March 12, 2011
“I would rather tell seven lies than make one explanation.”
Mark Twain – Letter to John Bellows, 11 April 1883
Who Knew? For three days, a no holds barred anti-public sector union t.v. spot created by Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS has been running on cable t.v. and it’s a humdinger. It discloses an overly and overtly cozy financial relationship between public sector unions and the Democratic party. The 30-second clip was cut by Crossroads GPS from their primary one-minute ad. In it we see a shoddy performance by the National Education Association’s general counsel, Bob Chanin, who strongly suggests the NEA is less about education and more about collecting dues, influencing elections, and increasing its political power. At the outset of the Crossroads GPS ad, Chanin says:
“. . . it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year . . .”
Thanks to Crossroads GPS, and its apparently hidden camera at the NEA’s 2009 annual meeting, we learn how secondary the cause of public education was to its brutal power grab. Who knew? Crossroads GPS did. But as with anything involving Karl Rove and a bunch of Bush II era political right wing journeymen, the affair needs a full examination, fore and aft. And here you go with what Chanin actually said, in context.
“So the bad news, or depending on your point of view, the good news, is that NEA and its affiliates will continue to be attacked by conservative and right-wing groups as long as we continue to be effective advocates for public education, for education employees, and for human and civil rights. And that brings me to my final and most important point. Which is why, at least in my opinion, NEA and its affiliates are such effective advocates. Despite what some among us would like to believe, it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees”
It’s Not a Lie, It’s Just a Schmear of Untruthiness. What Mr. Chanin said and what Crossroads GPS did with it might make you a little nauseous, and, then again, it may provide a lot of insight into how propagandists operate, particularly Karl Rove protegees. The gist, of course, is obvious, the ad so thoroughly misleads with such breathtakingly dishonest editing that it ought to be a case study in bullshit detection for criminology majors. Is it any surprise that Karl Rove’s in charge?
Crossroads GPS will be remembered as near idiots who hadn’t figured out that their content can be examined and shot down. Someone please remind Rove and Associates that for years now it’s been lots easier to fact check by using mysterious machines like computers, “the Google,” and video and audio history. Old-fashioned folks (me) still take handwritten notes. And videos, audio tracks, handwritten notes, speech notes, and memories are there in abundance when it comes to Bob Chanin’s farewell address.
All this Crossroads GPS nonsense gives a good view into the right wing propagandist mind. And their anti-public union tidbit puts some key features of their approach on display. The ad is so obviously manipulative and utterly dishonest; how did they think no one would pick up on the sneaky Bob Chanin edit? It’s as obvious as coming home with a bottle of booze in one hand, a joint in the other, and proudly telling your spouse, “Late night at the office, love of my life.” The fact is they didn’t care if they got away with it.
Truthful Thinking Is Just So 20th Century. Stephen Colbert captured our present age as a time of “truthiness.” I think we’ve all noticed for some time now, truth isn’t just taking a beating – that we could all understand. What shakes us up is that truth is way too often irrelevant. Truth has, by some, been kicked to the curb and left for dead.
Why? For Rove and other propagandists (right and left), their audience, their “base,” exists to be manipulated without mercy, regardless of their collective needs. To the Rove’s of this world, manipulation is an amoral activity, it is simply a practical necessity to gain and retain political and economic power for themselves or for their clients. Yet, one can’t succeed at manipulation without knowing one’s audience very well. And they do.
“In The Long Run, Hierarchical Society Was Only Possible On A Basis Of Poverty And Ignorance.”
George Orwell, 1984, Ch. 3.
Most often, and usually through no fault of their own, many in Rove’s anti-union base are unsophisticated, under-educated, hidebound fans of FOX Newsiness, suspicious of joint action to assist anyone but their inner circle of family and friends, and just plain angry at modernity and the received history of recent times. It’s likely that the average person in the Rovian base (1) will not investigate the Crossroads GPS anti-union claims, or examine Bob Chanin’s NEA speech, and (2) will not believe any “liberal” blowback they may accidentally hear or read. Rove knows they are allergic to anything not already believed. He has, after all, been one of their principal cattle dogs, keeping them in the herd, yapping and biting at their heels and flanks, keeping them voting for politicians and policies that, for most of his base, are genuinely against their interests, and the interests of their children.
In closing, here’s an expert demonstration of the use of another arrow in the propagandist’s quiver, complete denial. Once caught in a preposterous lie, they most often simply do not admit it, and, most importantly, do so with bravado and bravura, they continue to stay on the message the lie or misrepresentation advances.
Look Both Ways Before Crossroads (GPS)! This little dust-up will pass, as has been the habit lately since the Democratic party is now categorized in the taxonomic table as “invertebrate.” And it’s truer than true, we all do this opportunistic lying at times to get ahead, individuals and political parties and unions all, (although my experience is that the right wing GOP is far more committed, religiously, it seems, to telling such categorical lies that it takes one’s breath away). In any event, given their full coffers, Crossroads GPS will go on and on and on, but maybe, in time, the truth will catch up with them.