Since 2004, we have been very involved in investigating, exposing, and uncovering the roots and exposing the tactics and lies of the right-wing smear machine. James was involved not only in John Kerry's campaign, but also in the Truth and Trust Team, a group of Kerry friends and family who attempted to fight back against the Swift Boat Veterans.

Dave, of course, followed the campaign and those attacks closely, and then worked with James and others, including our friend, Taylor Marsh, on The Patriot Project in 2006. Created by John Kerry, David Thorne and others, The Patriot Project helped veterans such as Joe Sestak, Patrick Murphy and John Murtha defend themselves -- even looking into previous attacks on John McCain. We also were part of the team that exposed the Economic Freedom Fund, a group created with a $5,000,000 donation from Bob Perry that attacked moderate Democrats, primarily in red states.

Why do folks like Bob Perry give money like that? It's strictly business.

Continue reading "Watching Freedom's Watch: The Donors" »

James Boyce will be a guest on the Mario Solich Show, Los Angeles AM 1150, 4:20 pm Pacific time talking about the California Newsladder.

Message to Congress: No one believes Bush and this is dangerous to the country!

There is an urgent warning today from the FBI, that Al-Qaeda might attack shopping malls over the holiday season. See Exclusive: FBI: Al Qaeda May Strike U.S. Shopping Malls in LA, Chicago,

The FBI is warning that al Qaeda may be preparing a series of holiday attacks on U.S. shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an intelligence bulletin distributed to law enforcement authorities across the country this morning.

But what if it's true?

Meanwhile, hardly a day goes by without another dramatic statement from Bush or Cheney claiming that Iran poses a grave threat to the world. But few bother to listen anymore. People just roll their eyes. Bush cried wolf over Iraq. Bush raised the terror threat level and announced arrests or warnings for political purposes. Bush pumped fear into the country to win elections.

And now another warning.

But what if it's true?

Listen up, people! The FBI is warning about an al Queda attack on shopping malls this Christmas and almost no one will pay attention because no one believes this government anymore. Everyone has seen them manipulate terror threats, pump the fear for elections -- or just to get another capital gains tax cut passed.

Bush has lost credibility, but the world remains dangerous. Congress must act! Congress must remove Bush and Cheney for lying to the country to start a war. Congress must restore the public's trust in our country's leadership. The current situation is dangerous. If the government says we are about to be attacked we need to be able to believe them and act on it, instead of rolling our eyes and wondering how these clowns think they can get away with more of this fear-pumping. Because there just might BE a time when we ARE about to be attacked.

One more time: Congress, stop posturing. Stop worrying about the political fallout. Start doing what is right for the country. Bush and Cheney have to be removed from office because they lied to us to get us to support war in Iraq, and now no one believes the government, and this is dangerous.

Republicans are circulating a new smear, saying that Democratic Congressional staffers advised aides to get vaccinations before visiting NASCAR events. It is, of course, just a lie designed to drive the "elite limousine liberal" and "Democrats hate regular people" narratives.

In fact the aides were visiting "health care centers, detention facilities and other operations where they could be exposed to communicable diseases" and the immunizations are routine.

The Drudge Report has been headlining the smear for a several days. Of course Republican talk-radio has been running with it. Here are just a few examples of the spread of the smear:

FOX: Aides immunized before NASCAR race,

Going to a NASCAR race? Better get your shots.

That's the message Rep. Robin Hayes seems to think is being sent as a handful of congressional aides were told to get immunized before a fact-finding trip for a House Homeland Security Committee.

The group was immunized for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza before attending last weekend's NASCAR race in Talladega and this weekend's race in Concord, N.C.

And days after the lie was refuted, the lie continues to spread:

Atlanta TV: Congressman Insults NASCAR Fans

Indianapolis: NASCAR races danger to government workers?

