Rich supplies the truth! When America was attacked on 9/11, its citizens almost unanimously rallied behind its new, untested president as he went to war. What they didn't know at the time was that the Bush administration's highest priority was not to vanquish Al Qaeda but to consolidate its own power at any cost. It was a mission that could be accomplished only by a propaganda presidency in which reality was steadily replaced by a scenario of the White House's own invention--and such was that scenario's devious brilliance that it fashioned a second war against an enemy that did not attack America on 9/11, intimidated the Democrats into incoherence and impotence, and turned a presidential election into an irrelevant referendum on macho imagery and same-sex marriage.
As only he can, acclaimed New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivers a step-by-step chronicle of how skillfully the White House built its house of cards and how
The institutions that should have exposed these fictions, the mainstream news media, were too often left powerless by the administration's relentless attack machine, their own post-9/11 timidity, and an unending parade of self-inflicted scandals (typified by those at The New York Times).
Demonstrating the candor and conviction that have made him one of our most trusted and incisive public voices, Rich brilliantly and meticulously illuminates the White House's disturbing love affair with "truthiness," and the ways in which a bungled war, a seemingly obscure Washington leak, and a devastating hurricane at long last revealed the man-behind-the-curtain and the story that had so effectively been sold to the nation, as god-given patriotic fact. http://www2.oprah.com/...
Ugly reality? By STEVE WEINBERG
Avid baseball fans might be forgiven for thinking of George W. Bush first as an owner of the Texas Rangers, then as Texas governor and U.S. president.
As a Rangers spokesman, Bush learned how to blur actual reality and false reality, according to author Frank Rich. "When catering to the rich by adding a profusion of luxury boxes to his new stadium, he hired an architect to camouflage the class distinctions from the hoi polloi," Rich says. As part of his strategy to fool Rangers fans, Bush "flattered reporters and sweetened the amenities in the press box."
Now, in a book that aims to prove that George W. Bush has lied over and over to the citizenry, the president of the United States and his dishonest advisers receive credit from Rich for one thread of truthfulness: Their admission that they make life-and-death decisions by relying on Christian faith rather than fact-based reality.
Rich's book is grounded in fact-based reality -- lots of facts, lots of ugly realities.
Like many commentators who can fairly be termed politically liberal, Rich has become unhinged by the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney White House. Rich's disagreements with the president and all his men (a few women, too) have been obvious since 2001. Unlike many other columnists, however, Rich has done his homework about the so-called war on terrorism, the invasion of Iraq, the reaction to Hurricane Katrina and other cataclysmic events.
My, has he done his homework. In an exhaustive -- and sometimes exhausting -- indictment, Rich catalogs hundreds of half-truths and undiluted lies communicated by the Bush White House to the citizenry it is supposed to serve honestly. Along the way, Rich indicts lots of journalists (especially Washington Post reporter/book author Bob Woodward, not to mention Rich's own New York Times colleagues), bloggers, Democratic politicians, Hollywood movie makers and others with a platform who could have helped disseminate the truth but instead kowtowed to White House fear mongers. He indicts untold millions of those without a platform as well, the voters (and nonvoter's) who constitute "an American culture that was an all-too-easy mark for the flimflam."
Although Rich was best known as the Times' theater critic before becoming a columnist, it turns out he possesses considerable investigative skills, as he follows the muckraker's maxim about proving what public officials knew and when they knew it.
For readers who might charge Rich with exaggeration (could a president and his staff really lie so frequently and so baldly?) or partisan political bias, he provides an 80-page timeline at the end of the book. The entries in the right-hand column "chronicle the story that was sold by the Bush administration and other relevant events, news reports or official statements that were known publicly at the time." The left-hand column entries "chronicle what the administration was learning behind the scenes about intelligence and other war-related matters, and not telling the public. The events in this hidden timeline were revealed publicly only later."
Rich understands that for the most part he is not breaking news: "While the controversial policy choices made by the Bush administration are well known, equally important is the way it dramatized its fable to the nation and made it credible to so many, even when it wasn't remotely true." But he also understands he is aggregating information unlike anybody else has done. The aggregation allows Rich to speculate in an informed manner about why so many lies occurred during such a relatively short period.
His answer: "to amass power and hold on to it."
All U.S. presidents have sought to amass power and hold on to it. Rich believes, however, that no previous administration has crossed so many ethical, moral and sometimes legal lines. The context provided by Rich is helpful and disturbing, especially as he demonstrates how President Ronald Reagan and his "image maven" Michael Deaver influenced Bush and his spinmeister Karl Rove.
Rich writes that when Reagan "cut any federal subsidy for the elderly, it was time for him to be televised surrounded by flags cutting the ribbon at a new nursing home. The pictures could be counted on to carry the day and to drown out any discouraging words from Reagan critics on the evening news. Bush and Rove took this playbook as a starting point and then upped the ante."
Bush and Rove perhaps do not care that Rich is suggesting they are congenital liars. But voters -- those who cast ballots for Bush during 2000 and 2004, those who despise Bush's presidency, and everybody in between -- ought to care. Billions of budget dollars and an untold number of lives hang in the balance. http://www.chron.com/...
This coincides with what many of us have known but can't get heard!
Bush allowed Katrina to run its course on purpose. He as you know is forming a new societal order as we all experience.
From 9/11 he has been following a plan. Fighting terrorism was not it. It was just the reason he needed to attack Iraq and start to implement his new middle east and world order. Please read the following and you will understand everything.
As you may remember, Bush was looking for something to happen that would put the country and the world behind what he already had plans to do. 9/11 gave him that something.
He had plans right from the beginning to establish a new societal, middle east, and world order. That is why it was important to him to whip up a media and public fury which of course, he has done.
He then used the excuse of 9/11 to attack Iraq and unsettle the middle east guaranteeing the loss of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the entire middle east. He did all this so he could further his idea of a new middle east and world order. Of course lying all the while and whipping up as much support and frenzy as he could in the media and minds he controls.
At this point it behooves him to continue to ignore reality and continue to whip up a frenzy so he can continue staying the course in order to further prosecute his new middle east and world order.
We are all shamelessly being used so Bush can follow his plan for new order. I wrote this 3 years ago but it is more obvious today. Let me know what you think? I won't get any deeper but it gets worse from here.
http://www.anaveragepatriot.com/...
Frank Rich gives proof to what many of us have known from the beginning. As Bush continues his lies by supporting Hastert and bragging Hastert will still be in his position after the elections we must put an end to these lies! we must end this lying power grab!
NY Times:The Greatest Story Ever Sold, One last telling review!
http://www.nytimes.com/...
James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com
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