Free Republic

As Saddam fell, so did the media big-wigs who used to believe that they shaped American public opinion. SOME TIME in the morning of April 9, 2003, as the statue of Saddam Hussein was being hauled down in Baghdad, another statue--of Walter Cronkite, famed CBS newsman--hacked at with hammers by various bloggers, also came crashing down. Cronkite, once called "the most trusted man in America," was believed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to have turned the American public against the Vietnam War. This time, Cronkite had done his best to turn the American public against the war in Iraq, but...

September 29By Gerry DalyPublished September 26, 2001In any social movement there is a vanguard and a mass. On one side, the vanguard, are groups of people who are more resolute and committed, better organized and able to take a leading role in the struggle, and on the other side, the mass, are larger numbers of people who participate in the struggle or are involved simply by their social position, but are less committed or well-placed in relation to the struggle, and will participate only in the decisive moments, which in fact change history. The Marxist theory of the vanguard, in ...

Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle often sounded uncertain about the war in Iraq, but not about North Korea -- the United States had to absolutely, unconditionally, give in to North Korean demands for bilateral talks about the communist nation's nuclear program."I clearly believe," Daschle said in January, "that the only way now for us to successfully deal with the North Koreans is to enter into direct talks, to make sure that we have people sitting across the table to address the concerns specifically enunciated by this administration -- and they can't do it too soon."He wasn't alone. Sen. Ted Kennedy...

The two commentators were gleeful as they skewered the news media and antiwar protesters in Hollywood. "They are absolutely committing sedition, or treason," one commentator, Michael Savage, said of the protesters one recent night. His colleague, Joe Scarborough, responded: "These leftist stooges for anti-American causes are always given a free pass. Isn't it time to make them stand up and be counted for their views?" The conversation did not take place on A.M. radio, in an Internet chat room or even on the Fox News Channel. Rather, Mr. Savage, a longtime radio talk-show host, and Mr. Scarborough, a former Republican...

Besides the Bush Administration, the big winner of Operation Iraqi Freedom is the Fox News Network. Fox News' ratings jumped to 3.3 million average daily viewers, while CNN had 2.65 million and MSNBC trailed in third place with 1.4 million daily viewers. Fox News' success is causing considerable handwringing among the would-be gatekeepers in the "mainstream media." Today, The New York Times worries about the baleful "Fox News Effect" on journalism. "I certainly think that all news people are watching the success of Fox," groused Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News in the Times. "There is a long-standing tradition in...

Cable's War Coverage Suggests a New 'Fox Effect' on Television By JIM RUTENBERG The two commentators were gleeful as they skewered the news media and antiwar protesters in Hollywood. "They are absolutely committing sedition, or treason," one commentator, Michael Savage, said of the protesters one recent night. His colleague, Joe Scarborough, responded: "These leftist stooges for anti-American causes are always given a free pass. Isn't it time to make them stand up and be counted for their views?" The conversation did not take place on A.M. radio, in an Internet chat room or even on the Fox News Channel. Rather,...

WASHINGTON - Like the unslakable thirst for campaign money and the constant huddling with lobbyists in Capitol Hill cubbyholes, oddball alliances have long been a feature of Washington's rich political tapestry. But a meeting that took place in the Senate dining room two weeks ago stood out for its especially peculiar pairing. There, Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), who once ran for president on an abortion-rights platform, sat down for lunch with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Christian-fundamentalist preacher and educator. Specter said the purpose was to talk about ways to bolster support for Israel on Capitol Hill. But the...

The Pentagon is more trusted than the media. U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld never said the war would be easy, but it was. The media said it would be another Vietnam, but it wasn't. In the battle of credibility, the CBC and the New York Times lost, and the U.S. government won. Arab armies are better at oppressing their own people than at fighting wars. Saddam was ineffective at fighting 300,000 allied troops because his army was trained to fight 24 million unarmed Iraqi men, women and children. UN policies towards Iraq are driven by...

April 14, 2003 -- ONE byproduct of war is often a major change in media and news reporting. In the Civil War, photography was born. In World War II, Edward R. Murrow brought radio into its own with his dramatic reports of the Nazi blitz on London. In Vietnam, television became pivotal as images of bloodshed soured American backing for the war. The Gulf War saw the growth of CNN as all-news television became essential. In the Iraq War, the public may well have learned not to trust the broadcast networks or the establishment newspapers. Never before have Americans had...

04-10-03- Well, it appears that the message is getting across that the majority of Americans have lost their patience with celebrities bashing our president and it's taking a toll, "We're very saddened". Check out this story from Page Six Today- The high cost of Bush-bashing  JANEANE Garofalo's relentless bashing of President Bush might have doomed her new ABC sitcom. Garofalo is set to play a producer of a TV newsmagazine on "Slice O'Life." But ABC has been deluged with calls and e-mails from patriotic types threatening to boycott the network and its advertisers if the sitcom gets on the schedule,...

Shock and awe campaign routs liberals Liberals are no longer a threat to the nation. The new media have defeated them with free speech – the very freedom these fifth columnists hide behind whenever their speech gets them in hot water with the American people. Today, the truth is instantly available on the Internet, talk radio and Fox News Channel. No wonder liberals accuse Matt Drudge of absurd sodomic acts, call Rush Limbaugh a "big fat idiot," and say "really stupid people" watch Fox News Channel – as anti-war actress Janeane Garofalo said between assuring us that Saddam Hussein has...

BASRA, Iraq, April 8 (UPI) -- Something fundamental has happened to the British and U.S. media during this war. Those who have spent time on the front lines with the coalition troops, whether embedded with individual units or traveling independently through liberated Iraq, have learned to love the military. Time after time, they saved our necks. They put our soft-skinned vehicles behind their armor when the shells came in. They told us when to duck and when it was safe to move. They shared their food and water with us, and were embarrassingly grateful when we let them use our...

BASRA, Iraq, April 8 (UPI) -- Something fundamental has happened to the British and U.S. media during this war. Those who have spent time on the front lines with the coalition troops, whether embedded with individual units or traveling independently through liberated Iraq, have learned to love the military. Time after time, they saved our necks. They put our soft-skinned vehicles behind their armor when the shells came in. They told us when to duck and when it was safe to move. They shared their food and water with us, and were embarrassingly grateful when we let them use our...

<p>Despite the Bay Area's reputation as a hotbed for anti-war dissent, the overwhelming majority of residents support U.S. military action in Iraq, a Field Poll released today shows.</p> <p>The first statewide survey published since the war began last month found that 3 out of 4 Californians support U.S. efforts to remove Saddam Hussein from power, a figure that mirrors national polls on the same question. The poll also found that California's opinion of President Bush had risen since the war began, reversing a yearlong downward trend.</p>

The Shock of Truth Is Blowing Minds Exclusive commentary by Patrick Rooney Apr 7, 2003 George Bush has done something remarkable—his relentless prosecution of the war on terrorism has had the effect of a hand grenade, tossed into the collective minds of the world’s doubters. Some conservatives like myself have had our assumptions challenged. I once looked at the world as kind of a losing proposition. I saw the corruption and billowing federalism in America. Though I could see improvements on a small scale around me, our Founding Fathers’ vision of a shining beacon on a hill was slipping away:...

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