By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
They say truth is stranger than fiction, but these days who can tell? Truth has always been philosophically elusive, but now ‘truthiness’ is not just commonplace, but the most obvious facts have become fictionalized. Need an example? Public Policy Polling found that 41 percent of Republicans thought that Benghazi was the worst political scandal in American history, far worse than Watergate, the Teapot Dome or Iran Contra (but Bush’s ignoring credible intelligence on the Twin Towers wasn’t a ‘thing,’ because, as his brother said, he kept us safe all that time). Need another example? Select almost any of the improbable things Ben Carson has said in the last month.
Now polling first among Pub candidates, Ben Carson is capitalizing on the public mistrust of the media by playing fast and loose with his personal history and trashing the ‘liberal media’ for going after the details. While I’m less than interested in who Dr. Ben threatened as a youth, his equivocating having already proven him vulnerable — or even today’s tidbit regarding a bogus offer to attend West Point — it should be clear that all questions are fair game. Media have not just the right but the duty to check the facts. Once upon a time, truth-seeking was the purpose of journalism. Liberty depended upon it.
So the question must cross our minds as we study Trump and Carson, the seemingly unshakable frontrunners of the Republican presidential race: how did this happen? How did we get here? This duo are not just political outsiders, they are bumbling neophytes to the process of governance, a domestic train wreck and international emergency waiting to happen, and in place thanks to decades of right-wing hostility to government and mistrust of press.
Once again, there are two political profiles at hand: the right vents their spleen on personalities, the left decries policy. Sanders and Warren epitomize the focus on the broken system that holds all politicos hostage to big money and influence peddlers, while the right demonizes individuals (the black guy, the white ex-FLOTUS) and is consistent in finger-pointing and buck-passing, hence the ridiculous dust-up over moderators in their last debate. The most enthusiastic response of the evening was the thunderous applause when Ted Cruz went after the media as handmaiden of the anti-Christ.
If the press did a better job of defining this situation, perhaps there would be some reality on why the right thinks government cannot be allowed to govern (besides its own party determined to prove it so), but as it is, every media outlet is suspected of political bias. Let’s make that reality bias, shall we? Even science is just one man’s opinion, no matter how well informed, according to those who inhabit the alternate reality that has provided us a parade of lawmakers ranging from anti-intellectual to just plain ignorant for the whole of this century. To say that this has left a sour taste in my mouth is an understatement.
So imagine my surprise and delight when I heard that Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett had finally made it through the hurdles of political correctness turned cynicism to release “Truth,” the biopic of Dan Rather and his 60 Minutes II producer, Mary Mapes, when they took on George W.’s AWOL scandal. That was just as Dubby was facing re-election to a second term, when, as you might recall, 60 Minutes used to be top notch, don’t-miss TV. Indeed, Mapes and Rather had previously broken the story of Abu Ghraib, putting Dubby’s entire administration in defensive posture and raising a shitstorm over the use of torture that has yet to be resolved.
This was a period when Dem candidate John Kerry was being successfully swift-boated, and any threat to the legitimacy of an incumbent Bush was viciously attacked, not to be tolerated. The Rathergate story, to review, detailed the absence of an extremely arrogant young George taking advantage of his Daddy’s connections to evade draft in Vietnam, and then failing to report for duty during flight training in the “Champagne Unit” of the Texas Air National Guard. The details, which had gotten short shrift from the press in the run up to the Bush win in 1999, had the potential to shake the election, which — history shows — was closer than most realized (and had Kerry protested the Ohio voting discrepancies, he would have put an end to Dubby’s tenure).
Rather and Mapes went after the facts with dogged determination, aware that the press had been so enamored of Dubya’s old boy demeanor and “compassionate conservatism” that they’d failed to follow up earlier. After years of Monica scandal, MSM seemed too relieved covering a “moral” candidate to go after shadows lingering from Dub’s misspent youth. But consummate journalists, the pair decided that proof that the man who had sent thousands of National Guardsmen off to fight his wars might well be a deserter was too important not to follow.
