corrente

Reality checks. Robert Parry:

This election has become a test of whether reality still means anything to the American people, whether this country has moved to essentially a new form of government in which one side is free to lie about everything while a paid “amen corner” of ideological media drowns out any serious public debate.

For weeks now, George W. Bush’s campaign has been radically testing the limits of how thoroughly one party can lie, misrepresent and smear without paying any price and indeed while reaping rewards in the opinion polls. Bush personally capped off this binge of dishonesty with his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, continuing his pattern of lying about how the war in Iraq began. - Reality on the Ballot/Consortium News

Two more items noted - via Cursor.org's dereliction2004 media beat page:

1- Philip Gourevitch / The New Yorker / 9-8-2004

For Bush, rhetoric is reality, and he operates as if things were as he says they are. If reality does not conform, he remains undeterred, on message.

2- Media Watch / 9-8-2004

It appears the President is at it again. He is using the 9/11 terrorists and Saddam Hussein in the same paragraphs to create a rhetorical connection between the two... Why does the President continue to use this rhetorical strategy after admitting a year ago there was not a connection? Because he faces no consequences for doing so.

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