MediaBloodhound

Op-Ed Column: Nixon’s Only Real Friend

Gerald Ford was smarter than advertised. But decent and honest?

For days now, we've been saturated by the mainstream media's deification of the late President Ford. (Even many progressive outlets have been surprisingly muted in their criticism of his record.) This fantastical portrait demanded expurgating from his obituary such moral acts as green-lighting Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, the result of which condemned hundreds of thousands of its citizens to slaughter, decimating one-third of its population.

Does that sound like the "innately decent" Jerry Ford we keep hearing about?

Lacking the charisma, eloquence and wit of a Kennedy, Reagan or Clinton, Ford embraced his limitations as a politician and forged a successful career as a reliable behind-the-scenes role player, an honest face and affable demeanor used to obscure the realities of some of his party's, and our government's, darkest machinations.

In his role on the Warren Commission (detailed in his handwritten notes released by the U.S. government-endorsed Assassination Record Review Board in 1997), Ford pressed for a key edit in the commission’s final report that worked to preserve the single-bullet theory, moving the point of entry from JFK’s upper back to the base of his neck. The original line in the Warren Commission’s report read: “A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly below the shoulder to the right of the spine." Ford wanted it changed to: "A bullet had entered the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine." The commission settled on: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine." Whether one believes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, clearly Ford’s manipulation of evidence served not to shed more light but to safeguard the plausibility of the “magic bullet,” which the commission said traveled on to critically wound Senator Connally.

Little known as well is Ford’s close ties to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who, incidentally, was championing the lone gunman story before the Warren Commission had even convened. While serving on the commission, Ford also served as Hoover’s inside man, reporting back to him the details of the proceedings. In September 1975, in his remarks at the dedication for the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, Ford said of the decidely crooked man: “J. Edgar Hoover served under eight Presidents - Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. All had high praise for this man and his professional achievements - praise which I am pleased to join in here on this auspicious occasion.” Praise, on the contrary, that Kennedy most certainly did not share.

Of course, then there’s the pardon.

In much of the mainstream media, there is only the pardon, which is presented almost uniformly in the most favorable light: Ford ruined his chance of being elected president by pardoning Nixon; thus, it was a selfless, courageous act, all in an effort to heal America’s wound. It's a nice story. I'm sure it's the same story that convinced Ford to go ahead with the pardon. But sentimentality aside, it’s a story that fails to take into account the reality of Ford’s political career. No Republican was better fit than Ford to pardon Nixon and simultaneously convince Americans it was for their own good. Though he may have lost the 1976 Presidential Election because of it, that Americans weren’t storming the White House was testament to his powers to, if not heal, then numb. As he addressed the nation, Ford said he sought to "firmly shut and seal this book" on the Watergate scandal. Mission accomplished. Truly.

This story also ignores the longtime friendship Ford and Nixon shared, forged in the late 1940s. News of this friendship, though certainly available to the media before now, is trickling in from Bob Woodward’s just released excerpts from an interview he conducted with Ford last year. Most notable is that Ford admitted he was compelled to pardon Nixon because of their friendship: “I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma.” While Ford was the House minority leader, Nixon, in fact, sought his counsel during the Watergate scandal. Said Ford, “I think that Nixon felt I was about the only person he could really trust on the Hill” and called himself Nixon's "only real friend."

Ford asked Woodward not to release the contents of the interview until after his death (which included his criticisms of George W. Bush as well as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld - both of whom served as his chief of staff). Yet rather than presenting this news as the bombshell revelation it is - that Ford saved his friend Nixon from having to account for his crimes in the guise of healing our country - the national media snored today, reporting the story as if it were a rather inconsequential footnote, focusing as much or more on the trickle of criticisms du jour from the Woodward interview, today directed at Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and the extremist path of the Republican Party.

On taking the oath of office as president, Ford said, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule.” But the full pardon of Nixon just one month later, especially in light of Woodward’s interview, reveals the utter hollowness and galling mendacity behind Ford’s words, no matter how genial their messenger. What better example of a government of men - and not laws - than providing a full pardon to his felonious pal? Moreover, in giving Nixon a get-out-of-jail-free card, Ford set a dangerous precedent for imperial presidencies of the future.

