The problem I have with the Media is that they have gone from being a check on the government to being just as powerful and similar to government. It's like a new government has arisen.

During the Tet offensive, public opinion was against the war so to play up on these potential ratings all the major news outlets directly lied about the situation and were told to do this by the executives of the business. What a joke. It still continues to this day and in pursuit of ratings is prepared to essentially 'lose' the war on the Home Front and consequently damage America's world standing. How can this unelectable body possess more power than the government?

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'May no obstacles arise on the path of enlightenment!
May the enlightened intention of Those Gone to Bliss, past, present and future, be realised,
May I neither be bewildered in migratory existence
Nor I lulled by the solitary quiescence [of nirvana]!
But may I liberate beings throughout the expanse of space!'

- Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava

I'm as Liberal as you are Fascist ....

I'm doing this for a paper and I was allowed to write it on whatever I want so I decided to do 'The Political and Social effects of the Vietnam War'. First day of research I found this out, very interesting I thought.

I suppose your rantings about the 'Liberal' Media are not just out of the blue . For once we agree, lol.

__________________
'May no obstacles arise on the path of enlightenment!
May the enlightened intention of Those Gone to Bliss, past, present and future, be realised,
May I neither be bewildered in migratory existence
Nor I lulled by the solitary quiescence [of nirvana]!
But may I liberate beings throughout the expanse of space!'

- Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava

Hallelujah, the scales have fallen from your eyes - lord have mercy!

You might read up on the role played by Walter Cronkite, the CBS News TV anchor of his day. Unlike Dan Rather, Cronkite was a well-respected figure - he had been a war correspondent in europe in WWII. It's doubtful to me that Cronkite was "told to do this by the executives" - unlike the rest of the lib media, he simply misunderstood the situation, but because of his rep, he turned the majority of americans against the war.

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Blade: "more educated and literate people than Justabubba"

Justabubba: "that would include everyone"

http://politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=27847

Its a pity the lord did not hand out raincoats when "agent orange" was falling!

I did some research online and this was the first video I saw (you only need to see about 10-20 minutes of it to get the picture):


It's scary how the Media was able to influence the swing voters. The problem that lingers from this is the inability now of our leaders to tell the voters the real reasons for conflict. If we had pushed forward 'Democratisation' in other places with military means instead of the Middle East, I'm sure world opinion wouldn't be so against us.

__________________
'May no obstacles arise on the path of enlightenment!
May the enlightened intention of Those Gone to Bliss, past, present and future, be realised,
May I neither be bewildered in migratory existence
Nor I lulled by the solitary quiescence [of nirvana]!
But may I liberate beings throughout the expanse of space!'

- Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava

While all true, keep in mind that the U.S. didn't really "Commit' to the task at hand, kind of like the current war, tryint to run it on "The Cheap" is never a good policy.

During WWII we committed over a MIllion men on the ground, while in Vietnam the most we EVER had over there was about a half Million, while at the time we had over 1.2 million troops total that we COULD have deployed. The same thing is happening now in Iraq and Afganistan. When we were attacked the U.S. should have IMMEDIATELY started a draft to put a million men on the ground. When we went into Afganistan and later Iraq, the first thing we should have done was deployed a mssive force on the borders of these countries to keep others from getting involved. Did the Administration REALLY think that Al Quada who had operatives in Jordan, Syria, Palistine and Saudi Arabia were going to sit this one out? With our main professional soldiers now free to fight without interference we could have had this thing wrapped up in 6 months. Sure we'd still be there rebuilding, but more so like we were in Japan or Germany after WWII. Once everything would have been stabalized we could have suspended the draft, return troop levels back to normal and have a much stronger AND MORE RESPECTED country to boot.

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http://www.nosocialism.com
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America is not a Socialist country, this is why the only democrats who ever win, are democrats who SOUND like Republicans (Hello Bill Clinton - Low taxes, Free Trade, Welfare Reform, Era of Big Government Over - Sounds Republican).

Journalists have long referred to themselves as the "4th branch of government." We on the left should be ever grateful for their support and efforts in bringing the progressive ideals to the common folk. Without the voice of the media helping to keep that ideal formost in the minds of voters, we would have never been successful in enlisting the youth into the rebellion of the 60's against the conservative establishment and American nationalism and patriotism.

I wouldn't say they possess more power than the government. They become the government's free propaganda tool during the Iraq War.

But they are definitely like the fourth branch of the government (or fifth -- some say the Fed is the fourth).

In Vietnam they kept to the task at hand, just that the Soviets gave Vietnam good weapons, knocking B - 52's takes sophisticated weapons, the Iraq's have no weapons, that is the difference between Vietnam and Iraq, Vietnem people had weapons, Iraq they have AK 47 zero surface to air missiles, zero everything except improvised explosives. Do not make excuses for Vietnam by trying to suggest somehow they were not serious. because they face an enemy who happaned to be armed.

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The Eagle is Mighty, Crows are Many.

But the media lied in order to achieve its objectives. Very indicative of the American Left and Right. Each day goes by and my opinion of all politicians gets worse and worse.

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'May no obstacles arise on the path of enlightenment!
May the enlightened intention of Those Gone to Bliss, past, present and future, be realised,
May I neither be bewildered in migratory existence
Nor I lulled by the solitary quiescence [of nirvana]!
But may I liberate beings throughout the expanse of space!'

- Tibetan Book of the Dead by Padmasambhava