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Democratic strategist warns: Mainstream media 'enemy of the American people'
By: Joe Newby
In a speech given at an Accuracy in Media conference in September, former Democratic strategist and pollster Pat Caddell warned that the mainstream media has become "the enemy of the American people," Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard reported on Sunday.
"The press’s job is to stand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from a government and from organized governmental power," he said.
"When they desert those ramparts and decide that they will now become active participants, that their job is not simply to tell you who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse—and this is the danger of the last two weeks—what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the American people," he added.
Caddell said that when he first began in politics, the media "were SOBs to everybody," Democrats and Republicans alike.
"That changed in 1980," he said, when the media tried to get Michael Dukakis elected.
"We have a First Amendment not because the Founding Fathers liked the press—they hated the press—but they believed, as [Thomas] Jefferson said, that in order to have a free country, in order to be a free people, we needed a free press," he explained.
Caddell excoriated the media for its coverage of events in the Middle East and said the press corps now "serves at the pleasure of this White House and President."
"It is one thing to bias the news, or have a biased view. It is another thing to specifically decide that you will not tell the American people information they have a right to know," he added.
"The press’s job is to stand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from a government and from organized governmental power," he told the crowd, but things are much different today.
Calling the press corps "offshoots" of the administration, he issued a dire warning.
"These people are going to destroy freedom in America."
Link Removed
By: Joe Newby
In a speech given at an Accuracy in Media conference in September, former Democratic strategist and pollster Pat Caddell warned that the mainstream media has become "the enemy of the American people," Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard reported on Sunday.
"The press’s job is to stand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from a government and from organized governmental power," he said.
"When they desert those ramparts and decide that they will now become active participants, that their job is not simply to tell you who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse—and this is the danger of the last two weeks—what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the American people," he added.
Caddell said that when he first began in politics, the media "were SOBs to everybody," Democrats and Republicans alike.
"That changed in 1980," he said, when the media tried to get Michael Dukakis elected.
"We have a First Amendment not because the Founding Fathers liked the press—they hated the press—but they believed, as [Thomas] Jefferson said, that in order to have a free country, in order to be a free people, we needed a free press," he explained.
Caddell excoriated the media for its coverage of events in the Middle East and said the press corps now "serves at the pleasure of this White House and President."
"It is one thing to bias the news, or have a biased view. It is another thing to specifically decide that you will not tell the American people information they have a right to know," he added.
"The press’s job is to stand in the ramparts and protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from a government and from organized governmental power," he told the crowd, but things are much different today.
Calling the press corps "offshoots" of the administration, he issued a dire warning.
"These people are going to destroy freedom in America."
Link Removed
