"I don’t want to dump all over Leopold, as, unlike everybody else, he seems to be trying. On the other hand, his background makes him, exactly like James Hatfield, an excellent target for Rovean disinformation. The Rove pattern is to pick somebody with an iffy history to spread rumors about a touchy topic, rumors which have a basis in truth but which are technically wrong, and then use the character of the person reporting the rumors to deflect attention from the real issues. They used the same method in dealing with Bush’s military service, or lack thereof."let's hope that isnt true. good point re hatfield tho.
Monday, May 15, 2006
leopold: exactly like James Hatfield
* xymphora:
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9 comments:
If this was Rove's strategy, it has failed completely. No mainstream media outlets have picked up on Leopold's story, so the impact of Jason's story, if proven to be a Rovian lie, will be minimal. Plus, Leopold has promised to "out" his source, which could be damaging to Rove's disinformation operation, if Xymphora's hypothesis is correct.
Miguel-
I don't think it's so much the MSM they're worried about anymore. The big networks and papers only report the damaging stuff when they haven't a choice. On the other hand, sites like TruthOut, RawStory, BradBlog, and others have their number and they know it.
As more MSM outlets confirm reports that alternative outlets have been reporting, alternative news sites are finally developing a veneer of respectability and 'legitimacy'. Thus we finally see on MSNBC (3 months later) what Larisa knew months ago, and Friedman's e-voting trainwrecks are beginning to arrive at the mainline stations.
With all the non-credited borrowing lately, you know the MSM are embarassed, especially when polls show more and more that people are turning to alternative news because they no longer trust corporate media.
Alexandrovna, Leopold, Friedman, and Greenwald (among others) are names being spoken well outside the blogosphere and the noise hurts the sensitive little echo-chamber tuned ears.
While I doubt it would stop with one, swift boating the relatively high-profile Leopold damages everyone at the cost of a couple of leakers. Further, if even one of the sources is a mole on Fitz's team...
Management of information, misinformation and disinformation is the Bush administration's stock in the trade.
The good news is that Bush's numbers now edging into the 20's signals loudly that they're on the defensive.
The bad news is that defence is where an animal like Rove is at his worst.
Don,
Do we know for sure Leopold has been swift boated? I'm still hoping for an indictment this week...
Gods, so am I. I'm praying harder than a right-winger over an abortion vote!
And no, I don't know. I'm speculating because the neocons and their allies don't let opposition go unmolested forever. The devil's advocate in me counsels caution. After weeks of build-up, for the bastard not to be nailed would be a smear against alternative news media as well as a morale killer in the reality-based community.
That said, there's another thought I had posted in comments at Liberal Catnip:
Unless the bastard's under 24-hr surveillance, incarcerated, or even better, immediately tried and sentenced (I know, fat chance...), [Rove reporting he'll be indicted] does not encourage me.
DeLay was indicted, has yet to be tried and only now do we get a resignation announcement. Meanwhile, he's done the full circuit of speaking gigs and talk shows spewing talking points and singing the praises of Jesus and the Republican Party.
Rove has long been hamstrung by being tied to a WH policy position. His decoy 'demotion' freed him somewhat (witness the recent upswing in anti-Dem propaganda) but he's still in the administration and limited in what he can do directly for the RNC.
Being completely severed from the WH would gives him the mobility to cut loose completely to direct the '06 campaign efforts. While ratings in the 20's for Bush are a great reason to celebrate, the campaigns are still going to be a long fight with 6 months to go.
Allowing the biggest political savage of all free reign in the jungle would make the fight that much more brutal.
On balance, I'd rather see the indictment with the collateral damage to BushCo's tattered credibility and the RNC, but while we'd have cause to celebrate, until the bastards are all in orange jumpsuits, we should never let down our guard.
Well, latest over at TalkLeft has Jeralyn saying that Luskin is officially denying the story. He said that "there's no truth whatsoever" to any of the story. He also expressed his belief that Fitz was in Chicago on Friday, and to paraphrase My Cousin Vinny, the laws of physics operate even in this case.
Now, not that Luskin's exactly known for his veracity, but I cannot think that he would go all out and deny like this and lie about it.
Leopold's got some 'splanin to do...
But I guess we'll see later this week.
good points all.
miguel - you are correct in noting that this is different to hatfield. that was dealing with burying a long history of rumours for which there was probably little actual proof - but in this case we will hopefully know all the facts, and soon.
don - good point about the general threat emanating by independent media.
and the idea of a cornered rover really concerns me.
viget - i'm willing to completely disregard anything that comes out of luskins mouth.
I'm with you all the way, except for the orange jumpsuits. What happened to that good old fashioned firing squad for traitors?
i'm not a fan of the death penalty...
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