FOX'S TEXBOOK LIBERAL SMEAR TECHNIQUE

I don't get the Fox News channel anymore since I downgraded my cable to "limited basic." But the always video-fabulous Crooks and Liars feeds me the most outrageous bits, so I'm still able to get a buzz from my O'Reilly outrage whenever I want. Indeed, it was an O'Reilly sub, John Gibson, who recently went past outrage into far flung absurdity.

It was a Cindy Sheehan hatchet job. You know, the media darling mother of an American soldier, who died during the invasion of Iraq, who is currently holding an anti-war vigil outside the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Since it has become obvious that the press is taking her seriously, the right wing has gone into overdrive in their frenzy to discredit her. Gibson's approach was to tie her to as many hot-button liberal words and names as he could, you know, the standard right wing traitor list: the Communist Party, MoveOn, Michael Moore, George Soros, Bill Clinton, rock throwing anarchists from the 1998 WTO protests in Seattle (accompanied by footage of black-masked weirdos running around the streets menacingly), that sort of thing. Gibson's guest consultant flatly stated that her supporters "want socialism," and believe that her image is much more appealing than that of an "eighth year Ph.D student in a nose ring and ponytail," because they don't want to show their "real face."

It was textbook right-wing propaganda, using buzz words and images that have worked for them in the past. The only weakness is that it was so over the top, but I'm sure that Fox's regular devotees didn't notice. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this segment was aimed at the faithful, lest the media deluge of stories about a grieving mother should make them faint of heart. At any rate, it's quite amusing. Check it out.

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