More interesting is that (Gannon) and Karl Rove seem to share a mentor -- a largely under-the-radar wingnut named Morton Blackwell. It seems that "Jeff" also is a graduate of the the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism -- a conservative propagandist training school that was founded and is run by Blackwell and that operates on an $8 million annual budget which comes from God knows where.
Remember the lame stunt during the Republican National Convention in NYC where many delegates taunted war hero Kerry by wearing purple band-aids that said: "It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it"? It was Blackwell, a GOP delegate from Virginia, who handed the band-aids out to the conventioneers.
Less well known is that Blackwell -- who was the youngest Barry Goldwater delegate in 1964 -- is also a former national executive director of the College Republicans, who had trained the teen-age Karl Rove to be a "field organizer." According to a May 2003 New Yorker article, it was Blackwell who urged Rove to shun the growing reliance on pollsters and media consultants and go back to the grassroots. We all know how that turned out.
We'd never heard until tonight of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, which apparently trains hundreds of "Jeff Gannons" every year. They were hiding in plain sight.
There's one other thing that raises our curiosity about who or what is behind "Gannon." It seems that when he wasn't bashing Kerry, he paid a ton of attention to the Thune vs. Daschle Senate race in South Dakota. One blog that seemed to think "Gannon" was an authoritative journalist and linked to at least one of his reports was called "Daschle v. Thune."
If that name sounds familiar, it should. It later was reported that the author of the blog, Jon Lauck, was a former Thune campaign staffer and was paid $27,000 by Thune's 2004 campaign while he was producing the Web site.
So let us get this straight: The top Democrat in the Senate loses a race where the GOP sets up a phony blog that passes along news reports from a pseudo media organization, written by a reporter given White House credentials under a fake name.
"Your constituency is the voters, especially the coalition which elected you. You can't count on the news media to communicate your message to your constituency. You must develop ways to communicate with your coalition which avoids the filter of the media. Focus on your base. Write to them. Meet with them. Honor them. Show yourself to be proud of them. Support their activities. Show up at their events. Help other politicians and activists who share their priorities. People expect politicians to be selfish, so they especially love politicians whose actions show them to be unselfish. Liberals in the media failed to defeat you. Now they will use carrots and sticks to tempt and to intimidate you. They will define any betrayal of your coalition as a sign of "growth." Don't fall for that nonsense. The only way you can get the liberal media on your side is always to betray your supporters, which you know would be political suicide. Media people on the left operate on a double standard. They can forgive a liberal politician almost anything. They hold conservatives to an absolute standard."
According to one biographical sketch of Blackwell (http://watch.pair.com/database.html),
Blackwell is "Executive director, Council for National Policy; founder and president, the Morton Blackwell Leadership Institute, a foundation which trains youg people for youth leadership; founder and chairman, Conservative Leadership PAC; Republican National Committeeman from Virginia; treasurer, Reagan Mumni Association; youngest delegate to Barry Goldwater RNC in 1964; alternative delegate for Reagan in 1968 and 1976 and a delegate in 1980; former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan on the White House staff; former staff member, Senate Republican Policy Committee; serves on the Republican National Convention's Standing Committee on Rules; former policy director, U.S. Senator Gordon J. Humphrey; overseer, 1980 Youth for Reagan effort; former editor, The NewRight Report; former contributing editor, Conservative Digest. Formerly with The Viguerie Company. Spouse: Helen R. Blackwell, Virginia state chairman, Eagle Forum; chairman, Voting Integrity Project; former member, State Central Committee, Republican Party of Virginia.
"With Paul M. Weyrich and Richard Viguerie, Blackwell met with Jerry Falwell to found the Moral Majority. 'Finally, on the verge of realizing his right-wing utopia, Weyrich harvested what his friend Morton Blackwell termed the greatest track of virgin timber on the political landscape: evangelicals. Out there is what you might call a moral majority, he told Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979. That's it, Falwell exclaimed. That's the name of the organization.' [Robespierre of the Right]
"Morton Blackwell works with Plinio de Correa de Olivier's Tradition, Family & Property and endorsed Olivier's book, Nobility & Analagous Traditional Elites, on the necessity of restoring traditional Nobility & Elites to rule the world. In the Forward Blackwell wrote: 'One does not have to accept Papal infallibility to appreciate a case persuasively made, using theological, moral, and prudential arguments. This book will convince many readers, whatever their faith, that good elites are legitimate, desirable and, yes, necessary.' The Secret Story of a Cult Apologist features a picture of Paul Weyrich and Morton Blackwell with the American head of TFP, which is the parent organization of CESNUR, the cult apology network for cults such as Scientology."
