Take a look at the cover of Newsweek, just out Monday. Another in a long line of Rush Limbaugh expositions, this one written by conservative David Frum, who basically ruminates about the future of the Republican Party.
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The Limbaugh-Obama controversy is about over, but the far-left smear machine that propelled it to our attention is just getting started.
At the top of the smear chart is the MoveOn organization. George Soros is heavily invested in that. The propaganda arm of MoveOn and other far-left pressure groups is Media Matters, run by a guttersnipe named David Brock. Brock and his character assassins distribute out-of-context statements to a carefully selected group of corrupt media, headed by MSNBC, and to the Internet. Sometimes the entities even cooperate. The aforementioned Newsweek, for example, provides far-left commentators to MSNBC on a daily basis. The goal, of course, is to smear conservatives in the media, to convince ill-informed Americans that those on the right are racist, homophobic, extremist, whatever.
Unfortunately, the smear machine works on some levels. The Obama administration apparently picked up on a poll done by Democrats that showed Mr. Limbaugh's popularity to be low among Americans under 40. Then the president's men tried to portray Limbaugh as actually running the Republican Party. Short term, it worked. A controversy exploded and the head of the RNC, Michael Steele, came off looking bad.
But as I wrote in my newspaper column this week, a backlash is in the air. Americans want the economy fixed, not silly games.
As for Limbaugh saying he wants Obama to fail, here's something you'll never hear on NBC News or read in The New York Times. According to a FOX News poll taken in August 2006, 51 percent of Democrats said they wanted President Bush to fail. 51 percent. I believe NBC and The Times were in that group.
The Obama administration should understand that Americans are wising up to the smear factory.
Last year at this time, John Edwards was running around saying millions of homeless veterans were living under bridges because of the economy. That was bull, and we proved it. So the smear machine cranked up and branded me anti-vet. Zealots even brought a bunch of vets to the FOX News building. It was sad:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What brings you here today then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homeless veterans — what Bill O'Reilly said about homeless veterans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he say exactly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he said…
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he say about them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no homeless veterans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you sure that's what he said? I'm curious. Did you see him say that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Well, that's what was told to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't hear it yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The smear machine used those poor guys, and routinely does awful stuff like that. It is disgraceful, and those media participating in organized defamation should be condemned by all fair-minded Americans.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Oprah Winfrey remains the most powerful woman in the country, and now is using her program to help battered women:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: I said to the producers that I wanted to do a show about it this week, dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world. Because you know that in our country, the statistic is one out of four women, that's what the statistic — that's what's reported — one out of four women. It is the same statistic for young girls. Love doesn't hurt, and if a man hits you once, he will hit you again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
For doing that, Ms. Winfrey is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, it happens to all sex symbols: They get older. Some age gracefully. Others, well, try to hang on any way they can.
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Enter 41-year-old Pamela Anderson, who had yet another wardrobe malfunction in Paris. Details are not important, but some observers believe these attention-getting devices are fairly transparent. Pardon the pun.
Is Ms. Anderson a pinhead? You make the call.
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