Ad Wars and the Search for Truth

September 3 2004
Counterbias.com
Dennis Jones

FACT: The sun set in the western sky at 9:03 P.M.

PROPAGANDA: The last hot breaths of the summer sun painted the landscape with a palette of rich warm colors which heralded the coming of the cool still night.

If you believe the political ads, John Kerry is a cynical liar who embellished his war record, unfairly rewarded himself with undeserved medals and returned home to heap scorn upon his fellow veterans while gathering glory unto himself for political purposes; in his political life he has positioned himself on every side of every issue in a craven attempt to curry favor with every possible constituency; as a candidate for president he tries to deceive the voters about his desire to gut intelligence, hamstring the military and undercut the troops in the field as they attempt to valiantly free the enslaved people of the world in the war on terror; he is a moral coward who is for killing babies, deviant lifestyles and declining morals; he looks French, if elected will turn the keys to the government over to the French; most importantly, he has never met a tax increase that he doesn't like and can be counted on to immediately flush the economy down the drain after he assumes office. To his followers he is a saint.

Likewise, George W. Bush is a craven coward who has repeatedly lied about his un-American stint in the National Guard; the president is a hopeless idiot who serves the wishes of a group of devious advisors against the welfare of the "little" people; he has single-handedly shipped hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs overseas and lied about how good it is for the economy; he hates school kids, veterans, the poor, the middle class - practically everybody except the wealthiest among us; he likes dirty water, fouled air and he wants to cut down every tree in sight; most importantly, he knowingly lied about the WMD in Iraq in a successful attempt to lead our country into a war in Iraq to reward his cronies in the oil business. To his followers he is a saint.

Only the most partisan of voters on either side could possible believe that Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry could stay married to anyone  like the two men I have just described. So what's going on?

In forty years of studying politics I have learned one immutable fact about my fellow Americans: they hear what they want to hear. What they want to hear in politics is that their guy sees the light and that the other fellow is darkness itself. Those descriptions of John Kerry and George W. Bush are exaggerated, but completely reasonable views as derived from the political advertising which currently graces our political table. Eat it up, friends, because it is exactly what the advertising cooks had in mind.

Those cooks are political consultants. Their job is definitively not to shed any truth on the political debate. Rather, they undercut the political system by accentuating the positives of their candidate to the point of beatification and accentuate the negatives about their opposition to the point of damnation. And for some reason unknown to me, we make it easy for them. We are inclined to completely discount anything positive that a campaign has to say but to believe that the negatives that they spew forth are the gospel truth. I don't mean to say that these people are evil; they just can't be trusted with the truth.

Are there morons who would be seduced by this kind of flim-flammery? Apparently there are millions of them. Candidates for president are going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this year running those ads - most of them negative. You have to believe that they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. They know that if they repeat the hot button charges often enough, sooner or later the target will be defined in a way beneficial to them. Nothing about policy, nothing positive - in other words, my guy is better because the other guy is a shithead!

Enter the media - the handmaidens in this enterprise. I'm referring primarily to the broadcast media, although the print media is almost as culpable. It's just that nobody reads anymore so the real power is over the airwaves. The most powerful of that media is the 24 hour news organizations - CNN and MSNBC. (I will throw FOX into the mix because I am generous to a fault and not because they have anything to do with news). They make their millions at the pleasure of the public because those airwaves belong to you and me, not to the networks.  

They pay us back handsomely by aggressively reporting every nuance imaginable about the Laci Peterson murder trial; Kobe Bryant and Michael Jackson can't move without wall to wall coverage. They slip in a little reportage about the war, the economy, Supreme Court cases etc. And they are insatiable for politics; especially if it is controversial. The more controversial the better. They feed on controversy. As a matter of fact, if it isn't controversial it probably won't make the news. And they run political ads - lots of political ads, almost all of them negative. How do they keep it fair? Political consultants - the Truth Patrol! We are treated to endless shouting matches; nothing to bring us a little clarity.

