![]() |
|
| Opinion
/ Editorials The Latest View - 8/22/02 Mount
Rushmore, MSNBC, & the Manchurian Candidate... The U.S. Hall of Shame... 3/5/02 - Stephen Schneider, PhD. Past Views... 3/5/02 - Duplicity and "Doonesbury" 2/18/02 - Ranking The Presidents. 11/13/01 - Religious Commentary Baaaddd, Social Engineering Gooooddd!!! 11/2/01 - America is the Solution, not the Problem 10/23/01 - To Profile or Not to Profile - Objective Reality vs. Posturing. 10/14/01 - No Double Standards Please, One Will Do Fine... 10/6/01 - Evidence for Action: The case against Islamic terrorism. 10/3/01 - The Legacy of Heroes 9/30/01 - With friends like these... 9/28/01 - Know Thy Enemy - Part II: Radical Islam 9/23/01 - Know Thy Enemy - Part I: The Home Front 9/18/01 - Rebuttal to “A Different Point of View” 5/22/01 - The Energy Crisis, Global Warming, & American Apathy 3/21/01 - Class Bigotry and the "Death Tax" 2/10/01 - My Two Cents - Clinton's Legacy 6/10/01 - My Two Cents - Reagan's Legacy 11/15/94 - The Bill of Rights - VOID where prohibited by law 3/10/94 - The Lottery - A Voluntary tax on the lower middle class |
The Latest View... Mount Rushmore,
MSNBC, and the Manchurian Candidate... Two days ago, on “Ashleigh Banfield Across America”,
which aired 10PM EST, Ms. Banfield was on location at Mount Rushmore. As part of her program, Banfield posed a question to her television audience – “just for fun”. The historic site, which sports 60ft tall busts of FOUR U.S.
Presidents, carved from the living rock, was created by Gutzon Borglum
between 1927 and 1941. Reportedly,
Borglum had room for FIVE Presidents but choose to only add four, for
numerous reasons. The
question posed to Banfields television audience – “Who’s face would
you add to Mount Rushmore if you could.”
To enhance the “fun”, MSNBC listed Four Presidents along with a
few lines underscoring the accomplishments which would cause these men to
qualify for such a hallowed honor. Ignoring the fact that modifying this temple of the American
mythos would be not only abhorrent, but never accepted,
“just for fun” let us examine the list, and in particular the resumes, which MSNBC provided as an aid for selection by its
audience. Remember, these are MSNBC’s chosen descriptions taken
DIRECTLY off their website voting page; FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: "FDR was the longest-serving
president and covered 2 of the 3 greatest crises in American history --
World War 2 HARRY TRUMAN: "He created the national security state we
live in today...the Pentagon, the CIA, Department of Defense. He ended
WWII, he is the father of the Marshall Plan and NATO, and was the 1st
pres. to enhance civil rights for blacks." JOHN F. KENNEDY: "He initiated the Civil Rights Act of
1964 that ended the crime of legalized segregation. He led us through the
Cuban Missile Crisis. He began the quest to be freed from nuclear
confrontation." Pretty impressive individuals. A most impressive and objectively worded selection of
accomplishments to underscore their worth as well. The fourth nominee? Well
(heavy sigh), if you MUST know… RONALD REAGAN: "Reagan is the person who is getting
credit for winning Now… Forget whether any of these individuals truly belongs on
Mount Rushmore. Forget that
there are three Democrats and one lone Republican (JFK deserves a slot but
not IKE?) Forget, for a moment, your personal opinions or politics. Forget all of this. I ask you – sincerely – If you knew none of these men,
and had to choose based SOLELY on the endorsements provided by MSNBC, is
there any hope in hell you would choose Reagan? The answer is of course, no way. There is a reason for this. That reason is that this is exactly the opinion MSNBC wants you to
walk away with. On both an unconscious, as well as conscience level, the fix
is in – accomplished though language manipulation. Lets break down the structure of the endorsements to their
component parts, adjectives, and
action phrases; FDR: “longest-serving”,
“2 of the 3 greatest crises”, “elected to four terms”,
“served 12 years." HARRY TRUMAN: “created…”, “ended WWII”,
“Father of the Marshall Plan”,
“Father of NATO”, “enhance(d) civil rights for blacks." JOHN F. KENNEDY: "initiated the Civil Rights Act”,
“Ended legalized segregation”, “Led us through the Cuban Missile
Crisis”, “Began the quest to be freed from nuclear
confrontation." RONALD REAGAN: "the PERSON (not President, Leader)
getting credit for…” The holy pantheon of progressive philosophy earns powerful
action words like CREATED! INITIATED!
ENDED! LED! QUEST! FREED! FATHER! ENHANCED! The sole representative of backward-thinking conservative
philosophy earns “PERSON GETTING CREDIT FOR…” FDR gets four major accomplishments in three lines.
Truman gets five in four lines.
JFK gets three in three. Reagan gets two, highly DUBIOUS accomplishments (according to
MSNBC) in less than two full lines. I like Truman – a lot.
He is on my list of “Top Ten Presidents in U.S. History” (http://www.nebulae.net/tvfh/past-views/ranking-the-presidents.htm). FDR is there as well, ranking third directly behind
Washington and Lincoln. He
was the greatest President of the 20th century and if anyone
should be added, he would be it. Even JFK gets an honorable mention on my list – so I can
hardly be accused of being partisan in my opinions of these men. But to conduct an “objective” opinion poll, which in
essence asks who was the greatest President of these four, and to display
such maddening “witness leading” is nauseating and indicates exactly
how deep liberal media bias has permeated the majority of mainstream
media. It illustrates, in
painful detail, to what level progressive commentary has weaseled its way
into “objective reporting”. I watched the show. I
voted. I voted for Reagan - mostly because I felt he stood no chance and wanted to add my voice to aid
his showing. At the end of
the show they announced Reagan had won – with 44% of the vote. FDR got 38%, Truman 7% and JFK 11%. An informal poll of the live show audience on location at
Mount Rushmore offered Reagan’s name at an even higher percentage. Does this mean Reagan is greater than FDR? No. Not in my
book. Does this mean “Dutch” will soon be rubbing elbows with
George, Tom, Teddy and Abe? It does not – what’s more, he should not. What it does is underscore the desperation of the elite left
and the lengths to which they will go, whether subconsciously or by
design, to turn the tide of a war they know
they are losing, What it means is that despite all attempts to undermine this
great man and greatest of American leaders, as well as lead the delusional
flock that admires him away from the cliff, the people are not succumbing
to the “Manchurian Candidate” treatment. Boss Dailey was never so subtle in his attempts at election
rigging as MSNBC, but I bet he’d be pleased. Home | About | Opinion / Editorials | News | Contact Info | Links |