Gore On “Digital Brownshirts”
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General PoliticsBrendan laments this tedious remark.
The present executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations: from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. They placed a former male escort in the White House press pool to pose as a reporter – and then called upon him to give the president a hand at crucial moments. They paid actors to make phony video press releases and paid cash to some reporters who were willing to take it in return for positive stories. And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President.
While it could be argued whether or not the White House specifically paid people to write certain stories, the brownshirt comments are just throwing meat to the base.
On this one, Nyhan and I share the same brain.
I have worked to expose the dishonest tactics of the White House PR operation for more than four years. I share much of Gore’s outrage, but this sort of partisan attack will obscure, rather than clarify, the fundamental democratic issues that are at stake.
If you talk like the fringe, you are the fringe.
Gore can do better than this.
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October 7th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
Gore can do better than this.
Sadly, I think this is pretty much par for the course with Mr. Gore these days.
October 7th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
Yep. Afraid so. He got Internet attention the last time he said “brownshirts.” He’s getting it again this time he said it. Anybody remember reading much about him in betwee? (Oh, there was a blip of attention when he helped some folks out of New Orleans during the hurricane. But you can’t sit around waiting for hurricanes if you want to remain in the political limelight.)
P.S.: My shirt today is a sort of dull metallic gray-green.
October 7th, 2005 at 4:38 pm
Heh.