/bush_11_05_2004.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":119202,"heading":"Larry Diamond","article":"....Zarqawi...","author":"Scott Loughrey","parent_id":119201,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2004-11-13 18:58:59","modified":"2005-08-15 03:05:16","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/11\/larry_diamond_11_05_2004.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/11\/larry_diamond_11_05_2004.jpg"}},{"id":119203,"heading":"Amy Goodman","article":"...this is very powerful coming from...the Hoover Institution...peace activists, but for you to be at the prime Bush think tank in the country, for you, who was a senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, is quite astounding\u2026","author":"Scott Loughrey","parent_id":119201,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2004-11-13 18:58:59","modified":"2013-11-11 00:31:39","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/11\/amy_goodman_11_05_2004.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/11\/amy_goodman_11_05_2004.jpg"}}],"comments":[]}