In his Letter to a Just Elected Conserative, Mr. Blackwell says, "Your constituency is the voters, especially the coalition which elected you. You can't count on the news media to communicate your message to your constituency. You must develop ways to communicate with your coalition which avoids the filter of the media. Focus on your base. Write to them. Meet with them. Honor them. Show yourself to be proud of them. Support their activities. Show up at their events. Help other politicians and activist who share their priorities. People expect politicians to be selfish, so they specially love politicians whose actions show them to be unselfish. Liberals in the media failed to defeat you. Now they will use carrots and sticks to tempt and to intimidate you. They will define any betrayal of your coalition as a sign of "growth." Don't fall for that nonsense. The only way you can get the liberal media on your side is always to betray your supporters, which you know would be political suicide. Media people on the left operate on a double standard They can forgive a liberal politician almost anything. They hold conservatives to an absolute standard." See: http://leadershipinstitute.org/04RESOURCES/Speeches.htm
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Morton_C._Blackwell"
Council for National Policy
From SourceWatch
The Council for National Policy is a secretive forum, formed in 1981, for leading US conservative political leaders, financiers and religous right activist leaders.
"Educational conferences for national leaders in the fields of business, government, religion and academia to explore national policy alternatives. Weekly newsletters are distributed to all members to keep them apprised of member activities and public policy issues. A semi-annual journal is produced from membership meeting speeches," it states in its 2002 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) return.[1] (http://www.guidestar.org)
The CNP, which meets three times a year, gathered ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention. "The real crux of this is that these are the genuine leaders of the Republican Party, but they certainly aren't going to be visible on television next week," the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Barry W. Lynn, told the New York Times.[2] (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/28/politics/campaign/28conserve.html)
According to ABC News, "The CNP describes itself as a counterweight against liberal domination of the American agenda." [3] (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/council_020501.html)
"a highly secretive... a theocratic organization -- what they want is basically religious rule" (Mark Crispin Miller, A Patriot Act).
"the far right's answer to the Council on Foreign Relations" (Washington Babylon, 11)
"The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before of after a meeting," the New York Times reported.(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/28/politics/campaign/28conserve.html)
Board of Directors
The 2002 calendar year Form 990 return filed with the IRS lists the board of Directors as:
Donald Paul Hodel President (former Secretary of Energy and former president of the Christian Coalition)
T. Kenneth Cribb Jr Vice President
James C Miller, III, Chairman
John Seribante, Secretary/Treasurer
Robert Fischer Director,
Dr Dal Shealy, Director
Howard Phillips Director
Ken Raasch Director
Mary Reilly Hunt Director
Stuart W Epperson, Director
Ann Drexel Director (also a Red Cross board member)
Becky Norton Dunlop Director
Jerome Ledzinski Director
Grover Norquist Director
E Peb Jackson Director
Staff members of the Board of Directors are:
Steve Baldwin Executive Director (paid $157,391 in 2002)
David Fenner, Director of MIS & Programs (paid $89,088 in 2002)
Jennifer Rutledge Director of Finance & Administration (paid $57,504 in 2002)
[edit]Other members
Council for National Policy membership roster (http://www.seekgod.ca/topiccnp.htm), last updated July 2001.
Member Directory (http://www.buildingequality.us/ifas/cnp/index.html).
A copy of the membership roster obtained by Institute for First Amendment Studies, listed current and former members as including:
Attorney General John Ashcroft (former member)
Tommy Thompson,Health and Human Services Secretary (former member)
Holland Coors and Jeffrey Coors of the Coors brewing company
Rich DeVos Orlando Magic owner
John Ankerberg, who believes that biblical prophecies were literal promises and are coming true;
Dave Breese, who hosts The King Is Coming, a show devoted entirely to Christian eschatology.
Chuck Missler, an Idaho radio host who has predicted an imminent invasion of Jerusalem by forces guided by the Antichrist.
Pat Robertson former presidential candidate and Christian Coalition founder;
Steve Stockman former Texas Republican Representative
Rev. Don Wildmon of the American Family Association.
Rev. Rousas J. Rushdoony founder of Chalcedon Foundation. (deceased)
Williams, the founder of BAMPAC, a political action committee that promotes black conservatism.
Sam Moore, president of Thomas Nelson, the country's most successful Christian book publishing company.