Surely, we are all paying a price for that today. And we will continue to do so as we attempt to hold our current leaders accountable for their actions. Because of Ford, the likelihood of this has been greatly diminished, which of course fuels the disregard of leaders like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Maybe Gerald Ford was a nice guy in person (he obviously didn't come off like the petulant psychopath currently at our country's helm). But Gerald Ford was the consummate party hack. The loyal tool they pulled out of the shed when they needed to appear trustworthy or were desperate for an escape route. He was the mold for "moderate" GOP tools of today, such as Senator Pat Roberts, another soft-spoken everyman who has covered time and again for the Bush administration’s flagrant lawbreaking.

In December 1975, just days after General Suharto invaded East Timor and the genocide of the Timorese population was in full swing, President Ford, an avid golfer, sent him a gift set of golf balls. This anecdote is an even darker twist on Jerald terHorst’s summation of Ford (TerHorst, who served as his first press secretary, resigned in protest over the Nixon pardon and later wrote a biography on Ford): “The problem with him - he doesn’t like to be kidded about it - but the fact is, this guy would, if he saw a school kid in front of the White House who needed clothing, if he was the right size, he’d give him the shirt off his back, literally. Then he’d go right in the White House and veto the school lunch bill.”

I won’t be dancing on Gerald Ford's grave, but excuse me if I don't shed a tear for him either.

I'll save that for James Brown.

Story of the Day: Thoughts on Christmas

Three simple Christmas wishes:

#1: May your yule log burn brightly.

#2: Peace on earth and good will toward man.

#3: James Brown: May he rest in peace.

-Happy Holidays from MediaBloodhound

Story of the Day: A Victory in the War on Earth

When will these global warming alarmists stop?

From today's Independent UK:

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth. The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true.

Deck the halls. Another triumph for the Bush administration.

As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities.

Surrender monkeys! Defeatists!

Eight years ago, as exclusively reported in The Independent on Sunday, the first uninhabited islands - in the Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati - vanished beneath the waves. The people of low-lying islands in Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, have been evacuated as a precaution, but the land still juts above the sea. The disappearance of Lohachara, once home to 10,000 people, is unprecedented.

Science mongers! Factualists!

Two-thirds of nearby populated island Ghoramara has also been permanently inundated. Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, says "it is only a matter of some years" before it is swallowed up too. Dr Hazra says there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta. The area's 400 tigers are also in danger.

Environmental pornographers! Population exhibitionists!

Refugees from the vanished Lohachara island and the disappearing Ghoramara island have fled to Sagar, but this island has already lost 7,500 acres of land to the sea. In all, a dozen islands, home to 70,000 people, are in danger of being submerged by the rising seas.

Who are we to think that our mortal actions could impact a planet? I've decided to start a new organization to combat this disinformation campaign. It's called PUN:

• Pure

• Utter

• Nonsense

I hope you'll join me in my crusade against these global warming alarmists or GWAs (pronounced gw-az). The perceived state of our planet depends on it.

Disappearing World: Global Warming Claims Tropical Island
By Geoffrey Lean
Independent UK

From the Archives: Our Latest Poll on What Americans Are Thinking

(This Wounded-Courier poll was originally posted on October 13, 2006. In light of today's AP-AOL News poll that found 81% of Americans believe in angels, here's a timely rejoinder from the vault.)

The majority of Americans still think Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. A new Wounded-Courier poll uncovered other surprising beliefs held by U.S. citizens.

Here are the results:

• If an insurgency lasts for more than four hours, you should call your doctor: 61%

• Abraham Lincoln designed the Lincoln Town Car, the first modern automobile: 52%

• God does not like France: 48%

• ABC’s Schoolhouse Rock created the Bill of Rights in 1973: 34%

• Grande Mocha is located between Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe: 54%

• Pat Buchanan was our 15th president: 76%

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fought in the Revolutionary War during the Summer of Love: 37%

• Peanut brittle is made by elves: 84%

• Al Gore invented global warming and bears the mark of the devil between his shoulder blades: 29%

• “Congress” comes from the words “con” and “regress”: 57%

• As a child, Benjamin Franklin lied about chopping down a cherry tree to his mother, Margaret Thatcher, the first queen of England: 36%

• President Bush’s proposed Missile Defense System is also known as “The Cone of Silence”: 41%

• A caucus is like a circus of caulk, but more somber: 49%

• The line “Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s kick ass light” appears in our national anthem: 39%

• Massachusetts is in New Jersey: 28%

(This Wounded-Courier poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.)

