Right Wing

You Don't Say

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2005 - 1:31pm

Communications professor Nancy Snow deconstructs GOP pollster Frank Luntz's memo titled "The 14 Words Never to Use." Luntz writes, "Effectively communicating the New American Lexicon requires you to STOP saying words and phrases that undermine your ability to educate the American people." Included on the blacklist are "privatization" ("it evokes images of fat

Main Source: 
Common Dreams, February 26, 2005

Trying to Spin Themselves Out of a Job?

by Diane Farsetta — February 28, 2005 - 12:59pm

More than 4,000 pages of "documents relating to the communications strategy of the Social Security Administration," reveal that the SSA "has markedly changed its communications to the public over the last four years," reports the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform.

Main Source: 
U.S. House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office, February 28, 2005

Exposing the Echo Chamber Behind Social Security Privatization

by Laura Miller — February 25, 2005 - 6:54pm
  • Topics: Right Wing, Politics, Public Relations

    • The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping "Personal Retirement Accounts" as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is quite a challenge. The dozens of bobbing heads and clicking fingers, holding forth on cable news programming and the Internet is enough to make anyone's head spin.

    A Swift Kick in the Family Retirement Plan

    by Diane Farsetta — February 21, 2005 - 7:22pm

    The industry-funded lobbying group USANext "says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing [Social Security] private investment accounts." To oversee the campaign, USANext hired Chris LaCivita, recently of the

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, February 21, 2005

    "Jeff Gannon's" Incredible Access

    by Sheldon Rampton — February 18, 2005 - 8:12am

    "James Guckert's mysterious career as a White House correspondent for Talon News just took another strange twist," writes Eric Boehlert. "And once again, the newest revelation raises the central question: Who broke the rules on Guckert's behalf to give him access to the White House?

    Main Source: 
    Salon.com, February 17, 2005

    Gannon Quits After Blogger Inquiry

    by Sheldon Rampton — February 9, 2005 - 2:36pm

    "The Talon News correspondent at the center of a scandal over his White House press credentials quit last night amid a growing online investigation into his history, including allegations of involvement with several websites appearing to support gay pornography and promote male prostitution," reports Timothy Karr.

    Main Source: 
    MediaCitizen, February 9, 2005

    "Cash for Commentary" is Business as Usual

    by Sheldon Rampton — January 30, 2005 - 10:19pm
  • Topics: Right Wing, Public Relations

    • Conservative commentators Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus have been outed recently for taking money under the table to endorse Bush administration programs. These cases are only the tip of a much bigger iceberg, as you can tell from looking at the images I'm attaching here. I wrote about it three years ago in a story that described the work of conservative direct marketer Bruce Eberle, whose Omega List Company specializes in raising money using mail and e-mail.

    On a section of the website that has subsequently been removed, Omega List was quite straightforward about the fact that it pays conservative commentators to endorse clients and their causes. A series of web pages featured conservative radio show host Blanquita Cullum explaining exactly how the system works and how other radio hosts could get in on the gravy. "You do what you do best!" she said. "Get on the air and talk to your listeners! Drive them to your website by conducting a daily survey or a contest on the topic of your choosing." Eberle's "polling wizard" software, installed on the site, would then capture the names of respondents so that they could be hit up for money. "What happens next is a cakewalk," Cullum continued. "Omega will call you with an opportunity to send an endorsement e-mail to your list ... and receive a royalty for lending your name to a cause, organization or product you believe in. ... Omega gives you their specialized software absolutely FREE and presents you with an opportunity to earn an extra $25,000 or more annually."

    More Regime Change?

    by Diane Farsetta — January 18, 2005 - 8:10pm

    With "regime change" in Iran receiving renewed attention in Congress, "new exiled Iranian opposition groups backed by some of Washington's neoconservatives are springing up in the hope of seeing large doses of U.S. funding," reports the Financial Times.

    Main Source: 
    Financial Times, January 18, 2005

    Feeding Social Insecurities

    by Diane Farsetta — January 13, 2005 - 7:45pm

    The "start of a coordinated effort to build public support" to privatize Social Security "and pressure Congress to act" included a Washington DC town hall with the president and six "carefully selected participants." One was a Seattle-area businessman who, after being contacted by the White House, got a call from the conservative lobbying group FreedomWorks, "offering to pay his expenses." FreedomWorks

    Main Source: 
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 12, 2005
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