Henry Morris Prominent creationist
Dora Kingsley political scientist
John W. Whitehead founder of the Rutherford Institute
Bob Jones III President, Bob Jones University
Phyllis Schlafly
Oliver North
Other members who list their membership in their biographical profiles include:
John Taylor, the chairman and president of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy [5] (http://www.virginiainstitute.org/boards.php)
Brent Bozell [6] (http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/aboutus/bozellbio.htm)
Mark Crispin Miller adds the following members:
Tom DeLay
Trent Lott
Lock Faircloth
Ed Meese
Howard Ahmanson
Richard Devose, founder of Amway
Jerry Falwell
Tim LaHaye, Author of the Left Behind Series,
James Robison
Lou Sheldon, traditional values coalition
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Addressed the CNP:
John Ashcroft
George W. Bush, 2000
[edit]Funding
CNP is a 501c3 non-profit organisation. For the year ending December 31, 2002, CNP income was $1,240,377. [7] (http://www.guidestar.org).
According to Media Transparency between 1995 and 2002 the CNP received $125,000 (unadjusted for inflation) from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation and the Castle Rock Foundation. In 2000 the Castle Rock Foundation paid a membership fee of $10,000. [8] (http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=2119)
The CNP also has a related 501c4 organisation CNP Action Inc.. CNP Action re-imbursed CNP $16,563 for the use of its facilities with and $39,457 of staff time.
Joseph Coors gave start-up funding, according to Washington Babylon (p. 11).
[edit]Contact information
10329-A Democracy Lane
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Phone: 703 890 0113
[edit]External links
Marc J. Ambinder, Vast, Right-Wing Cabal? Meet the Most Powerful Conservative Group You've Never Heard Of (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/council_020501.html), ABCNews.com, May 2, 2001.
Article (http://watch.pair.com/cnp.html) by Barbara Aho.
The Council for National Policy: What It Is (http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.htm).
COUNCIL OF NATIONAL POLICY. One world "Christian" organization-- Very new information (http://www.cephasministry.com/conp.html).
Media Transparency: Council for National Policy (http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=2119)
Group Watch: Council on National Policy (http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-38.htm); updated 9/89.
David D. Kirkpatrick, "Club of the most powerful gathers in strictest privacy (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/28/politics/campaign/28conserve.html)", New York Times, August 28, 2004.http://
Council for National Policy Homepage (http://watch.pair.com/cnp.html#garvey)
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Council_for_National_Policy"
Al Hunt is married to Judy Woodruff of CNN. She has repeatedly demonstrated a talent to lead the pack of the Bush administration's media sycophants (excepting, naturally, the drooling lickspittles at Fox and the rest of the Conservative "Media").
How someone could keep their dignity after this sort of drunken threat is beyond me. More proof that Bush should have been busted in the mouth a long, long time ago.
Pro-privatization Social Security experts on TV are paid for by the right
A Media Matters for America analysis of guests who have appeared on cable or network news since the November 2, 2004, election to discuss Social Security failed to find one independent expert with a graduate degree in economics who supported allowing workers to divert Social Security payroll taxes into private accounts.
Media Matters found eight guests who held graduate degrees in economics; three supported privatizing Social Security, and five opposed it. While all five opponents of privatization are supported by independent universities and organizations, all three privatization proponents are funded by right-wing organizations and foundations.
Following are the three pro-privatization economists, their economic credentials, and the organizations and foundations that support them:
David John, who received his master's degree in economics from the University of Georgia in Athens, is a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation's Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.
The Heritage Foundation has called for the creation of private accounts, according to the policy recommendations outlined in the 2004 Issues in Brief.
The Heritage Foundation has received funding from right-wing foundations, including the Sarah Scaife, John M. Olin, and Lynde and Harry Bradley foundations.
John appeared on CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports on November 4, 2004, and CNN's In the Money on January 15, as well as NBC's Nightly News on December 9, 2004 and January 11.
On Wolf Blitzer Reports, John claimed that private accounts "would improve" retirement benefits. But as Media Matters has previously noted, privatization results in increased financial risk to individuals by shifting money out of Social Security and into the stock market. And, if the money in an individual's private account earned less than 3 percent above the rate of inflation, the worker would actually receive less than he or she would have had all their payroll taxes remained within the system.
On the January 15 edition of In the Money, John stated that one of the biggest misconceptions about Bush's plans to privatize Social Security is that we are not facing a crisis and, according to John, "the fact is that yes, we are facing a crisis." However, the Social Security board of trustees projected in its 2004 report that the trust fund will be able to pay all promised benefits for another 37 years, or until 2042. According to a projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the trust fund will be able to pay all promised benefits until 2052.
