Bush is not quite as stupid as he appears to be. I remember a few years ago when he mangled pronouncing the word sublimal. He may not know how to pronounce it but he and his media machine certainly know how to use it. The other night on the Jim Lehrer News Hours, they stated how the Republicans had decided through focus groups that the term "private accounts" re:social security reform had been viewed negatively. The Republicans decided to refer to this as "personal accounts" instead, keep your eye on the media and see which term they use the most, this may give you a clue as to which way the media is going to spin this.

You should listen to Air America more, I heard about their constant search for the right term, and GOP Pollster Frank Luntz's(sp?) list of talking points he sends to Republicans. Somehow it got out.

Thanks for sharing the info with everyone, I'll see if I can find the Luntz document.

One thing I HATE on Fox "News" is how they love to place the word "liberal" on every democrat. I shout at the TV "He's not part of the liberatarian party, he's part of the democratic party you DUMBASS!"

I don't see anyhting wrong with the word liberal. When Right-wingers try to use it against us though, that's pretty detrimental. I think we need to take the word back.

But you're right, they overuse liberal as a derrogatory term way too much.

Garden Stater, I agree there is nothing wrong with the word liberal, it is all in the eye of the beholder or mouth of the spinner. In the dictionary you can find mostly positive but also some negative connotations of the word. When the Right-wingers use the word they are definitely using it in a negative context. They have been largely successful in the moderate to conservative sections of the country. This labeling of all things liberal does not just apply to the Democratic Party, true journalism has taken a big hit. I believe the Republican Party is bankrupt of any real ideas of substance today, they cannot handle a real debate on the issues so they can only get personal, trash and burn politics is all they think they have left. Their response to any legitimate questioning of their policies or procedures is to label it liberal whether it be the Democratic Party or the media. They have already intimidated large portions of the so called mainstream media in to kow'towing to their whims, this is easier to do as the media keeps conglomerating in to fewer hands, you just have to reach the guy at the top. By the way has anyone read John Stewart's book "Democracy Inaction"? He quite clearly illustrates how the vast majority of the media are now held within about five corporations.

"Liberal" has become a dirty word. And you're right, GS, we need to take the word back. I've posted this article here before, but I'll put in the link again because it's well worth reading. It's Bill Moyers' address on "The Progressive Story of America." It explains a lot, and it urges us to be proud of our progressive/liberal heritage. Read it below:

www.commondreams.org

Earthmother, Most excellent link, I have allways respected Bill Moyers, I think he hit the nail on the head.

I have sent an e-mail letter to CNN requesting that they stop referring to what Bush and Cheney are doing re: social security reform as "town hall meetings". I told them that since they only allow republican partisans in with scripted questions that it is nothing but propaganda, unless CNN does not consider the Democrats as part of the town. They even threw one man out today just because he was wearing a young Democrat T-shirt. I compared these so called "town hall meetings" as to a three ring circus and the media as it's dancing poodles.

Good job, Uncle Joe. :clap:

I don't know if they will print it, but this is the letter I just sent to the editors at the Tennessean. You had a nice little article in the entertainment section titled "Festival draws Peter, Paul and Al Gore?". It was a good read until you had to take the sublimal slander line of "Now,why Al Gore? Well, he invented cinema, ya see." This is just another example of the continous media slander of Al Gore over a qoute that he never uttered, "That he invented the internet". The so called "liberal media" just continues to regurgitate a Republican talking point started by Dick Armey after Al Gore's interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. In this interview when asked what he was most proud of while serving in Congress meaning legislative accomplishments, Al stated it was in helping to bring about the creation of the internet as we know it today, this is in fact true. Why is so difficult for the "liberal media" in it's many forms to give the man credit for his legislative genius instead of trashing his credibility?
If you think this has caused no harm to the nation, all you have to do is go back to the year 2000 where we could have been on an entirely different timeline than we are today. It's possible that we could have avoided 9/11, the Iraq War, the enimity of most of the world including our long time allies, record trade deficits, a spiralling national debt, the dollar dropping thru the floor, $2+ a gallon gasoline," a nice present to the oil companies", a head in the sand approach to global warming, the corporate trashing of the environment, no wonder Bush wants to hurry and get to Mars, we are going to need a place for the rich and powerful to get to when this planet becomes inhabitable.

Earthmother, A belated thank you for the clapping hands :) , That is a first for me :)

Hey Unc, here is the story:

http://tennessean.com/celebrities/archives...ent_ID=67251774

Festival draws Peter, Paul — and Al Gore?

We're only weeks away from this year's Nashville Film Festival, an event that has drawn quite the random collection of celebs in years past.

This year is no different, and the stars will be Paul Reiser (Mad About You), Peter Falk (Columbo) and Al Gore (the real West Wing).

Paul and Peter are coming to support their new indie comedy film, A Thing About My Folks, where the two play father and son on a road trip. Think of a family Sideways, without the wine. The two will be there April 14, opening night of the weeklong festival.

Now, why Al Gore? Well, he invented cinema, ya see.

OK, not really. Seems Gore was at a Sundance Film Festival screening and the guy in front of him just so happened to be Nashville Film Festival artistic director Brian Gordon. Brian took the opportunity to tell the former VP about Nashville's film festival.

''Ooooo, do you show documentaries?'' Gore asked.

This question led to what is now being called the Al Gore documentary award. (It'll be renamed later for a new indie cable network.) The former VP himself chooses what he deems to be the festival's best documentary.

The festival gave Gore DVD copies of the five documentaries to be shown, but he didn't get one kernel of free popcorn. This year's recipient of the Al Gore award is for an organic farming film called The Real Dirt on Farmer John.

See the magic happen at 3:30 p.m. April 16 when Gore presents an environment-friendly trophy to the film's producers.

Tickets for all this film fun go on sale Thursday. Go to nashvillefilmfestival.org for all the ticket info.

GSC Admin, Thanks for the post, we will have to be vigilant for the sublimal trashing as well as the rumor mongoring by the "so called liberal media". The corporate owned media monopoly is like a many headed dragon. From the morning shows to late night shills, from so called liberal newspapers like The Tennessean and the USA Today, from the drug addled blowhards like Rush to the monopoly radio networks like Clearchannel. Some of them are quite apparent and blatant in their attempt at distorting reality like Fox News, others operate below the radar, subliminal in their actions just below the public conciousness, they are the ones you have to look out for. When CNN reports that what Bush and Cheney are doing re:social security reform are holding town hall meetings, this is a distortion of the truth, when all questions are scripted and no one of the opposing viewpoint is allowed to attend, this is not a town meeting, it is a partisan party. Whenever a network or cable channel reporter spouts for a minute before asking a question and then cuts the person they are interviewing off short just when they were making a good point, this raises a red flag for me. If you listen and read carefully you will see a lot of this going on, the subliminal trashing is just as destructive if not more so than the blatant blowhards. Y'all have a good night.