Joe Scott 3: The Body Politic

Selling the Iraq War

26 November 2005 |permalink | email article

While it has yet to attract any serious mainstream media interest, a Rolling Stone story published online Nov. 17, ìThe Man Who Sold the War,î by journalist James Bamford, is an absolute holiday must-read given the raging national debate over the accuracy of pre-war intelligence.

Anyone trying to understand how the White House secretly engineered consent for the propaganda campaign to invade Iraq may be well ahead of the snail-like pace of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence by following the trail uncovered by Bamfordís expose. It suggests deceit and deception at the highest levels of government despite angry daily denials by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

A key player in all this, and the centerpiece of the article, is John Rendon, a leader in the strategic field known as ìperception management.î The translation: manipulating information ñ and, by extension, the news media - to achieve the desired result.  Rendon has parlayed being a one-time Democratic Party organizer into being perceived behind the scene as Kuwait liberator and secretive Pentagon propagandist for hire.

His firm, The Rendon Group, has made millions off government contracts since 1991, when TRG was hired by the CIA to help ìcreate conditions for the removal of Hussein from power.î

In a rare interview, Rendon ìboasted openlyî to Bamford of ìthe sweep and importance of his firmís efforts as a ìfor-profit spy.î Is this the “smoking gun” article that exposes this administration? It depends on whether the Capitol’s inbred “Gang of 500” decides to take it seriously.

New U.S. Isolationism?

23 November 2005 |permalink | email article

This Thanksgiving, and as the holiday season accelerates, Americans are turning inward in response to rising concerns about the Iraq war and increased anti-American sentiment everywhere. That’s the tentative legacy of Bush 43.

The finding about unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy, in a survey by Pew Research in association with the Council on Foreign Relations - reported by The New York Times Nov. 18 ñ is significant because it is such a large sample.

It includes 2,006 adults from the general public and 520 influential Americans in fields including foreign affairs, security, religion, science, engineering and the military surveyed Sept. 5 to Oct. 31.

The overall result provides sobering clues for candidates in both the Senate and House before the mid-term election next year.

Such isolationist feelings among the public might appear to be a paradigm shift. But, quite the contrary, the same sentiment followed the Vietnam War in the 1970s and at the end of the cold war in the 1990s. At the same time, the poll indicated Americans are feeling less unilateralist than in the recent past.

Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed from the public said the U.S. should play a shared leadership role, and only 25% said they wanted the country to be the most active nation in international leadership - another slam at Bushthink.

Reaction to the war had a ìprofound effectî on how the public and opinion leaders ìview Americaís global role, with majorities from each sector saying they disapproved of Bush’s job as president. While 52% of the public was negative, the figure was higher among opinion leaders.

Forty-two percent of the public said they agree that the U.S, should ìmind its own business internationally ñ up from 30% in a similar poll in Dec. 2002, before the Iraq invasion. The result appeared to indicate less support for the Bush thesis about promoting democracy in other nations.

On establishing a stable democracy in Iraq, the public was more optimistic than opinion makers, with 56% expecting success.

No Hooray for Hollywood

23 November 2005 |permalink | email article

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced to a political tower of jelly after blowing all his ìyear of reformî initiatives, the mainstream media has buzzed for months about the prospect of a Democratic actor emerging to challenge him in next yearís general election.

Even though I posted several months ago that senior Democratic state officials told me that Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner both said that they would not run, the media drumbeat has continued ñ with a much greater focus on the more outspoken Beatty taking the catnip.

Guess what? A new Field Poll shows that while both actors are well known, both are getting thumbs down from voters. Reinerís favorable was 25% with 41% negative. Beattyís favorable was 16% compared with 48% unfavorable. Even worse, the political junkie struck out with Democratic, Republican and independents voters equally.

The surprise is that the two well-funded Democratic contenders for the June nomination, State Controller Phil Angelides and state Treasurer Steve Wesley ñ still considered featherweights by the political pundits ñ are known by about a third of voters and viewed favorably by those who know them.

Schwarzenegger is more popular in China, where he just returned from a trade mission, than in California where 92% of voters know him - but 54% donít like him very much.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, suggested that the governor has an opportunity between now and next November to ìattract attention and change his image.î

Anything is possible with Schwarzenegger. But it is a very steep hill for him to climb with a campaign apparatus in ruins as he attempts in the coming months to forge a quasi-Republicrat coalition.

His conservative base, now shaky, will likely jell. But California is a heavily Democratic state where heís angered so many constituencies that the odds favor the party opposite today.