William W. Beach, who holds a master's degree in history and economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia, is director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis and John M. Olin Senior Fellow in Economics.
Beach appeared on NBC's Nightly News on December 18, 2004, and on FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor on January 27.
On the December 18 edition of NBC's Nightly News, Beach stated that if younger workers "start saving today, they can actually have quite a bit of money built up in these savings accounts by the time they get to retirement." Beach failed to note the increased risk that individuals would shoulder in diverting a portion of their payroll taxes out of Social Security and into private accounts.
Stephen Moore, who holds an master's degree in economics from George Mason University, is the former president of Club for Growth and current president of the Free Enterprise Fund, which according to a January 5 New York Times report is a new "Republican lobby group" that "hopes to raise about $15 million for television advertising and other lobbying to bolster President Bush's domestic agenda in Congress." Moore is also a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a financial columnist at National Review Online.
Club for Growth, Free Enterprise Fund, and the Cato Institute all advocate Social Security privatization. Cato operates the pro-privatization Project on Social Security Choice, and its plan for privatization states: "Individuals would be able to privately invest their half (6.2 percentage points) of their payroll tax through individual accounts." Club for Growth recently launched a blog called Social Security Choice to promote private accounts. The Free Enterprise Fund lists "personal investment accounts for Social Security" as "as an issue of great concern" that it "will establish local and state chapters around the nation to advance."
Club for Growth has received funding from conservative donors, including National Review president Thomas Rhodes and Hudson Institute trustee emeritus Daniel C. Searle, as well as small donations from members of the Club. Cato funders include the Sarah Scaife, John M. Olin, and Lynde and Harry Bradley foundations.
Moore appeared on CNN's Crossfire on December 16, 2004; on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on December 15, 2004; and on NBC's Nightly News on January 2.
In his December 15 Hardball and December 16 Crossfire appearances, Moore stated that Social Security "is the Titanic headed to iceberg," echoing the misleading crisis rhetoric used by Johns and others, as noted above. On Hardball, Moore also claimed that, according to Cato studies, "the average young worker is only going to get a 1 or 2 percent return on their Social Security money," but private accounts would provide a "4 or 5 percent rate of return." Many other economists have argued that Bush's proposal will increase retirees' exposure to risk without producing a better rate of return than the current system. Princeton University economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued on February 1 that White House projections being used to promote privatization are contradictory, as they rely on a low long-term economic growth rate occurring in conjunction with a high rate of return on equities -- a combination that Krugman calls "mathematically impossible."
Following are the five anti-privatization economists, their economic credentials, and the independent organizations that support them:
Paul Krugman, who received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is a professor of economics at Princeton University and a columnist for The New York Times. Krugman served on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan White House from 1982 to 1983.
Krugman appeared on CBS's Evening News on January 16; CNN programs Lou Dobbs Tonight on February 3, In the Money on February 5 and Newsnight with Aaron Brown on February 8; and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on December 27, 2004, and February 7.
In his appearances, Krugman asserted that Social Security is not in crisis, but will experience a "mild long-run shortfall" which is smaller, at 0.4 percent of GDP over 75 years, than that created by the Bush tax cuts, which will result in a 2 percent shortfall. Krugman also stated that private accounts would not reduce the Social Security shortfall, as the Bush administration has conceded. According to Krugman, Social Security is not in need of immediate reform.
Robert S. Chirinko, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University, is a professor of economics at Emory University.
Chirinko appeared on CBS's Evening News on February 3, referring to the partial privatization of Social Security as "a shell game," in which changes are made, but "at the end of the day, you actually have less than what you started with."
Robert B. Reich, who holds a master's degree in economics from Oxford University, is currently University Professor and Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at Brandeis University and at Brandeis' Heller School of Social Policy and Management. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Reich appeared on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer on January 23; MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on December 15, 2004, MSNBC Reports on January 17, Scarborough Country on January 19, and MSNBC's post-State of the Union address coverage on February 3; and FOX News' The Big Story with John Gibson on November 5, 2004.
In his appearances, Reich rejected Social Security crisis rhetoric, stating "there's absolutely no crisis here." According to Reich, "over the long term, Social Security does need to be reformed." Reich advocated raising the retirement age and opposed private accounts.
Alicia H. Munnell, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, is currently Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences at Boston College and director of the college's Center for Retirement Research. Munnell served under Clinton as assistant secretary of the treasury for economic policy from 1993 to 1995 and as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997.
