Seven Step Plan for Media Domination and Opponent Destruction by Cenk Uygar 2005 posting

[democracy1st]

It sickens me how easily Democrats fall for the traps that conservatives set for them. It’s a little stunning that these party leaders haven’t caught on to how this game is played, so I’ll lay it out for them. This is the quick and easy Seven Step Plan for Media Domination and Opponent Destruction used by conservative television and radio talk show hosts on a regular basis:

Step One:

Select the strongest person on the other side – and target him for destruction. Attempt to destroy his credibility in the mainstream media, so that reporters will be skeptical of him and eventually his own party will disown him.

Step Two:

Comb through all of the speeches of the target. Fine one to two sentences that can be taken out of context and beat to death. Portray these few, isolated statements as extreme.

Step Three:

Repeat Step Two eight hundred times until three things happen: 1. Every time, the target is mentioned, the audience will think of only the charges you have repeated ad nauseam. 2. The conversation is no longer on the topic at hand but about what your target said about the topic. 3. Your target sounds like an extremist simply because you have repeated the charge enough times.

Step Four:

Co-opt the mainstream media into doing your dirty work. If you keep talking about one issue long enough (e.g., Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, what Howard Dean has said), the mainstream media will feel like it’s an important issue “everyone” is talking about and will be “forced” to cover it.

Step Five:

Get the targets own party or allies to turn on him by admitting – after lengthy and ceaseless questioning from the mainstream media, as well as, the conservative talkers – that what was said was not right or prudent. And then after this is repeated a couple of hundred times, even your opponents will start to believe that your charges against the target have a lot of validity.

Step Six:

Get your opponents to take down their own people for fear that they will keep getting asked the same annoying, senseless questions from you and your proxies. And the reason they will give is the one you conveniently planted – the target has become a distraction.

Step Seven:

Laugh as hard and as long as humanly possible that you just got the media, who you call liberal, and your political opponents to take down their own man because he had become a distraction when in fact the whole point of the exercise was to distract the media and your opponents from the real issue. Pat yourself on the back for killing two birds with one stone – destroying your target while avoiding the real issue – and making your opponents look weak and ineffectual. Laugh one more time.

Here’s what Senator Biden should have said when asked on the Sunday morning talk shows about Howard Dean’s comments:

“Who wrote that question for you? Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity? You are spouting a senseless, conservative talking point. Howard Dean obviously doesn’t mean that no Republicans work for a living. He made a simple misstatement in the heat of the moment because he was justifiably angry at what this Republican Party and its leadership has done to the average working family in America. How they have saddled them with over $25,000 in debt for every man, woman and child alive. For how they have lost over a million jobs in five years. For creating the largest deficit in United States history. For rewarding companies that outsource jobs to other countries. For ignoring their real problems – the rising cots of gasoline and out of control health care prices. For sending their sons and daughters into an illegal war based on faulty assumptions and outright lies. Under the circumstance, wouldn’t you be angry? Aren’t you glad someone is angry? And that someone is fighting for you, even if he fights a little too hard at times?”

The media responds to pressure. If we keep backpedaling, the conservative and the mainstream media will keep rolling over us. If we respond with strength, they will be the ones who start to backpedal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/seven-step-plan-for-media_b_2236.html

[WillyT]

1. HUGE K & R !!!

Thank you for this!

:yourock:

:hi:

[BattyDem]

2. He figured this out 6 years ago ...

and the Dem s STILL don't have a freakin' clue! (I'm not just talking about Weiner - I'm talking about the way they always seem to "mishandle" the press and the message.)

Either the Dems incredibly stupid ... or we are. :(

[felix_numinous]

3. They are adept at taking down strong people on the left

while Democratic leadership backs down from the fight every. single. time. They just leave people out on a limb. There is no back up for progressives, all talk and no action.

These are apparently the best lawyers in the country--right? So why can't they untangle themselves out of a simple non violent consensual sex scandal--this is the freaking 21st century!!

[yurbud]

4. that sums it up pretty well