They had their work cut out for them. Anyone recalling that George H. W. Bush was in the Texas State House of Representatives at the time — eventually becoming CIA Director, Vice President and then POTUS — will understand how complicit supporters would be, decades later, to cover any tracks showing that young Georgie had received a free pass, but eventually some were found. And while the documents serving as proof seemed genuine — and likely were, we now know — they could not be verified, since so many who knew the real story refused to talk on record.
The tale went on the air. As producer, Mapes took credit for rushing the story before other verification could be found, but rushed or not, the White House (and Karl Rove) had anticipated the fall-out and had their people ready to raise hell over the allegations. Push-back on possible forgery began before the 60 Minutes episode was even over, and — although a question about a Selectric typewriter’s inability to produce the document within that time-frame is now discredited — the story, and those who told it, were cut off at the knees.
Mapes’s book, written in 2005, has been on the back-burner for a decade, waiting for someone with the fortitude to tackle it as a film. Although I have yet to see the movie, I can imagine that Redford and Blanchett are the perfect duo to execute a story that turned a respected newsman into a verb: “rathered,” to be pilloried for improper vetting of a topic.
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Cate is receiving raves for her performance, and Rolling Stone’s reviewer praised Redford for portraying Dan Rather’s “wounded dignity” as he issued a semi-apology for a lack of due diligence, followed by retirement, resulting in a public lack of trust in his ‘name brand.’
Rather, then, reminds me of Brian Williams before his fall from grace, now consigned to MSNBC instead of MSM Nightly News — in fact, the two have commonality of a sort, both giving off that well-spoken ‘every man’ vibe that the public appreciates. NBC, we should remember, has a history of this sort of thing.
Political Waves, back in those days, put out several posts a day, and I was deeply into this story when the hit squad made Dan Rather a verb. That was one of those moments, early in the century — much like the demise of Phil Donahue on MSNBC in the run-up to war, or its drubbing of (now CNN’s) Ashleigh Banfield for calling out FOX News as the ‘patriot police’ — that raised all my red flags.
Without a viable Fourth Estate, holding those who manipulate us responsible, whom can we turn to? How will we know that the job of president is NOT, as Trump envisions it, about cutting deals and making profit? How will we calculate the cost in secular liberty should a man like Ben Carson put his fundamentalist stamp on our domestic policy?
We got here, to this moment in history, by allowing people to corporatize news, make it entertainment. Much like privatized medicine, that’s always going to be a bad idea that culminates in (literal and/or figurative) dead bodies. In the days of Watergate, when the Washington Post’s Ben Bradlee backed his reporters in outing a corrupt presidential administration, he took a chance on losing money but flew with the angels, aware of his duty to the public to present them the truth. Even then he was a light in the darkness, with media consolidating all around him.
Of course, that is NOT what a privatized news corporation did in 2004 when it became apparent that Rather and Mapes were handling dynamite, capable of wounding a sitting president. Instead, they threw them on the scrap heap rather than buck power. And that’s what you’ll get from MSM today, although — and this is important to realize — the worst of the blackout of the last decade is over, thanks to the interwebs. We’re not so ill-informed any more, no longer so frightened or so invested in the squeaky-clean exceptionalism mythology that’s been shoved down our throats for decades.
We’ve seen too much, stubbed our toe on unnoticed truth, discovered decades of covert legislation that has left us without protections and, unfortunately, we still can’t rely on mainstream press to give us unbiased facts to help us determine our future. So we find ourselves in a Do-It-Yourself world, my dears, and only you can decide who, or what, is trustworthy. My take on that is if something touches a nerve, if it hurts to hear, there’s probably truth to it.
Today, for instance — after seven years of speculation and hesitation, and in advance of the Paris climate summit — the President scrapped the Keystone pipeline. It was a death from 10,000 cuts and a lingering one, at that. Hoping for better luck from a Pub president, the Canadian corporation that asked for the permit to be pulled is biding its time, but the global push is for alternative energy, and that’s increasingly difficult to challenge. Seems to me that if we can continue to build on the clean technology that is currently flourishing, such a proposition as filthy tar sands may well seem even more foolhardy in the future.
