I saw nothing good in that photo at all. Yeah, it made that group of Kerry supporters look bad, but I took no pleasure in that. Too good to be true? Quite the contrary. If it turned out that the AP newswire had run a phony photo with a phony story, I would have been embarrassed that I propogated the story. But I also would have been relieved that the event never happened.Devil's Advocate wrote: The fake Kerry & Fonda photo was too good to be true from the anti-Kerry faction's perspective, and the fake military documents relating to Bush are too good to be true from the anti-Bush faction's perspective. The photo you posted last week would appear to fall into the former group.
Y'know, this post and previous ones from ER in this thread have gotten this old man thinking more seriously about something that has been rolling around in the back of my brain for a couple of months.
There's no denying that both the left and the right have their kook fringes. But there is a marked difference in how each side regards its kooks and their bad behavior. As you would expect from this dottering old windbag, I'll offer an example to back up my claim.
About ten years ago a "documentary" movie made by some kook fringe conservatives started circulating called "The Clinton Chronicles". It supposedly exposed Bill Clinton being involved in drug-running, money-laundering, murder, etc. It was narrated in breathless tones so the weak-minded might connect dots that weren?t there. Here's the description from a distributor. "This revealing video is an investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton and his Circle of Power. For the first time on video, an in-depth documentary shows you all of the pieces of the Clinton puzzle, and fits them all together to reveal the whole story. You'll hear from and see the faces of the key players who Clinton used to build his Circle of Power...as well as those who got in his way and lost their jobs, reputations, freedoms, virtue, and even their lives!"
The most popular radio programs in the US at the time were both conservative talk shows; Rush Limbaugh and G.Gordon Liddy. Neither one of those guys would give the movie any acknowledgement. The most powerful republican elected official was Newt Gingrich. Newt completely ignored the movie's existence. They all knew it was a pack of kook fringe lies and they wanted no association with it. About the only conservative with an audience who talked about it was Jerry Falwell, and it cost him what little credibility he may have had. He's been apologizing for it ever since.
Today we have something of the very same ilk. Michael Moore released that thing he also peddles as a "documentary". It is as equally outrageous, and it is as easily discredited. But what do the liberal talking heads and elected leadership do with it? They think it's the greatest thing since Watergate! They adore and embrace Michael Moore. They celebrate him. They seat him next to Jimmy Carter at their national convention for cryin' out loud! Kerry has even started dropping lines from the movie in his speeches. They all know it's a pack of lies but they don't care. It makes Bush look bad, and that's all that matters.