Story of the Day: Bob Herbert Revisits Katrina Victims

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert dedicated his last two op-eds to the ongoing plight of Katrina victims. Both, as most of Herbert’s columns, are must-reads. Monday’s piece, titled “Out of Sight,” covered the FEMA trailer camp called Renaissance Village in Baker, La., in which hundreds of children are languishing:

More than a third of the 1,200 people in this sprawling camp are children. Only about half of the school-age youngsters are even registered for school; of those, roughly half actually go to school on any given day. The authorities can’t account for the rest.

A number of officials who asked not to be identified told me they are concerned that large numbers of children are remaining isolated at Renaissance Village, holed up in the trailers day in and day out, falling further and further behind educationally, and deteriorating emotionally.

Leah Baptiste, a caseworker from a local affiliate of Catholic Charities, said: “These trailers are small. They were only meant for traveling. And you’ve got families with three and four children cooped up in there seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with no privacy, no babysitter, no job, no money — there’s a lot of help they need. Some people have learned to adapt, but a lot are depressed.”

Herbert ends this column with a measured but blistering critique (as is his deceptive style) of the Bush administration’s failure to sufficiently come to the aid of Katrina victims:

The big story in the immediate aftermath of Katrina was the way the government failed to rush to the aid of people who were obviously in desperate trouble. What we’re witnessing now is an extended slow-motion replay of that initial failed response. Thousands of people remain in trouble, but instead of clinging to roofs and waving signs at TV cameras in helicopters flying overhead, they are suffering in silence, out of the sight of most Americans.

The government could have come up with a crash program to build housing and find or create jobs for the victims of Katrina. It could have ensured that all those hurt by the storm received whatever social services they needed, including mental health counseling and treatment. It could have begun to address the long-festering problems of race and poverty in this country.

The government could have done so much. But it didn’t.

Herbert’s second column, “America’s Open Wound,” covers his walk through the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, a disturbing account that employs the kind of crisp, minimalist writing that has become his hallmark. Echoes of Hemingway, specifically his descriptions of war and human suffering, are often found in Herbert, and are evident from the beginning here:

It’s eerie. The air is still. There is no noise. Night is falling.

The five stone steps in front of me once led to a porch, or maybe directly to the front door of a house. There is no way to be sure. The house is completely gone. All that’s left are the five steps, one of which is painted with the address, 1630 Reynes St. The steps sit alone, like a piece of minimalist art, at the front of a small vacant lot full of weeds and rubble. Next door is a house that is completely capsized, fallen over on its side like a sunken ship.

Welcome to the Lower Ninth Ward. You won’t find much holiday spirit here. In every direction, as far as it is possible to see, is devastation.

Herbert’s unadorned language and sparse metaphors allow us to get closer to those who are in need, capturing indelible images that resonate long after their consumption and attack the desensitizing nature of our culture.

On another lot, piled high with the rubble of a ruined house, I saw a middle-aged man standing in the front yard weeping. He wore a dirty white baseball cap and he was sobbing like a child. I walked toward him to ask a question but he waved me away.

Herbert also adroitly weaves the personal and the public in an effort to break through the entrenched desensitization that permeates our society (think of the Darfur TV ads, in which folks from all walks of life read accounts of victims and witnesses of that continuing genocide).

Whatever you’ve heard about New Orleans, the reality is much worse. Think of it as a vast open wound, this once-great American city that is still largely in ruins, with many of its people still writhing in agony more than a year after the catastrophic flood that followed Hurricane Katrina.

Enormous stretches of the city, mile after mile after mile, have been abandoned. The former residents have doubled-up or tripled-up with relatives, or found shelter in the ubiquitous white trailers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or moved (in some cases permanently) to Texas, Mississippi, Georgia and beyond. Some have simply become homeless.

“This is a ghostly city, if you ask me,” said Sheila Etheridge, a waitress whose home was destroyed and whose three children are staying with relatives near Atlanta. “It gets real spooky when the sun goes down. They let me sleep in the back of the restaurant. But I’ll tell you the truth, we don’t have too many customers. You see what those neighborhoods are like. They’re empty. The people gone.”