A case in point would be the current controversy over the advertising put forth by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. This group of Vietnam veterans has banded together to oppose John Kerry in his bid for the presidency. I see nothing wrong with that and they have every right to run any advertising they desire. Like either of the major parties and the anti-Bush groups they are not constrained by the veracity of their charges. The first amendment says nothing about speech being truthful.

And what has been the result of that advertising? For the last three weeks we have been bombarded with hundreds of hours of charges against John Kerry's honesty, courage and patriotism. Every time the tiniest little tidbit or nuance bubbles to the surface we have another round of trash being heaped upon Senator Kerry. The canard offered up for this onslaught is that Senator Kerry has invited this scrutiny by making his record in Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign. If you follow that logic we might expect days and days of stories about G.W.'s infatuation with strong drink and illegal drugs; family values, eh? God help us, I hope not.

The upshot of all of this hoohah is that John Kerry is accused of cowardice under fire. He repeatedly lied to aggrandize himself in daily reports thusly to reap totally undeserved awards for his non existent bravery. Further he is charged with not having been wounded severely enough and for having deviously plotted to use those minor scratches to extricate himself early from Vietnam all in a grand plan to build up his biography for his later political life. He is guilty of not being as heroic as other veterans and for not being under fire enough. They should have also charged him with stupidity because the easiest way to get out of Vietnam was to not volunteer to go at all! It would have been much easier than wounding himself three times.

The proof that has been offered up is the testimony of several men who served honorably with Senator Kerry in Vietnam. The physical evidence is zippedy doodah! The evidence in Mr. Kerry's favor is the eyewitness testimony of many other veteran's who also honorably served with him - many of them directly on his boat. The physical evidence is the entire written record. Obviously it would it be too much to ask the media to break themselves away from the sensationalism long enough to present the facts before the public? The Swift Vets have had their fifteen minutes of fame. They have presented their arguments. If they can scrape up more money from their wealthy Republican donors, they can run all the ads that they like. But it is now time for a little less sensationalism and a little more reportage on the legitimacy of the charges.

Some would argue that it is a difficult task to be fair but the reality is that it is not. Check out the website of the Annenberg Foundation at factcheck.org to see just how easy it is. They are a "nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." If you peruse their website you will find a completely fair and balanced (as opposed to Foxian) analysis of all of the current political advertising. You will find that they are equally skillful at debunking the hyperbole in the ads from both sides. You will also find that my description of the Swifties' case is correct.

In the end, the provable facts are as follows. I offer them to the networks gratis. John Kerry volunteered for service in the active Navy. George W. Bush volunteered for service in the National Guard in Texas. John Kerry volunteered for service in Vietnam and served two tours there. George W. Bush did not. He served a full tour aboard the USS Gridley, part of it in Vietnam's coastal waters. George W. Bush did not. At the completion of that tour he volunteered for duty on a swift boat - as dangerous a job as most in that war. George W. Bush did not. Kerry served as a swift boat captain for 4 ½ months and saw action repeatedly. George W. Bush did not. During that service Kerry was awarded a silver star, a bronze star for bravery and three purple hearts by the U.S. Navy. George W. Bush has no medals for combat because he was never under fire or anywhere near a combat zone. In 1970, Kerry was honorably discharged from the navy after four years of active duty service. George W. Bush served 5 ½ years in the National Guard. Most of that service was in his home state of Texas and maybe some of it was in Alabama. He was also honorably discharged.

You've got to hand it to the Bushies. In the midst of a disastrous and unpopular war and faced with a weak economy they have skillfully used a compliant media to assassinate the character of their opposition. Mark Roth of
Breckenridge, Colorado wrote a letter to the New York Times in which he asked, "Is it not absurd that the degree of John Kerry's bravery in Vietnam should be a subject of debate, while during that war his opponent courageously volunteered to defend Texas against a sneak attack from Oklahoma?" I couldn't have said it better.

At long last could we get on to the business of selecting a president? Could we focus on issues like Iraq, the economy, healthcare, the environment, civil liberties and others which really are important to out future? It is up to the media, but I'm not holding my breath.