The Democrats are falling into the trap set by the Republicans

[still_one]

In my view the ABC pseudo 9/11 series will be the reason for it. What is being done, and no one seems to focus on it is a magnificent diversion from the issues that will define the elections in 2006.

This pseuo documentary presents the Democrats with the opportunity to finally debate the Iraq war, something that should have been done 4 years ago before we went in.

If there are falsehoods in the film expose them, but do not try to have the film banned.

Use it as an opportunity to debate the Iraq war.

Use it as an opportunity to show that the recommendations of the 9/11 commission have NOT been implemented

Friday it was announced that the so-called link between Saddam Hussein and bin laden or al queada was not there.

This is major news. You still have 40%+ of the people in the U.S. believe there was a link. Where was the immenient threat of mass destruction which was justification for the invasion into Iraq in the first place. This is why thousands of American soldiers are dead, because of a war based on a lie. WHY ISN'T THAT THE ISSUE BEING DISCUSSED? It was a direct result of this administrations actions

So what is the major news today or yesterday?

Not Iraq, not the rising number of forclosures, not the failures of Iraq or what appears to be Afganistan. No, it is about a pseudo documentary.

Anyone notice how the failure of Katrina quickly disappeared from the headlines?

[ShortnFiery]

1. Bull! Parading propaganda as historical fact deserves our attention. n/t

[porphyrian]

2. "The Democrats" don't walk in lock step.

Assuming we act like republicans is a bad idea.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. The Dems need to continue to fight, not only this "film", but other

outrages, as well.

Right now, we are speaking with a unified voice. It's powerful and is making a difference.

We all know we can't control all the MSM propaganda. At the very least, we are loudly and resoundingly calling "Bullshit !" on this idiotic move by ABC/Disney.

Once the movie airs, or not, we must continue to loudly and strongly call BS on the cabal and their propaganda machine. MKJ

[Brian Stevens]

38. voices might not cut it nt

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

41. Whatever. Welcome to DU.

:hi: MKJ

[FloridaPat]

4. They can debate the Iraq war with the lastest gov't report that * lied.

They still have the Downing Street memos too. And they better grab it and run.

[Warpy]

5. Clinton is fighting the real fight

by siccing a team of rabid lawyers on them.

Others out there need to stand up and cry bullshit.

Rewriting history is important. Having a network using the public airwaves to broadcast lies meant to keep an anti American party in power is important.

However, yes, the candidates need to address foreclosures, low wages, disappearing jobs, and disappearing health care and other benefits.

I've heard nothing from candidates except that they're not Repugs.

I guess the DLC is still sending out wonks to tell them what to say to lure the mythical swing voter.

[dogday]

6. We are framing the debate that this Administration

and the Republican party have done nothing but lie to the American people over and over again... We will not allow them to try to change history... That is not the American Way....

[Mr_Spock]

7. You're way overthinking this

Neither the Dems or Republicans are organized enough to coordinate with a TV network to create some major distraction. Get away from DU for a while - your thinking is way too narrow and DU-centric.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. And this: use it as a way to highlight and open-up ....

>>>If there are falsehoods in the film expose them, but do not try to have the film banned.

Use it as an opportunity to debate the Iraq war.

Use it as an opportunity to show that the recommendations of the 9/11 commission have NOT been implemented>>>



...a broad ranging discussion of increasing RW bias... *generally*... in the MSM and on ABC in particular.

Our party leaders have been shying away from dealing with this. Pretending that it doesn't exist does not make the big bad bear disappear.

Just makes the big bad bear bolder. That's the lesson of the "Path".

[bryant69]

9. You might well be right.

It certainly makes sense.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Webster Green]

10. "If there are falsehoods in the film expose them"

Exactly where should we expose them? The White House and their cronies control the corporate media. The Dems are given precious little time to state their views or to expose anything.