That is what I think, based on the growth of solar and wind capability, the systemic problems of discarding the remnants of coal and nuclear, the obvious and evident results of climate change happening all around us, but probably not the opinion of my neighbor who thinks Ted Cruz is the cat’s meow. She gets her news of the day from the pulpit, where Jesus is coming to change all that any minute now, so we don’t have to be concerned about coal ash or nuclear waste. That’s also Dr. Carson’s take on things, you should know, as well as a coming war between those who worship on Saturdays and the Satanic hordes that worship on Sundays. Or at least that’s the theology he favors, but don’t quote him because, well, West Point, yadda. But not to worry, it’s just media bias, all of it.
So, because we need to know what’s actually going on when we’re not looking, this was also the week that details of the TPP treaty were made available for public scrutiny. Here’s a read from Counterpunch telling us it’s worse than we thought, and another from In These Times which asserts that the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau, is under pressure to sign on, which might explain Obama’s comment today that although the new PM may be disappointed by his rejection of XL, they will surely be working together closely in the future. Canadians, bless them, may have something else in mind. Certainly the progressives do!
I will probably wait until “Truth” comes out on Netflix to watch it, and when I do I intend to rent “All The President’s Men” as well. Redford stars in both, and while time will surely tell on his face it will also be evident in the habitual responses and expectations we’ve assumed in regard to these true tales of journalistic heroism. Because truth IS stranger than fiction. Both of Redford’s roles represent men who have dealt with their fate in different ways: Rather to continue his journalism on digital media, while Bob Woodward has become, at best, an Establishment yes-man and consummate insider. You can hear Rather speak to the challenges of the journalistic process here.
The truth is out there, as Mulder used to say (and will again in January!) and, as was evident back in the glory days of X-Files, finding truth remains a Do-It-Yourself project for us all.
Truly, you just don’t realize how beat down we-the-people have become (thanks to the human memory’s limited filing space), until someone comes along and brings it all alive again. Someone like you Jude. It has to do with survival of the Self I’m assuming. We continue to need a place to live and food to eat, and therefore we must keep working , move forward and hope for the best. Gradually, the bad memories (like what happened to Dan Rather) dim and then no longer stay in the active file. It’s all those memories and the shocking results (and sometimes non-results) of wrong-doing that you and people like you (and Robert Redfield, etc.) that put it in-your-face, all at one time (now) that will make us finally say, enough is enough.
It breaks my heart that the news reporting (and news people) is no longer respected and trusted. Thank goddess good intentioned reporters can still be found. I’m grateful that I lived in a simpler time; before multi-channeled television, computers and smart phones, so I can see for myself how much has changed. Admittedly, we were mostly naïve back then, but hopefully, not so stupid as we are now. The Carsons and Trumps would never have flourished, existed yes, but not flourished, as they are able to today.
Still, this period of flushing out the wounds, disgusting as it is, is – I’m pretty sure – a sign of healing. It would primarily be the Pluto energy (opposite the U.S. Sun/consciousness, soon to square U.S. Saturn/structures, etc.) that’s flushing out this long-held decay within the body politic.
I wish you could get MSNBC Jude, specifically Rachel Maddow. You must see the ” Southern Democratic Forum” she held last night – as soon as you can. She’s a genius. It will become a staple in future elections I’m sure. All 3 candidates seemed at ease and, once again, they really did little, if any attacking of one another. I’m still in Bernie’s corner though. It’s a matter of being willing to let go of the old concept of what it takes to be President of the U.S., and that takes courage. In each case one has to think outside the box; with Hillary we must let go of the men-only can do this job. With Bernie we must let go of the age thing, and with O’Malley (sp?) I can’t get past his charm, but they were all great.
Thanks for a great Saturday morning piece Jude, I’m anxious to see the film and some redemption of Rather’s reputation. Too little too late, but still. . . .
be
Yo, Jude. A spectacular piece. Oftentimes, as a Brit, the density of American politics is beyond my diminishing brain, but today I’m so glad you still have DIY access to a working keyboard.
