For the longest time, George Bush had me in his corner. As in that Tom Cruise movie, Jerry Maguire, he had me at "hello."
I thrilled each time Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter countered a Left jab with a Right hook.
Wasn't Bush a great friend of Israel? A warrior against terrorism? I believed, oh yes, I believed!
But what's the real scorecard? Afghanistan is still Afghanistan. The Taliban are back. In Iraq, we liberated a people who now hate us more than Saddam (no knock on our heroic troops).
About Israel -- Bush is no friend. He is, in fact, a destroyer of the Jewish State. He is "Mr. Road Map," friend of terrorism.
(To Bush and Sharon: Are plans being made to airlift five million Israelis into Ethiopia?)
This is a sad conclusion, and it took me time, but there it is. We've been bushwhacked, and it's ?Springtime for Arafat and Palestine, the Quartet is happy and gay....?
We live in a blur between fact and fancy.
Jayson Blair, the self-admitted liar of the New York Times did, however, utter one fragment of truth -- "don't believe everything you read." The name of the game is PR -- public relations: News is Propaganda. In consort with pliable mainstream news media, Bush is depicted as always being correct, always a winner, no matter the real tally.
We are controlled by media manipulation. They say this is it, and we accept. Queen Noor comes to town and the interviewer on TV gushes that we must buy and read the queen's book to know what's going on in the Middle East. I can save you money by summarizing the whole book in four words -- Arabs good, Jews bad.
I cite this only to demonstrate how "truth" is manufactured.
So it is with Bush and everything. We keep being reminded that our "victory" in Iraq was the greatest military triumph in the history of warfare. Surely, it was the swiftest. Took only six weeks. But didn't the Israelis defeat all of its surrounding enemies in six days? Today, Sharon says it's time to divide the land. Yes, Sharon! (Otherwise known as Bush's flunky.)
It's time to stop being surprised, because candidates usually do the opposite once they're in office. Johnson said no American boy would be sent to die for Vietnam. The body bags told a different story. Menachem Begin said he would never give up an inch. Instead, he gave up every mile of Sinai. Sharon and Bush fit this trend of duplicity.
Finally, we learn -- when it's too late. Truth happens by accident.
We're like puppets on a string. They say laugh, we laugh. They say cry, we cry. They say cheer, we cheer. They say jeer, we jeer. (Trust Orwell.)
A major American television network gives us two nights of Hitler. Why? To teach us, according to the promos, how evil is born. But isn't it really to sell deodorant and makeup?
I should take back what I said about everything being lies. No, this is really what it's about -- sales. It's all about selling, and selling is all about packaging, and packaging is mostly about deception.
Day and night we're sold cars and trucks, hair spray and mouthwash, computers, vacations, diets... and in the same breath we're being sold the Road Map, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine... All these are either defeats or, at best, dubious victories, but they come to us packaged with glorious words and pictures. Bush himself is packaged.
If Hillary runs, I may vote for her, although I like her even less. But that's where we are.
Have I turned left? No. Have I turned more to the right? No.
Frankly, my dear, I don't know which way to turn.
--------------------------------------------------------
Jack Engelhard is completing his latest novel, The Uriah Deadline, a life and death moral dilemma involving a New York City newspaper and its reporters' manipulation of Mideast news. Jack is the author of the international bestseller Indecent Proposal (ComteQ Publishing) and his columns can be read online at http://www.comteqcom.com/jackcolumn.php. He can be reached at JackEngelhard@ComteQcom.com.
I thrilled each time Sean Hannity or Ann Coulter countered a Left jab with a Right hook.
Wasn't Bush a great friend of Israel? A warrior against terrorism? I believed, oh yes, I believed!
But what's the real scorecard? Afghanistan is still Afghanistan. The Taliban are back. In Iraq, we liberated a people who now hate us more than Saddam (no knock on our heroic troops).
About Israel -- Bush is no friend. He is, in fact, a destroyer of the Jewish State. He is "Mr. Road Map," friend of terrorism.
(To Bush and Sharon: Are plans being made to airlift five million Israelis into Ethiopia?)
This is a sad conclusion, and it took me time, but there it is. We've been bushwhacked, and it's ?Springtime for Arafat and Palestine, the Quartet is happy and gay....?
We live in a blur between fact and fancy.
Jayson Blair, the self-admitted liar of the New York Times did, however, utter one fragment of truth -- "don't believe everything you read." The name of the game is PR -- public relations: News is Propaganda. In consort with pliable mainstream news media, Bush is depicted as always being correct, always a winner, no matter the real tally.
We are controlled by media manipulation. They say this is it, and we accept. Queen Noor comes to town and the interviewer on TV gushes that we must buy and read the queen's book to know what's going on in the Middle East. I can save you money by summarizing the whole book in four words -- Arabs good, Jews bad.
I cite this only to demonstrate how "truth" is manufactured.
So it is with Bush and everything. We keep being reminded that our "victory" in Iraq was the greatest military triumph in the history of warfare. Surely, it was the swiftest. Took only six weeks. But didn't the Israelis defeat all of its surrounding enemies in six days? Today, Sharon says it's time to divide the land. Yes, Sharon! (Otherwise known as Bush's flunky.)
It's time to stop being surprised, because candidates usually do the opposite once they're in office. Johnson said no American boy would be sent to die for Vietnam. The body bags told a different story. Menachem Begin said he would never give up an inch. Instead, he gave up every mile of Sinai. Sharon and Bush fit this trend of duplicity.
Finally, we learn -- when it's too late. Truth happens by accident.
We're like puppets on a string. They say laugh, we laugh. They say cry, we cry. They say cheer, we cheer. They say jeer, we jeer. (Trust Orwell.)
A major American television network gives us two nights of Hitler. Why? To teach us, according to the promos, how evil is born. But isn't it really to sell deodorant and makeup?
I should take back what I said about everything being lies. No, this is really what it's about -- sales. It's all about selling, and selling is all about packaging, and packaging is mostly about deception.
Day and night we're sold cars and trucks, hair spray and mouthwash, computers, vacations, diets... and in the same breath we're being sold the Road Map, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine... All these are either defeats or, at best, dubious victories, but they come to us packaged with glorious words and pictures. Bush himself is packaged.
If Hillary runs, I may vote for her, although I like her even less. But that's where we are.
Have I turned left? No. Have I turned more to the right? No.
Frankly, my dear, I don't know which way to turn.
--------------------------------------------------------
Jack Engelhard is completing his latest novel, The Uriah Deadline, a life and death moral dilemma involving a New York City newspaper and its reporters' manipulation of Mideast news. Jack is the author of the international bestseller Indecent Proposal (ComteQ Publishing) and his columns can be read online at http://www.comteqcom.com/jackcolumn.php. He can be reached at JackEngelhard@ComteQcom.com.