Letters to the Editor

This letter is associated with the following article:
Read other letters about this article
Various items
60 Minutes bombshell on Karl Rove tonight. MSNBC and AP ask if Obama is "exposed" as a "domestic insurgent." The U.S. continues to establish permanent bases in virtually every Middle Eastern country.
Glenn Greenwald [2008-02-24]

  • In Pickler's piece she cites Keith Appell who was one of the Swift-Boaters

    I googled him and ran across an article entitled "The Swiftboaters are Back in the Water" by Dave Johnson which posted on July, 17, 2006 on The Huffington Post.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/the-swiftboaters-are-back_b_25223.html

    It's a lengthy article in which Johnson quotes various republican ops. He also pulls a few incredibly blatant quotes from a Variety article about swift-boaters which certainly resonate now as the next great smear cycle begins:

    "If you can construct believable stories with enough truth in them to smear somebody royally, boy, is there a pot of gold waiting for you in D.C. Spin doctors are nothing new in politics, but a certain type -- equal parts scriptwriter, opposition researcher and ruthless street fighter -- is increasingly in demand, and for good reason. Just ask John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential candidate who became the target object of a new verb: "swift-boating."

    [. . .] "Modern communication isn't about truth, it's about a resonant narrative," says Eric Dezenhall, a former Reagan administration aide and now president of his own crisis management firm. "The myth of PR is that you will educate and inform people. No. The public wants to be told in a story who to like and who to hate."

    As for Appell, here's him talking about the Sleaze Merchant-to-Drudge-to-MSM triple play that Glenn always highlights:

    Appell was involved with CRC in the Dan Rather Forgeries story. According to the PR Week story, TWO DC FIRMS RAMP UP EFFORTS OVER LATEST PRESIDENTIAL CONTROVERSIES4:

    "After the CBS story aired, [CNS] called typographical experts, got them on the record that these papers were fishy, and posted a story by 3pm Thursday," said CRC SVP Keith Appell. "We were immediately in contact with Matt Drudge, who loved the story." CRC worked with CNS and the Media Research Center, another media watchdog client, to push the story into the mainstream press."

    So where is Appell now? In May, 2006, Appell joined the John Raese campaign against Senator Robert Byrd. And how long did it take for the swiftboating to begin? Not long: June, 2006, John Raese Approves Dishonest Attack Ad "accusing Senator Robert Byrd of voting against the troops."

    That's Nedra Pickler's go-to guy for quotes about Obama's patriotism.

    -- Reilly
    [Read Reilly's other letters]
    Sunday, February 24, 2008 10:52 AM
Read other letters about this article

Letters Help