ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style6 { height: 69px; } h2 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style7 { width: 133px; } .style8 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } .style9 { font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr> <td height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style7"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140" class="style6"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" class="style6"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td height="2" class="style7"></td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Duped by the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curt</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>is<a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright July 21, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style8">&nbsp;G</span>iving the Obama administration a big fat black eye, right wing blogger Andrew Breitbart scored some points accusing Agriculture Dept. employee Shirley Sherrod of reverse racism at a NCAAP conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart, who s run the popular conservative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Drudge Report Web site, cleverly cut-and-pasted Sherrod s about her 24-year-old comments about supposedly not helping a white farmer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> Breitbart portrayed Sherrod as reverse racist, prompting Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to fire her July 21.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> When the White House realized they had been duped, the White House quickly apologized and offered her a new job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I m sorry, declared President Barack Obama, hoping to undo the damage caused by  this misfortune. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Breitbart s right wing hoax showed the White House vulnerability to a right wing s stealth tactics before November s midterm elections.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Since Obama s inauguration, if not before, conservatives went into assault mode, using the nation s formidable conservative media outlets to attack the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart s out-of-context quotes was only one small piece to an extensive network of right wing columnists, TV and radio talk show hosts, led by Democrat nemesis Rush Limbaugh, have continued to hammer away at the president s policies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offered his sincerest apologies  for the entire administration for believing and acting on Breitbart s charade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> He was willing to destroy me . . .in order to try to destroy the NAACP, said Sherrod, considering suing Breitbart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart hosts several conservative Web sites, including Breitbart.com, a news site disseminating articles attacking the Obama administration, is one of the key Internet forces behind  the vast right wing conspiracy. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>When the White House listened to the entirety of Sherrod s remarks to the NAACP, they realized they d been duped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Right wing commentators, including FOXNews Bill O Reilly and Sean Hannity, The Hill s Dick Morris and Rush Limbaugh, all rushed to judgment, pointing out the left wing s hypocrisy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This is a good woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>She s been through hell . . . I could have done and should done a better job, said Vilsack, profusely apologizing for firing Sherrod.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Letting their guard down, the White House couldn t detect the oblique angle from which the attack came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart s reporting displays the heavy right wing bias in today s media, finding any excuse with which to attack the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Conservatives Web sites and talk shows have engaged in a long twilight battle since Obama was sworn into office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Administration officials can t defend against a superior PR force. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Recent derogatory statements about the Afghan War by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele raised eyebrows inside the GOP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials haven t given up yet but face an avalanche of criticism and bad news about the War in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Reporting on FOXNews, the conservative Washington Times and other such Web sites, Breitbart offers no thread of intellectual honesty only pernicious propaganda to advance conservative causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s been a vociferous critic of Obama s bailouts, the economy, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, health care reform, supreme court picks, etc., all, like other right wing operatives, to return the GOP to power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since things are looking up this November, Breitbart thought he could pour-it-on fabricating something defamatory about a key employee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>White House officials must do a better job at countering right wing subterfuge.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Breitbart did his job putting the White House on the defensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Forcing the administration in to damage control mode, derails the ordinary agenda of controlling the news cycle over passing the biggest financial overhaul since the 1932 Glass-Steagall Act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart couldn t sit idly by while the president got any credit, for the financial reform bill or recent progress on capping the Gulf s the four-month-old oil leak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Whether on the Internet, conservative publications, TV or radio talk shows, conservatives must twist the historical record to win back the Congress and eventually the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Intenet or cable news has become so biased toward liberals of conservatives that most readers have no clue what s going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Few nonpartisan, politically neutral news sources exist anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Readers must read between the lines or face a perpetual brainwashing from the left or right.</p> <p class="style9" style="tab-stops: center 3.0in right 6.0in"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Sherrod s firing displays the extremes to which right wing will go to distort the facts and bend voters minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart s fabrication, while hitting the headlines, is a commonplace occurrence, routinely occurring on conservative Internet, TV and radio talk shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Obama considered a Federal Communication Commission parity act, requiring equal amounts of left and right wing programming, conservatives squawked about the First Amendment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Breitbart s hoax should alert Democrats that the right wing will stoop to anything to win the next round of elections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Asked whether Vilsack got his marching orders from the White House, the 59-year-old Agriculture Secretary said,  no. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I am accepting the responsibility with deep regret, Vilsack accepted blame at a press conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Yet Vilsack and White House officials need to take the vast right wing conspiracy more seriously.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis </b>writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He&#x2019;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style7"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td height="1" class="style7"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homecobolos> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>