Right Wing

Swift Boat Vets' Book Gets PR Help

by Laura Miller — August 29, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Conservative columnist Bob Novak has touted the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book Unfit for Command without revealing that his son heads marketing and PR for its publisher," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. The New York Times writes that Novak has "lauded" the book in his syndicated columns and on CNN's 'Crossfire.' "Unmentioned in Mr.

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O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub. req'd), August 30, 2004

Gone Fishing for Publicity

by Sheldon Rampton — August 27, 2004 - 11:00pm

Anglers on their way into the north woods of Wisconsin this Labor Day weekend won't be seeing one important message about the Bush administration's environmental record. This month Environment 2004 tried to place an advertisement on two billboards along a Wisconsin highway that declared, "Mercury. It's what's for dinner.

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Salon.com, August 28, 2004

Keeping Jesus Off Camera

by John Stauber — August 27, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Don't expect to see the reverends Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or Franklin
Graham at the podium during next week's Republican National Convention,
whose planners hope to keep fire, brimstone and the Christian Right
offstage at Madison Square Garden.
About the only big name Christians making prime-time noise at Madison
Square Garden at next week's Republican gathering will be

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San Francisco Chronicle, August 28, 2004

Ghostwriters for Bush

by Sheldon Rampton — August 26, 2004 - 11:00pm

The Daily Kos recently uncovered an astroturf (fake grassroots) initiative by the George W. Bush campaign, which generated ghostwritten letters to the editor that found their way into at least 60 newspapers. This isn't the first time that the Bush administration has tried this trick, as we've reported in the past.

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Editor and Publisher, August 27, 2004

Block the Vote

by Sheldon Rampton — August 25, 2004 - 11:00pm

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights leaders say the Republican Party is mounting a campaign to keep African-Americans and other minority voters away from the polls this November. "In recent years, many minority communities have tended to align with the Democratic Party," states a new report cosponsored by the NAACP and People for the American Way.

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Washington Post, August 26, 2004

Full Court Press Release

by Laura Miller — August 19, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Over the past few weeks of Presidential WrestleMania MMIV, the Bush campaign has fired off more than a dozen press releases about John Kerry's policies on energy, nuclear-waste storage, forest and water protections, and other environmental issues - a hodgepodge of smears, exaggerations, and obfuscations intended to besmirch Kerry's pro-environment reputation," Grist Magazine's Amanda Griscom writes. Polls indicate that swing-state voters are concerned about things like pollution and wilderness conservation, prompting the Bush campaign to "neutralize" the environment as an election issue.

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Alternet, August 20, 2004

Vietnam, Re-revisited

by John Stauber — August 19, 2004 - 11:00pm

John Kerry called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group "a front for the Bush campaign." The New York Times' in-depth report on the group finds "a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Tex

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New York Times, August 20, 2004

Red News or Blue News?

by Diane Farsetta — August 14, 2004 - 11:00pm

"The ascendancy of 'news' with an attitude - a spin, a bias - is undeniable," reports Newsweek, which cites Fox News Channel, Air America Radio, Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Drudge Report as examples.

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Newsday, August 15, 2004

PBS Adds Insult to Injury

by Laura Miller — August 12, 2004 - 11:00pm

"The far right's decades-long campaign to falsely brand PBS a leftist conspiracy - one that apparently included giving shows to such commies as William F. Buckley, Louis Rukeyser, Ben Wattenberg and Fortune magazine - has really hit pay dirt this year, first in creating a show around CNN's conservative talking head Tucker Carlson, and now, far more egregiously, in creating a program for the extremist editorial board of the Wall Street Journal," the Nation's Eric Alterman writes.

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Common Dreams, August 13, 2004

The Presidential Race Card

by Diane Farsetta — August 10, 2004 - 11:00pm

"A Washington nonprofit group with ties to the Republican Party is airing radio ads ... asking if U.S. Senator John Kerry takes 'the black community for granted?'" The group, People of Color United, was founded last week by DC Parents For School Choice, which supports school vouchers.

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Philadelphia Daily News, August 11, 2004
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