On ABC's World News Tonight on January 14, Munnel noted: "Even if we do nothing after 2042, we will have enough money coming in to pay about three quarters of promised benefits." As the Social Security trustees noted in their 2004 report, the date for Social Security's projected insolvency is 2042, at which point the system would continue to be able to pay out a projected 73 percent of currently promised benefits.
Robert M. Ball, who earned a master's degree in economics from Wesleyan University, is currently a self-employed writer, lecturer and consultant. Ball served as Social Security commissioner from 1962 to 1973 under former presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. From 1973 to 1980, Ball held the post of Senior Scholar at the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine.
On the CBS Evening News on February 14 and the CBS Morning News on February 15, Ball stated that there "isn't anything serious wrong" with Social Security and "there is no crisis." Ball also stated that Bush's plan to privatize Social Security would do nothing to close the Social Security shortfall. According to Ball: "In the very long run, there is a shortfall. It can be fixed. It can be met with very little pain."
Funding
Between 1985 and 2001, according to public sources, the following funders provided $42,449,437 to the Heritage Foundation [2] (http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?153):
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Scaife Foundations: Sarah Mellon Scaife, Scaife Family, Carthage
John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
Castle Rock Foundation
JM Foundation
Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation
Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
What are conservatives whining about when they do their whining about "Washington." Is it the military they hate? The DEA? The road building? The research, the enforcement of laws, is it the education assistance, the CDC they hate?
Because it apparently isn't the brownshirt stalinistic propaganda machine that this administration has built.
The Bush administration, rejecting an opinion from the Government Accountability Office, said last week that it is legal for federal
agencies to feed TV stations prepackaged news stories that do not
disclose the government's role in producing them.
That message, in memos sent Friday to federal agency heads and general
counsels, contradicts a Feb. 17 memo from Comptroller General David M.
Walker. Walker wrote that such stories -- designed to resemble
independently reported broadcast news stories so that TV stations can
run them without editing -- violate provisions in annual appropriations
laws that ban covert propaganda.
But Joshua B. Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget,
and Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general at
the Justice Department, said in memos last week that the administration
disagrees with the GAO's ruling. And, in any case, they wrote, the
department's Office of Legal Counsel, not the GAO, the investigative arm
of Congress, provides binding legal interpretations for federal agencies
to follow.
The legal counsel's office "does not agree with GAO that the covert
propaganda prohibition applies simply because an agency's role in
producing and disseminating information is undisclosed or 'covert,'
regardless of whether the content of the message is 'propaganda,' "
Bradbury wrote. "Our view is that the prohibition does not apply where
there is no advocacy of a particular viewpoint, and therefore it does
not apply to the legitimate provision of information concerning the
programs administered by an agency."
The existence of the memos was reported Sunday by the New York Times.
Supporters say prepackaged news stories are a common public relations
tool with roots in previous administrations, that their exterior
packaging typically identifies the government as the source, and that it
is up to news organizations, not the government, to reveal to viewers
where the material they broadcast came from.
Critics have derided such video news releases as taxpayer-financed
attempts by the administration to promote its policies in the guise of
independent news reports.
Within the last year, the GAO has rapped the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy for
distributing such stories about the Medicare drug benefit and the
administration's anti-drug campaign, respectively.
In an interview yesterday, Walker said the administration's approach is
both contrary to appropriations law and unethical.
"This is more than a legal issue. It's also an ethical issue and
involves important good government principles, namely the need for
openness in connection with government activities and expenditures,"
Walker said. "We should not just be seeking to do what's arguably legal.
We should be doing what's right."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday that federal
agencies have used video news releases for years. "As long as they are
providing factual information, it's okay," he said.
Walker said that even by that standard, some prepackaged news stories
are out of bounds.
"Congress has got to settle it -- either Congress or the courts," Walker
said. "Congress may need to provide additional guidance with regard to
their intent in this overall area."
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said through a spokesman yesterday that
he will try to attach language to an appropriations bill to clarify that
taxpayer money cannot be spent on such productions. He and fellow
Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.) wrote to President Bush
yesterday asking him to pull back the new memos from Justice and the
OMB.
They noted that following revelations this year that the Education
Department had paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to
promote the No Child Left Behind law, Bush had directed agencies to
abandon such clandestine public relations practices.
"Whether in the form of a payment to an actual journalist, or through
the creation of a fake one, it is wrong to deceive the public with the
creation of phony news stories," the lawmakers wrote.
