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Bush and Hitler, Publicity Freaks
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
Uh-oh! When our professional press (aka "mainstream media") notes some eerie similarities, maybe its time to worry?
These two columns were mirrored (left-page, right-page) in the Monday Palm Beach Post editorial section. Even though we in the "liberal community" despise the trashing job Maureen Dowd did on the Clintons (which was mostly based on innuendo, pop-psychology, and her stalking Monica Lewinsky like an obsessed Hollywood fan), we have to acknowledge that (lately, at least) Dowd is doing a far better job of applying basic 9th grade "compare and contrast" literary and social analyzing skills, than most of her journalist brethren.
So applying that black, forgotten art of "Compare and Contrast" (it is SO much easier to just take dictation from mr. rove!) to these two compelling editorials, we come up with this scary little bit:
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1. PBP: << For all the things wrong with him, Hitler was 50 years ahead of the country that invented public relations in seeing how to get people to want what they didn't know they wanted. >>
1.Dowd: << Watching "The Matrix Reloaded" can only refresh your appreciation of Karl Rove, who understands the power of archetypal myths. >>
2. PBP: << He was among the first users of new technology. With airplanes and fast cars, he popped up all over. He invented the photo op. He had a photographer on staff and a filmmaker on contract. He practiced gestures in front of mirrors to provide images for them. >>
2. Dowd: << As Elisabeth Bumiller wrote in Friday's Times, President Bush's audacious landing on the aircraft carrier was only the tip of the "Top Gun" imagery. This White House has gone far beyond Ronald Reagan's in hiring former TV producers and lighting experts and "using the powers of television and technology to promote a presidency."
His TV wizards lined up the Bush profile perfectly with the presidents on Mount Rushmore to make him the fifth head; they trained giant sports stadium lights on the Statue of Liberty when Mr. Bush spoke on Ellis Island; and they make sure the message of the day -- "Helping Small Business" or "Mission Accomplished" -- blares behind his head. (Imagine Abe Lincoln with a backdrop endlessly repeating: "End Slavery Now.") >>
3. PBP << Members had to rough up a few dissenters. Studies by Christopher Browning and others show it was surprisingly few. Other supporters learned to keep their opinions to themselves. With no dissent, there could be no opposition. >>
3. Dowd << Mr. Rove has cast Mr. Bush, who officially declared his re-election bid on Friday, as a G.O.P. Neo: a reluctant hero, a man of few words and one true-blue woman, who must battle enemies and forge alliances in a strange world, building strength and character as he rescues humanity. >>
4. PBP << He dazzled with dynamism. In power, he declared the League of Nations irrelevant and withdrew. No one stopped him. He tore up treaties and remilitarized the Rhineland. No one stopped him. He went to war. His reasons didn't have to be reasonable. In a nation of ja-sayers, they only had to be repeated constantly. He won, and who can argue with success? >>
4. Dowd: << "There is only one way to save our world: Bush." Or "We're all here to do what we're all here to do." Or "I protect that which matters most." >>
If I searched some of Dowd's recent back editorials, I'd come up with some even more compelling comparison quotes.
(web link for Dowd column, below, from NYT's own site, one day earlier)
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
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May 18, 2003
The Pink and the Black
By MAUREEN DOWD
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/18/opinion/18DOWD.html
Monday,
May 19, 2003
Master
of the monster photo op
By Tom Blackburn, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
[LINK]
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