What you also have, and what seems missing from your piece, is time on your side. There’s still a long road to the US 2016 election and, without intending to be either racist or tonsorialist, Carson is too black and Trump is too blond. Clinton-Sanders the ticket? Well, CS is a gas!
Truthiness is a Full Moon word invented by Stephen Colbert on 2005 October 17, with the Sun in Libra opposing Moon in Aries, and Venus in Sagittarius trine Saturn in Leo. A balanced and beautiful invention destined to be preserved in the kingly domain of the future. Most words would give their very vowels to go down into diction history with a natal chart like that. Which, in itself, is truthiness, given we only assume the truth in astrology.
Thank you once again for another Saturday well made, Jude. DIY is good at this time of year for keeping the rain out. No fears, no tears.
Here’s today’s momento mori. Enjoy, if this suits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSURe8Iw6dg
Much love and respect.
Geoff
Jude, you will help me to re-ground yet. Inspired and inspiring. Thank you.
” Truth” is definitely on my list as well. Maybe seeing it will purge a little bit of the bitterness buried deep after that surreal stretch of election history.
My sister called last night, upset and crying, having just seen “Suffragette”, Streep’s latest. She was bemoaning the fact that we are still fighting the same battles as women were in the 20’s, as she sipped on scotch with her feet up. She has officiated at a dozen gay weddings since September, (in TN no less!), so I pointed out to her melodramatic Leo self that we have come a long way baby, thanks to art, technology, awareness, and wisdom that comes from seeking the truth…or at least being able to recognize it when it smacks you in the face. We should be more grateful for the journalists, artists, whistleblowers, and truth-tellers that expose truths meant to stay buried, enabling us to see for ourselves, to take action, to fight back; and of course for the suffragettes, who without their sacrifice we’d still be chattel.
Thanks, Judith, for reminding us of the responsibilities of awareness and for your being one of the good guys with a pen (computer).
Excellent, excellent piece Jude, couldn’t agree more with every word. I was a bit of an insider at one time working high in an agency and had lots of dealings with Congress and Administrations and just couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t know why this keep running through my head as I read your description of beltway theatrics, er politics, and the fact that everything is the same (even the media over the past few decades), but the Talking Heads song, Once in a Life Time came to mind, perhaps it resonates with you and others, here are the words:
Once In A Lifetime” lyrics
TALKING HEADS LYRICS
“Once In A Lifetime”
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful
wife
And you may ask yourself-Well…How did I get here?
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Water dissolving…and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Carry the water at the bottom of the ocean
Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right?…Am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
MY GOD!…WHAT HAVE I DONE?
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/in the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground.
Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Same as it ever was…Same as it ever was…
Watched the Sunday pundits with an eye toward truthiness and they did a better than average job this week, given the various personalities. Perhaps the pounding they took from the Pubs (over stupid, instead of substance) urged them to step up their game. Still, I wish they’d stop inviting dedicated, high-decibel right-wing’ers to taint the higher-level conversations at the round tables, drag them away to what’s irrelevant just as they approach substantive. And let’s face it, there are fewer left-wing’ers left to invite in order to keep them in check … although I take heart that one of its most credible members is running for the highest office.
A couple of comments jumped out, one being the conservative supposition that Carson is using his litany of pro’s and con’s from his past not in terms of his own egoism, but as an illustration of how religion has changed him into a better person: hence, a dog whistle to the evangelicals that he’s their True Believer. Which is not to say Carson isn’t an egomaniac — he’s had a lot of practice standing on that ‘brilliant brain surgeon’ pedestal and doesn’t think the public at large has a right to shove him off. His claims are getting more absurd, and while that won’t do him well with the general public, I suspect the church will give him a pass on all of it.
Trump was on every channel (by phone) and my son made an interesting comment, given Donald’s cringe-worthy but good natured performance last night on SNL: we’re beginning to treat him as if he’s viable, accepting whatever he says without a wince. Exposure to the Donald is dumbing us down in terms of what ‘presidential’ is supposed to be. If this keeps us — and if DT continues to moderate his tone — electing a CEO of AmeriCo may seem ‘good enough’ for the masses. And to that I say: Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!!! Don’t give him a pass on ANY of it!
