ANOTHER RANT: SPEAKING TRUTH TO THE ROVE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

"The great masses's receptive ability is only very limited, their understanding is small, but their forgetfulness is great. As a consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda has to limit itself only to a very few points and use them like slogans until even the very last man is able to imagine what is intended in such a word."

From the original, full- length version of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

I've said it before and I'll say it again. When it comes to propaganda, 21st Century Republicans make their Nazi forefathers look like rank amateurs. Hitler and Goebbels were good, but Karl Rove is even better--just as warped as his fascist idols, but genuinely talented in the fine art of deception.

In a stunning display of duplicity our beloved Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda has unleashed another underhanded campaign of delusion, half truths, and out right prevarications. In another attempt to paste Osama Bin Laden's beard on Saddam Hussein, Herr Rove has unleashed anew smear campaign of unabashed falsehoods to link 911 with the ongoing invasion of Iraq. Once again we are hearing the half-baked myth that this ill-fated invasion is a focal point in the war on international terrorism; and yet anyone with an IQ of 60 or above knows that international terrorism is just that--an international phenomenon.

Perhaps, if Reich Minister Rove had said that he and his beloved Fuhrer, George W. Bush, had turned the now failing state of Iraq into a training ground for home grown Iraqi insurgents and a handful of al Quaida fanatics, Herr Rove would have finally said something that resembled the truth, but that isn't what he did.

Instead of telling the truth, he offered a delusional tale about a glorious, patriotic war (of choice) and ignored the sectarian civil war that he he and his pupper Fuhrer have spawned. Instead of coming clean with the American people, our pudgy, pink, propaganda minister wove a demented narrative of talking points in which anyone who disagrees with his beloved pretender is a traitor.

The eleven hour debate that we watched in the Republican-dominated Reichstadt was nothing more than a series of calculated sound bites for the 2006 midterm elections. And the part that both amused and infuriated me the most was the fact that the Republicans are so unaccustomed to independent thought that they had little choice but to read their statements--they were so lacking in creativity and spontaneity that that stood there reciting the same, hackneyed missives that we have already heard a thousand times before: Begin with 911, end with Saddam Hussein; use the words "God Bless America," and smear the Democrats as weak on terrorism. All that after Bush and Rumsfeld dropped the ball on Afghanistan (where the Taliban has returned with a vengeance) and transformed Iraq into an over-glorified training camp for homegrown insurgents and terrorists.

It makes me wonder.

If this regime was truly concerned about terrorism, why did it fail (on three separate occasions) to either capture or eliminate Zarqawi? Oh, Jeeze. Do you think it was because this highly political administration saw Zarqawi as a very useful bogeyman? Do you think that it might have had something to do with the fact that handling the Zarqawi situation at the proper tome would have interfered with their attempt to build a coalition of the gullible?

All right. Maybe I'm being a little hard on the regime. I'm sure that the regime didn't know what it was doing when it proposed the half baked idea of handing over our port security to a country with ties to 911. And I'm sure they didn't mean it when they cut anti-terrorism funding to New York City. I mean, it wasn't as if New York has any important cultural or historical icons. The Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Broadway, the New York Public Library, The Empire State Building, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the United Nations Building, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, a couple of museums, maybe a few universities, the Bronx Zoo, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center: Who would want to protect places like those when we can save French Lick, Arkansas, or Arm Pitt, Mississippi from eager-to-marry homosexuals?

Okay, maybe I'm missing the main point. Maybe I should celebrate the fact that while our Republican members of the Reichstadt were conducting a pre-written loyalty oath to their beloved Fuhrer, the latest leader in Iraq was granting amnesty to those insurgents who had only killed American soldiers. Maybe I should be more like the blood thirsty Republicans who celebrate the fact that we now have more than 2,500 dead American troops. Maybe Propaganda Minister Rove has the right idea when he gleefully ignores the deaths of more than 100,000 Iraqis, or the wounding of more than 59,000 American soldiers.

Hell, for all I know the Iraqi Constitution, which establishes Islamic law, is a good thing. Yeah. That's right! Giving support to Iraqi Shias,who have strong ties to Iran, only strengthens Iran's position in the Middle East as a whole, but maybe, just maybe, Propaganda Minister Rove has a another propaganda campaign in mind for an even bloodier and more costly war against both, Iran and Iraq!

Wow! I'm impressed!

We spent 11 hours debating a meaningless, nonbinding resolution, which by its very nature, offered an honorable promise but not a single, solitary solution as to how that promise would be kept. Yup. We're going to win the war on terrorism, but we're not going to talk about the inadequate prewar planning or the lack of a post war plan for creating a viable Iraqi government. Nor are we going to discuss the failed strategy. But then again, it might just be that Rove and his puppets in the Republican-dominated Reichstadt are living in a bizarre dream scape in which an unseen, flag-draped coffin is better than a living father, brother, or son.

Sarcasm aside, I was nothing less than elated when certain Democrats grew internal body parts which resembled back bones. Perhaps-just perhaps--the bad old days of complacent lefties are a thing of the past. At long last we see Democrats--real Democrats--pushing back against the Rove propaganda machine.

In fact, I was especially impressed by the following remarks by Connecticut Democrat John Larson"

"What a sham this is today, when we're denied any alternative resolutions. As Mister Lantos eloquently stated earlier today, when he talked about George Michael and his eloquence , standing on the floor, talking about speaking truth to power. And that's what's so upsetting to the American people, and why Mr. has been recognized all around this country for standing up and speaking the truth to the American people--something this administration, and frankly, this Congress, has been unable to do--level with the American people.

"Let's start with leveling with the American troops, leveling with all those families of reservists and national guardsmen, who I speak with on a regular basis, who have been deployed, redeployed, deployed, and redeployed, again and many times, because we haven't had a plan.

"Here we are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe, and you guys bring to the floor a political document not designed for a new direction, or to bring the country together to discuss the issue this issue the way that it should be; but instead, as talking points outlined by Karl Rove out in New Hampshire, sandwiched between the President's photo op and a picnic this evening.

"Americans are outraged that we don't have a citizenry and members here who are willing to stand up and have accountability. We all support the war on this terror, And this party from Roosevelt, to Truman, to Kennedy, to Jack Murtha, has stood on the watch wall of freedom and stood there valiantly , but collectively, with the American people, and in this body and in this chamber.

"But that's not what's going on here today. Instead its right out of the play book. Attack Jack Murtha, attack the messenger. That's a formula that works. It worked against Max Cleland, it worked against John Kerry. Jeeze, that'll work against Jack Murtha also. Discredit this guy. Discredit what he had to say because he had the temerity to speak truth to power in an administration that can't level with the American public.

"Why don't they criticize General Batiste, General Zinni, General Van Riper, all of these generals. Are they all wrong too for speaking truth to power? Shouldn't we be talking about how we can collectively move forward, instead of a tried and true playbook of political jargon on a resolution that's nonbinding?

"Speak truth to power. I'm proud to associate myself with Mr. Murtha and everything he stands for."

Congressman John Larsen, speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives on June 15 2006.

What can I say? It's about time.

Have a good weekend.