<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">All,<BR>
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The way I hear it, from someone who actually watched the entire Bill Moyers interview with Rev. Wright a week or so ago, Wright came across as sane, committed and a real patriot. He did not come across as hysterical, fanatical, or out to get even with Obama. And apparently Bill Moyers was quite impressed.<BR>
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In other words, the corporatist media is skewing the information and our perceptions. OK, we pretty much knew that, but it is important to realize that progressives can be pulled along.<BR>
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One question is why the corporatist media is deliberately prolonging this controversy. Some of the reasons are obvious, some may be deeper, darker, and, as yet, unknown to us.<BR>
1. Do a "swiftboating" on Obama and pull him down. Direct the nomination to Clinton, who has been termed a neo-con herself and whose hawkish comments, downright lies, and Rovian campaign has turned off a lot of past supporters, and who would probably lose in November. Remember, according to some estimates, virtually half the country detests her. McBush would win and we would have a prolonged occupation and a lot of elite crony corporate types and financeers would end up consolidating even more wealth<BR>
2. Prolong the issue for the sensationalist aspect, i.e., purely exploitative<BR>
3. Set up a long-term division in the Democratic Party to ensure a right-wing, neo-con dominance for a long time into the future<BR>
4. Use the long-term neo-con dominance to further weaken the progressive wing, erode civil liberties, widen the gulf between rich and poor, and decimate the middle class<BR>
5. Create an attitude of apathy and uncertainty about what is really going on. Demoralize the population and make takeover easier for the elites, allowing the elites to put into place the plans they have been cooking up with little resistance<BR>
6. ...<BR>
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How much these tactics work, if these are indeed some of the goals depends in part at least on how much we fall for their ploy. <BR>
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We need to find ways to get the facts out to more people and to keep from being drawn into their traps ourselves. We can't allow the corporatist media to set the terms of discussion. We need to find ways to be the media.<BR>
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Beverley</FONT> </HTML>