As for truthiness, it seemed to me that when they (CBS, NBC and CNN) spoke to Bernie about his ‘going after’ Hillary today, now that South Carolina has her numbers soaring well above his, he said what he needed to say about their having major differences in what and how things get accomplished by the Executive — but I wish he’d REALLY called it, as he did on CNN (ONLY), as Hillary being an Establishment candidate while he is NOT. It’s kind of like that capitalism question he got in the first debate — it’s not just his personal position, and one most progressives share, but a question that needs to be explored for THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC.
Still — I’ll give press points for beginning to close in on that. I can’t imagine a MSM broadcast actually scrutinizing what capitalism has become under this mix of governance and skewed rule of law, but it can open the topic to alert the sleepers out there that SOMETHING’s going on with it that needs their attention (don’t ask me how they’ve missed it — I still can’t figure out why anybody thinks financial opportunity will ‘trickle down’ from those who bank in the Caymans.)
At your recommendation, be, I scouted around for the Dem Forum and found much of it — I really like that format, and so did the pundits that talked about it this weekend. Funny, though — the pieces I read immediately after were that it was boring-boring-boring … as the Pubs insisted the Dem debate was, as well … and if we need yet another illustration of how the different personality types process information, there it is. The Dems get high on substance and policy, while the Pubs are thrilled with drama and theatrics.
What I saw of the Forum was really excellent, giving a sense of who these people are — and it finally handed O’Malley a fair shake, literally introducing him to viewers. (And SNL had to take a poke at it, which turned out to be … IMHO … the only really amusing bit of the night.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/larry-david-returns-snl-bernie-sanders_563ed736e4b0307f2cadc40d
Oh, and “flushing out the wounds” — good wordsmithing, kiddo, and right on target.
Great song to start a Saturday, Geoff — my piggles (pug-mix trio who’s Mum’s name was Piglet) were inside and one of them, the male, began to dance. Since I think of him as a Zen kind’a guy — calm and deliberate — it was a kick to see him get so jazzed over rock ‘n roll!
And thanks for the skinny on Colbert’s wordsmithing, too — that’s one of the things I liked about the Colbert-persona: a kind of political foreplay with verbiage. Playing with language makes me laugh — you too! Hug!
Gosh, Deborah, that was a PERFECT response to your sister — we seem to be chewing on the same old bone but we’re not chewing in the same place. At SOME point, what seems impossible to bust through will give! We’ve really come farther than we think … which, to my way of thinking, is too far to give up now! And, yes, another movie I need to see.
I ADORE the way art always tackles these big important topics before the general public does, putting a fine point on it — and in this case, reminding us ALL of what’s left to be done. Thanks for contributing this week, good to hear from you.
Hug hug, aWord — holding on to you with Karmic (and loving) ribbons, you won’t float away!
Thanks, Pisces Sun — and thanks for the song to match, aka, “letting the days go by” inevitably followed by OH GOD – WHAT HAVE I DONE! Find it here, better — I think — than the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGofoH9RDEA
Hopefully, that’s the angst … that sudden and painful realization … that gets us up off the couch of our lethargy and mundane concerns to become active in our own lives (and assertive with the political mechanism that attempts to run them.) And notice, y’all — we knew this in the 80s. And in the 60s. And in the 40s, for that matter.
We know more than we think we do, and we have choice — we ALWAYS have choice.
Exactly, “My God, what have WE done!” Do we want the “same as it ever was?” When we realize that we reap what we sow, then choosing becomes much more meaningful in our everyday lives. We can express ourselves by living by conscience choice. I’d love to see the candidates debate what is meant by those words! Th candidates are a reflection of ourselves, we shall see how we adjust, if not this election, then perhaps the next…
Go, go, Jude. We knew we were right in the 60s, and we know we’re right now!
xxx