Bolstered by historical context and facts often absent in mainstream media coverage, Herbert’s critique of this White House’s response is delivered with a measured outrage:

In mid-September 2005, with parts of the city still submerged and soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division on patrol, President Bush made a dramatic, flood-lit appearance in historic Jackson Square. In a nationally televised speech he promised not only to do all that he could to rebuild the Gulf Coast, but also to confront the terrible problem of deep and persistent poverty.

“That poverty,” said the president, “has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.”

Now, more than a year later, the population of New Orleans is less than half what it was before the storm. The federal government has allocated billions for the city’s recovery but much of that money has been wasted or remains hopelessly tied up in the bureaucracy. Very little has gotten to the neediest victims, the people who were poor to begin with and then lost their homes and their livelihoods to the storm.

Many of the city’s hospitals and schools remain closed. Some will never reopen. There is very little public transportation. The politicians have come up with a stunning array of post-Katrina initiatives, but one grandiose recovery plan after another has faltered.

The terrible experience of the flood and its aftermath has left an imprint on the minds of most residents that’s as distinct as the water lines that stain so many of the city’s buildings. A cabdriver’s voice faltered as he told me about an obese woman who put pillows under her arms as the floodwaters were rising. She thought the pillows would help her float.

“She drowned,” the driver said.

Emotional and psychological problems are rampant, but there is a drastic shortage of mental health professionals to treat them. People are suffering from severe anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and other illnesses. Doctors told me that large numbers of mentally ill individuals have gone more than a year without taking their prescribed medication.

Well, at least all this suffering is not causing George W. Bush to lose any sleep. “I must tell you, I'm sleeping a lot better than people would assume,” he had the gall to recently tell People magazine.

Don't worry, George. Few Americans would still make that assumption.

America's Open Wound, by Bob Herbert
The New York Times

Op-Ed Column: Take Two and Call Me When There’s News

On the same day that news of attacks on U.S. troop and Iraqi targets are at an all-time high, what does NBC Nightly News lead with last night?

The dangers of over-the-counter pain relief medicine. 

The breaking news? Warning labels will now accompany acetaminophen, ibuprofen and aspirin, alerting users that exceeding the recommended dose could lead to serious health risks. Of course, these risks, such as liver damage from taking too much acetaminophen, have been known for years. It is only the labeling, therefore, that’s news.

And while spreading the word, which will already be spread through this labeling, cannot be a bad thing, could anyone rationally argue that it is more newsworthy than, say, the ever-deteriorating situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, genocide in Darfur that’s spilled into Chad, ongoing political turbulence in Mexico, national elections in Iran, or, here at home, the forgotten daily struggles of Katrina victims?

Once again, anchor Brian Williams trots out NBC’s Chief Medical Editor Nancy Snyderman after her pre-taped report. Katie Couric style, Brian and Nancy chat about the new labeling practice and why it’s so important for the American people (did NBC miss the memo that this kind of soft news, highlighted each day on the morning talk shows, appears to have contributed to Couric’s poor ratings?). Then, as if pre-empting more pressing news for this gratuitous focus weren’t silly enough, Williams decides he isn’t milking the “I feel your pain” moment to his satisfaction and launches into a completely unrelated health issue with Snyderman.

“Now, while we have you, a story broke last night that the First Lady Laura Bush has had what they’re calling minor surgery for skin cancer on her leg, her shin. What should we know about this? What have we learned today?”

She had minor surgery for skin cancer. What should we know about this? Just that. Millions of people have this performed daily. Fine, she’s the First Lady. So it’s news, I guess. But there’s no further there, there. Yet Snyderman fills us in anyway, with sharp medical observations, like Laura probably got it from sunbathing. Then she delves into the now well-known dangers of the sun, as well as warning signs to detect possible cancerous lesions.

Meanwhile, Baghdad burns.

The full segment on pain relievers lasts three minutes and eleven seconds. A report on Bush’s plan to surge U.S. troop levels in Iraq (which follows) clocks in at a mere two minutes and fifty-six seconds. Over a half million people have already died from the war in Iraq. Should we increase our forces rather than put an end to this pointless, unwinnable and immoral war, hundreds of thousands more will die.