[Jim Sagle]

11. Defeatist hogwash!

[still_one]

12. in what way

please tell me in my post what signaled I was defeatist

please expose me, so everyone can see that I am surrendering to the powers that be. Maybe I am suggesting that we use it as an opportunity against the opponent, DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT

[PoiBoy]

13. I agree with both of you...

..we must not allow a major media corporation to get away with attempting to pass off a pack of lies as truth.. this is a very important moment for us, IMO, in that this issue has energized the base like nothing I've seen recently. Over 200,000 signatures on just one petition out of at least four petitions out there as of early yesterday is encouraging...

I also agree that the issue is getting spun so much that it distracts from the other just as important issues out there, but I think its our responsibility to multi-task on these issues and point them out to our circle of friends, family and whoever will listen every chance we get.

Like you say in the OP regarding all of these important issues.., "This is major news..." .. I agree with you totally, but the reality is that we have NO "major" news organizations with any credibility anymore, none who are willing to stand up and ask the hard questions.

So what can we do? IMO, we get proactive... become a squeaky wheel, start a blog and/or an egroup, link to sites speaking to the truth, and support those sites who are swiftly becoming the new media. At the same time, we need to challenge ABC, FOX and the rest of the corporate media at the FCC... challenge their licenses, protest the affiliates and sponsors, and get behind our elected officials who will pass legislation for fairness and accuracy in the media.

JMHO...
poi

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Almost 2 months. Almost 60 days.

That's the length of time between now & the election. That's enough time for a shark attack story, another bogus child-killer story & 1 or 2 girl-in-vegetative-state stories. There's plenty of time, in other words, to have this one out & let people see how the media are manipulating them, and then use this basic information base as a filter to help them view all the other Puggy lies that will be coming down the pike. The timing couldn't be better. Just as the Puggies are starting to ramp up the propaganda machine, the first big lie out of the box gets exposed as a total piece of crap. This is a teachable moment. The public is more ready than ever to let go of their idealized portrait of the Bushies and let the scales fall from their eyes. Let every subsequent Swiftboat attack be met with the "Just Another Pathetic PT911" meme.

[bowens43]

14. Nonsense. This issue does NOT give them

opportunity to finally debate the Iraq war. First of all it has NOTHING to do with the war in Iraq. Secondly they have been debating the war in Iraq for many months.


Katrina disappeared from the headlines? gee... it happened over a year ago. Why isn't it still breaking news? Thats just silly.

[still_one]

18. Really?

They justified going into Iraq on two issues, one was WMDs and the other was 9/11. They are NOT debating this, they are debating how we should get out of Iraq.

Why is Katrina MAJOR NEWS? Not only because VERY LITTLE has been done in the last year, but THOUSANDS of people are still sufferring because of it, and it exemplifies the failures of this administration.

[treestar]

28. The right is using the anniversary of 911, so using the anniversary of

Katrina seems fair enough.

[Toots]

15. WOW...I'm in awe

You can chew gum and walk at the same time.....Absolutely amazing...:shrug:

[Seansky]

16. Nope, history over and over and over proves your argument wrong

because the public doesn't operate the way you assume it does AND neither will the media. Who would give enough airtime and proper venue to do a strong enough counter argument WHERE the truth would be exposed????

Unfortunately, corrupt and ineptitude is part of humanity and in our case, the public is just so distracted dealing with their daily economy that won't find time or energy to go further deep into the what really happened. What they will hear and can afford the time to is "This is another example of Bush admin manipulations to take what belongs from you away from you"

Swift boating works because of this and the only way to brake it is head front, think about the efficiency by which the Clinton admin was slammed about the sex scandal...that's how the public operates...those that are more educated, intellectual and/or financially stable (at least enough) can afford the effort that it takes to get deeper into these matters. The 43+ million uninsured, the millions whose income is barely making end meets, the large amount of burnout seniors struggling with the existing confusion of medicare and part D, the difficulty of finding new jobs, the gas, the gas the gas which continues to increase the food prices at the store...That is what is getting to the avg. citizen and with that priorities in mind, what we need to focus on is,

