Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Line Dem Ducks Up
Recently I posted on how the Republicans have been very good at playing the political chess game. indeed they have apparently been playing the game very well for a long time. Apparently the Democrats have again been caught sleeping in class. This morning I was watching Good Morning America and saw this report on plans by the Sinclair corporation to pre-empt regular programming to run a "documentary" on Kerry's commentary on Vietnam.

quote:
Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its television stations many of them in competitive states in the presidential election to pre-empt regular programming to run the documentary as part of an hourlong program two weeks before the Nov. 2 election.

Based near Baltimore, the company owns or manages affiliates of major broadcast networks in several states, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Mark Hyman, a vice president of corporate relations for Sinclair who also is a conservative commentator for the company, said Monday the show would contain some or all of the 42-minute film as well as a panel discussion of some sort. He said final details had not been worked out.

The documentary, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," chronicles Kerry's 1971 testimony before Congress and links him to activist and actress Jane Fonda. It includes interviews with Vietnam prisoners of war and their wives who claim Kerry's testimony filled with "lurid fantasies of butchery in Vietnam" on the part of U.S. troops demeaned them and led their captors to hold them longer.



Now these republicans were the first to raise a hissy fit when Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9-11 was set to be released to DVD in October and they objected to plans to advertise it using the footage from the original advertising, siting it as prejudicial to the election process. The advertisments, for those who have seen them have been modified to remove all direct references to GW. So apparently this is an in-kind payback for 9-11. The problem the Democrats have, and there are many, is that tv stations pre-empt their scheduled line up all the time. Secondly, while they are right that Sinclair get's its license from the FCC and must broadcast "in the public interest," Being partisan is not a violation of that rule. The real deal is this: The conservative wing of the republican party has positioned themselves in very strategic positions in government, media and other industries and are now able to exploit these "aquisitions" for their own ends. It is the Democratic pary's fault for not seeing this AND not putting into effect thier own plans to counter such strategies.

And let us not forget, even though Bush acts like he will be president for life, he won't be, some other Republican must run 4 years from now, You best believe that the republicans are already planning on that election. beyond Kerry's half assed campaign I'm not sure what the Democrats have planned in the long run,but whatever it is, it better include removing Zell Miller and Joseph Leiberman from the rolls, and getting a clear consice and idiot proof set of messages and an apparatus to get thier positions heard and heard often. Lastly that messsage had better be something absolutely different. No more "I woulda done the same, but different" messages.

Again, Credit to the Republcans for playing the game "right."

edit 3:44 PM:
Alternet has an excellent article on the subject. You may find it here:
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20151/

Links:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=157274