Weigh that against the dangers of popping an Advil.   

Brian Williams closes the health segment with Snyderman by saying, “All right. A lot of ground to cover in the health world, tonight,” seemingly attempting to sweeten the sell of this as a lead story. Williams, however, without a doubt the sharpest among the three major network anchors, certainly knows there's no viable means to justify putting this story at the top of his broadcast.

It’s just the kind of reporting that makes me reach for the nearest pain reliever.

Story of the Day: Donald Rumsfeld, In His Own Words

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."
-D. Rumsfeld

I guess you could say that outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld missed his true calling: writer of political satire. Though he unintentionally uttered lines on par with the brilliant inanity that Dr. Strangelove screenwriter Terry Southern put into the mouths of his characters, Rumsfeld, unfortunately for America and the rest of the world, went into government.

In isolation, the following Rumsfeldisms will go down in history as some of the most outlandish bat guano uttered by a defense secretary or, for that matter, any government official. But when you take into account that the Washington press corps (save Helen Thomas) lapped them up for nearly six years, it's hard to grasp the degree to which our national media abdicated any sense of journalistic integrity.

Think about that as you read these:

"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."

"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." –on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." –on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"

"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

"[Osama Bin Laden is] either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive."

"I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work." -asked to estimate the number of Iraqi insurgents while testifying before Congress

"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

"If I said yes, that would then suggest that that might be the only place where it might be done which would not be accurate, necessarily accurate. It might also not be inaccurate, but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone."

"There's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist." -on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction

"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." -in Feb. 2003

"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said."

"Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning."

"Learn to say 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be often."

"I don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know."

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty."

"I don't do quagmires."

"I don't do diplomacy."

"I don't do foreign policy."

"I don't do predictions."

"I don't do numbers."

"I don't do book reviews."

"Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here."

"If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly."

"Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable."

Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
Political Humor (via Crooks & Liars)

The Wounded-Courier: FDA Approves New E. coli Marked Produce

WASHINGTON, DC - Following the spate of E. coli outbreaks in fast food chains from contaminated produce, the FDA implemented new labeling standards today that gives consumers three options:  “organic,” “non-organic” and “E. coli.”

“Initially, we understand consumers might be reluctant to opt for that apple or pear marked ‘E. coli,’” said FDA commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. But he added, “Critics said similar things when we first approved NutriSweet for human consumption. ‘It’s a known neurotoxin that causes brain tumors in rats,’ they said. ‘But the human body doesn’t metabolize it,’ they said. While that all may be true, America is, and always has been, about choice. Once E. coli fruits and vegetables flood the shelves of supermarkets and gain prominence among food establishments, consumers will realize they’re safe.”

Dr. von Eschenbach further cautioned, “The cost of not eating your fruits and vegetables because of this new labeling would be far more catastrophic. Choosing to avoid them is futile at best and, at worst, may lead to depression, anxiety, panic attacks, dry mouth, migraines, hair loss, insomnia and scurvy.”

President Bush embraced the new labeling standard, saying, “The E. coli produce is good for our economy and cheaper for the American people. Just think of it: what used to be garbage will now be food for millions of our citizens, as well as consumers around the world who will receive this less costly export. That’s progress.” But consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the FDA decision “preposterous.” Nader declared, “American consumers have been eating the proverbial shit sandwich for decades. Now they will be eating the literal shit sandwich. Can someone tell me how that's progress?”

John Stossel, legendary myth-buster and co-host of ABC’s 20/20, has a whole other take on the growing debate. He claims that “E. coli alarmists” are misinforming the public. “Like carbon dioxide, E. coli is everywhere,” said Stossel. “We couldn’t live without it. So, E. coli mangoes? Mixed greens with E. coli? Believe or not, we should be so lucky.”

Following today’s FDA announcement, Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of genetically modified soybeans, said it plans to bring a vast array of E. coli products to market in the new year, including a spreadable E. coli paste, soft drink, string cheese, stain remover, mouthwash and personal biological weapon.

Story of the Day: Meet Terry Nelson, McCain's Campaign Manager

While the mainstream media continues to portray John McCain (aptly dubbed St. McCain by progressives) as a straight-talking maverick, his record during the Bush years belies this myth. With its detailed report on Terry Nelson, McCain’s campaign manager for his 2008 presidential bid, Media Matters takes another axe to this entrenched fabrication. And the results are devastating.