Look what this admin does to you, manipulates the facts to continue in power, while you and your family pays for it with your hard earned dollars...Hitting this show with everything we have and pointing out how it reflects this admin actions across everything other thing we care about is the best we can do right now...Look at every single scandal in our political history and you'll see what does work and what hasn't

[bridgit]

19. i disagree, i think that as with a bully crack addict, the republican...

party has had it's way with a sad little neighborhood for so long that it feels it can just walk, or break into each & every home, and storm troop any item, or heirloom, or memory from the lives of others, read here: the lives & sorrowful memories of the 9/11 victims & survivors, and everyone in america that coalesced around that national tragedy, that crystallized moment in space/time

they have squandered it all, and bought themselves more crack instead, ABC's 9/11 docu-gibberish will be seen as their greatest waste of time & money

conversely, the ABC 9/11 docu-gibberish will be that one hole in the dyke that 'the little dutch boy who cried wolf' will not be able to plug in time

[BootinUp]

20. IT IS A DEBATE ABOUT CAPABILITY TO LEAD THE WOT!

PLEASE WAKE UP DEMOCRATS AND FIGHT!

[Kagemusha]

21. So every kid in America should be raised to blame Clinton for 9/11 now?

You'd prefer that?...

Because that's what this film and the Scholastic Books effort was gonna do.

[still_one]

24. That is not what I said

but I appreciate my words being misrepresented

How much do you want to bet that ABC will NOT pull this pseu-documentary?

[Kagemusha]

26. I'm stating the alternative to "falling into the trap".

The alternative is having our nation's kids learn that 9/11 was all Clinton's fault without that assertion being challenged. Currently, only SOME of our nation's kids learn that from their parents, what they overhear from Rush Limbaugh and conservative entertainment and conservative-biased news sources, and from home schooling.

The alternative is teaching our nation's kids that 9/11 happened because Democrats were running the country in the preceding years, and the best way for future 9/11's not to happen is to never again allow Democrats to run the country.

[still_one]

30. Your point could be a possible outcome

but it also could be an opportunity to expose the constant lies NOT only in this pseuo-documentary, but also the lies and abuse of power in almost everything this administration has pursued

What concerns me is that the eye will be taken off the ball.

This is only the first of many things that will be used to distract the public, and if we respond appropriately we will expose them for what they are. However, if this turns into a circus side show we will lose

[Kagemusha]

35. You cannot control 'the' eye. You can only control yourself.

The fact of the matter is, the progressive side of politics does not have control of the media and will accomplish nothing by acting as if that is the case. In theory it'd be wonderful to keep 'the eye on the ball'. However, watching the ball and ignoring the oncoming freight train will accomplish nothing. The freight train needs to be dealt with because it is there. If it was not, it'd be a different story, but it is.

[C_U_L8R]

22. Shine a bright light on the lies

and expose the liars.

It's better to show this film
and unveil the republican fraud.
They really can't stop themselves from acting like crooks
(and there's no reason we should save them from themselves)

Let the fuckers indict themselves
THEN we can hoist them on their own petards.

[still_one]

25. That is pretty much what I said

[Skidmore]

23. We are NOT effin' VICTIMS. I refuse to be one!!

I refuse to have my intelligence insulted and to participate in the perpetuation of lies and death and destruction. The failures of Iraq, Katrina, foreign relations, Korea, and Iran AND the media are all parte of the same thing. We battle the hydra and we battle two win or we just lay down and offer ourselves as victims to its maw. Katrina will come back--it's never gone away. Believe me, those images are in peoples consciousness along with * reading the children's story book on 9/11 and him looking out of a plane window from afar, distanced from pain and human suffering in his own little bubble. The people are smarter than that. We teach them that they are not victims and they have control of events. We fight the battles as they present themselves and anticipate the next one over the horizon.

WE ARE NOT VICTIMS.