One way the Republican machine spreads this stuff is posting to forums. And here is an example of a "regular person" posting a comment in a sports forum:

It is offensive that the Democrats choose to be vaccinated from Nascar fans. I thought they claimed to be inclusive of everyone and they blame Republicans for having stereotypes. If they went to a football, baseball, or basketball game would they have been vaccinated? NO. It's when they go to a Nascar event that they are vaccinated. Obviously they consider Nascar fans to be a group of rednecks, southerners and Christians that are apparently disease ridden.

If Al Gore Is awarded the Nobel Prize he WILL be smeared. There is no question about it.

On May 15, 2007, we wrote a post titled, We Guarantee Al Gore Will Be Attacked Next Week, We Absolutely Guarantee It. We wrote,

On Monday, Al Gore has a new book coming out next week, titled, The Assault On Reason.

Because he is standing up, telling the truth and because he simply is a Democrat and progressive leader, Al Gore will be smeared mercilessly by the right-wing smear machine. He will be ridiculed, made fun of and mocked. They will tease and make fun of him.

They will rush to say that he is bitter about 2000, crazy, insane, pontificating and out of touch.

They will bring up his utility bills and the boards he is a member of.

They will talk about his kiss with Tipper, her crusade against vulgar rap lyrics.

They will bring up his weight and the beard. And say it's all about 2008.

Continue reading "Al Gore WILL Be Smeared" »

On January 22, 2007, as Senator Clinton went viral with her announcement that she was, essentially, running for The White House, we noted that her first challenge was to shatter the prism of the right. We wrote,

[T]his simply is a fact of modern politics in America. For the past three decades, the right wing has employed a powerful strategy of "$ell and $mear." They insist on being the gatekeepers to public opinion and have developed a powerful machine that tells us who to like - and who to hate.

... They $mear Democratic and Progressive heroes, reducing American success stories such as George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis into humiliated historical footnotes. They destroy our leaders. They destroy those that might become our leaders. There is no Democratic or Progressive leader of any note of the last twenty years that has not been attacked.

Continue reading "Hillary Clinton: Mission Accomplished." »

If it kind of worked once, keep trying it again and again. So once again, the Right is reviving the tired 90s Asian-donations smear on the Clintons.

Headlined at the Drudge Report, the Wall Street Journal has Big Source of Clinton's Cash Is an Unlikely Address,

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. ...

But he added: "I have been fortunate in my investments and all of my contributions have been my money."

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign.

Continue reading "Chinese-Americans Give Money To Clinton. The Horror. The Horror." »

In the early 1970s, the Nixon Administration took a page out of the tobacco industry's playbook and actively organized front groups to counter the anti-war efforts of Vietnam veterans like John Kerry and Bobby Muller. Men like John O'Neill - later to re-appear as one of the Swift Boat Veterans - were hired to create what Watergate felon Charles Colson called "counter-foils."

Today with the launch of "Freedoms Watch" our politics are further poisoned by the appearance of another mutant variation of this front-group tactic. Freedoms Watch is a shadowy 501c4 organization created to try to keep Republicans from abandoning the White House on Iraq. Ironically, on the very day the President invoked the legacy of Vietnam, his administration has created this Nixonian front-group counter-foil.

Continue reading "Behind The Front: The Pro-War "Freedom's Watch"" »

We just wanted to thank and congratulate both Newsweek and Sharon Begley, the author of a great new cover story about the funding of the Global Warming Deniers.

This story, read it here, is a major step forward in exposing this machine and in furthering the understanding we all need to have in how the right uses strategies first developed by the tobacco industry to promote its agenda.

Pat Tillman was a noted professional football player with a salary over $500,000 a year and a brilliant future ahead of him in the National Football League. The exact opposite of a "Chickenhawk," and after 9/11, Pat Tillman dropped everything, turned down a 3-year, $3.6 million contract and enlisted in the US Army to help his country.

Two years later he died in Afghanistan. The Pentagon told Tillman's family that he was a hero who had been killed by enemy fire. At first, Tillman's death was a useful propaganda tool for the right and a tool to encourage patriotism for the war.

Continue reading "Pat Tillman: Anti-War Leftist Worm Dirt" »