If a man’s character is to be judged by the company he keeps, consider Nelson’s despicable history:

Approved attack ad on Harold Ford criticized as racist

As head of the RNC's independent expenditure unit in 2006, Nelson approved a controversial advertisement attacking Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN). The ad featured a scantily clad white woman posing as someone who "met" Ford "at the Playboy party." As the ad concluded, she looked into the camera, purporting to address Ford, an African-American, and asked him to "call" her.

…

Implicated in DeLay scandal

In September 2005, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was indicted on charges of conspiracy involving alleged illegal corporate contributions into the Texas state elections. Specifically, the indictments accused DeLay of, in 2002, conspiring with two aides, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, to arrange large corporate contributions to the RNC that would then be sent back to various candidates for the Texas legislature.

While Nelson has not been charged, both the conspiracy and money-laundering indictments allege that, as deputy chief of staff of the RNC at the time, Nelson received a $190,000 check from Colyandro in September 2002, along with a request that the RNC fund seven particular candidates for the Texas House of Representatives. The RNC subsequently carried out this request, issuing $190,000 to the seven candidates on October 4, 2002.

…

Implicated in NH phone-jamming scandal

During Nelson's tenure as RNC deputy chief of staff, one of his subordinates, RNC New Hampshire political director James Tobin, conspired with several GOP operatives to obstruct the Democrats' get-out-the-vote effort in the state by jamming the phone lines they used on Election Day, November 5, 2002. On December 15, 2005, Tobin was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit the commission of interstate telephone harassment and one count of aiding and abetting the commission of interstate telephone harassment. He later received a sentence of 10 months in prison, two years of probation, and a $10,000 fine.

…

Consulting firm connected to Swifties

Nelson's consulting firm, Crosslink Strategy Group, counts Chris LaCivita among its employees. While working for a separate Republican strategy firm in 2004, LaCivita was a paid consultant and media adviser to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who launched a smear campaign against Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) based on lies, factual distortions, and baseless attacks on Kerry's Vietnam War record and personal life.

Racist attack ads. Money laundering. Election-day phone jamming. Ties to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. If bending over backwards for this White House - which included caving on the Military Commissions Act - wasn’t sufficient proof that McCain wanted to be the next president by any means necessary, tapping the sleazy Terry Nelson to lead his campaign should leave no doubt.

Moreover, it’s about time the mainstream media stops applauding the Terry Nelsons of the political world (see Karl Rove) for their shrewdness, their killer instinct, while ignoring the concomitant underhanded, or outright illegal, methods that facilitate their victories. This practice not only drives politicians to embrace strategists like Nelson, but does nothing to deter them from doing so.

In the case of St. John McCain, his hypocrisy and the mainstream media’s failure to note it are the icing on this galling cake.   

Who is McCain campaign manager Terry Nelson? And will the media tell us?
By Josh Kalven
Media Matters

Story of the Day: Jack Cafferty Hammers The (Undecided) Decider

Aside from MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (and very likely because of his success), CNN’s Jack Cafferty has been the only other news anchor to consistently expose and decry the Bush administration’s countless unconscionable acts. And though Olbermann and Cafferty could not be more dissimilar in style, their substance is derived from the same confluence of facts, contextualization and common sense.

In sharp contrast to their most immediate colleagues, Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer, respectively, they don’t suffer from the kind of amnesia that so often precludes the use of quotes or incidents that occurred just a few days prior, let alone a few weeks, months or years. Thus, when administration officials lie or proclaim something is working when the facts prove otherwise, Olbermann and Cafferty actually call them on it. That this is the anomaly and not the other way around underscores the broken state of our mainstream TV news, which is less a responsible coverage of our country and world than a flashcard-like shuffling through the day’s events. 

Cafferty delivered a searing commentary today on The Decider, who says he needs more time now to decide what to do about Iraq. As Jack put it, “Instead of a Christmas present to the nation and the people of Iraq in the form of a way to stop the insanity, the decider has decided not to decide until January.”

But you should decide to watch Cafferty’s full commentary here:

Cafferty: “The Decider Has Decided Not to Decide”
By Jack Cafferty
The Situation Room (via Crooks and Liars)