[Hubert Flottz]

27. "Use it as an opportunity to show that the recommendations of the

9/11 commission have NOT been implemented"

Use it as an opportunity to show that the 9/11 commission itself was a waste of time because the White House never told the truth about 9/11. Did everything they could to hide evidence. Appointed a chair person who was a partisan hack. Failed to have an independent legitimate 9/11 investigation.

The families of the victims of the attack on 9/11 were not satisfied with the 9/11 investigation. They knew it was a farce!

[Cerridwen]

29. So, what would the "news" have been had we not said anything?

Well, let's see, maybe the corporate owned media would be promoting the crap out of it anyway?

Maybe the corporate owned media would be telling us about how the Democrats are weak on terrorism/war/military/crime...

Maybe the corporate owned media would be reporting that Democrats have no strategy to catch bin Laden/fight terrorism/fight crime/solve all the world's ills...

Maybe the corporate owned media would give us another story about a report that proves global warming is a myth

Maybe the corporate owned media would report on another story about another report that proves that environmental activism is responsible for the lack of jobs in the U.S. due to the "high costs" of following environmental regulations

Maybe the corporate owned media would report on yet more studies that "prove" the dangers of marijuana

Do you really think that if we weren't pointing out the lies is the 9/11 mockumentary that the corporate owned media would be discussing the important issues of the government's failure before, during and after Katrina; that they'd be discussing the lies that led up to the war; the massive disparity of wealth in the U.S. and around the world; or anything else that might show that 95% of the people in the U.S. are being relegated to indentured servitude to the 5% (including those who mistakenly think they'll actually make it into the 5%)?

[still_one]

31. if you read my post, I DID NOT say be silent

I said "If there are falsehoods in the film expose them, but do not try to have the film banned"

This could be played as an opportunity to expose the lies and unite , or it could be a distraction. It is all about how we frame the argument

[Cerridwen]

42. Silent, banned, whichever, my main point was...

how would either have impacted what was reported in the corporate owned media.

"...we frame the argument". Since when? Since when do "we, the people" frame the argument?

That was my point.

[xchrom]

32. you couldn't be more wrong. the stated goal of folks like

paul weyrich or lynne cheney and even newt gingrich -- is to gain control of history and education.

this about promoting their version of nativism, nationalism and racism

not unlike hate speech -- which is never effectively battled with more speech -- it must be confronted and FORCED to stop at it's roots.

or it will run you over.

ther is no effective liberal or democratic party equivalent to the alliance of conservative corporatists, politicos and religous nutbags.

if we don't fight them at every turn then they will win by drip by small drip -- til the american soul is poisoned beyond recognition.

[still_one]

33. It is not that we don't fight them, it is how we fight them

Use it as an opportunity to expose the lies, not a distraction from the consequences of 9/11

[xchrom]

34. there is no amount of ''more'' speech or ''better'' speech that

can counter the kind of hammer and anvil that something like the path to 9-11 represents.

this show -- among other tactics -- is about shaping an american people that conservatives -- both corporatists and religous -- want.

this begins to come down on the american people like moses and the ten commandments.

[still_one]

36. True, but it can also work in our favor

http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20060908%2Fap_on_go_co%2Firaq_report%3B_ylt%3DAtFGvN3uqufaGBwM.UB0hves0NUE%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[Kagemusha]

37. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

'Nuff said...

[BootinUp]

40. Hell, people don't read these reports

They sit down and flip on the tv, "....oooh, a special on 9/11 on the 5th anniversay, lets check that out. Oh, look they are slamming Clinton , I always thought he should take more blame for 9/11. Bush has gone to war, why didn't Clinton?"

[xchrom]

43. first of all -- it's well known for a long time

that saddam and al queda were not friends -- NOW we have this report -- while saddam = 9-11 has taken on a solidified substance in approximately 1/3 of the country.

it took years to even get it down to that number -- simply allowing a television show to misrepresnt history as fact doesn't help or open opportunity -- it closes it.

[Keefer]

39. Why would this be a time...

...to debate the war in Iraq? Isn't this "docudrama" about 9/11? Maybe I'm dense, but I don't get it.