Here's some good advice from Rush Limbaugh's opening monologue today: "If I were you, I would regard every AP story, particularly this year, as nothing more than a propaganda piece for the reelection of Barack Obama."
What occasioned Rush's rant is the thinly disguised propaganda today from the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, concerning President Obama's visit to Cushing, Oklahoma to pretend that he's really a fan of the Keystone Pipeline, starting with the following headline:
Obama defends handling of Keystone as he puts another key oil pipeline on the fast track
Rush's reax:
Another! Another? When was the first one? He opposes Keystone! And what he did today -- we told you yesterday this is coming -- is already happening.
It was already in place.
He's not even authorizing anything that wasn't happening.
Indeed. The AP (Awful Propaganda) continues:
President Barack Obama firmly defended his record on oil drilling Thursday, ordering the government to fast-track an Oklahoma pipeline while rebuking Congress for playing politics with a larger Canada-to-Gulf Coast pipeline project.
... Deep in Republican oil country, Obama said lawmakers refused to give his administration enough time review the controversial Keystone pipeline in order to ensure that it wouldn't compromise the health and safety of people living in surrounding areas.
Sorry, guys. That just isn't so. All the meaningful approvals have been in place already, as CNS News reported on January 25 (HT to Maggie Thurber in an email), quoting a statement made by Texas Congressman Joe Barton (bolds are mine throughout the rest of this post):
“There are 10 other agencies that have reviewed this project and – correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that the Corps of Engineers approved it, the Department of Agriculture approved it, the Department of Interior approved it, the Department of Transportation approved it, the Environmental Protection Agency – believe it or not – approved it, the Defense Department approved it; the Justice Department approved it, the Homeland Security Department approved it and the Department of Commerce approved it. Only the State Department, which I believe, by law is required to look at the International implications since its trans-Canada -- only the State Department did not approve it.”
Rush pointed out that the President's sudden interest in oil distribution is driven by a Gallup poll showing that Americans who are following the matter closely favor the Keystone Pipeline's approval by 78%-22%.
But let's get back to Rush's comments about AP and the media. Here is a sampler:
Here's another one from AP: "Breaking News! US President Obama Directs Federal Agencies to Fast Track Oil Pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas." Now, maybe I'm mistaken (that's doubtful), but has there been a huge problem getting oil from Oklahoma all the way to Texas? (Answer: No.)
... I look at this, and I imagine you reading this stuff on your own, and I hope and I pray that you have the same reaction to this that I do, that it's just patently absurd. It's not even news. This isn't even journalism. This is not even a pretense of news or journalism. This is just pure campaign support propaganda from a new organization called the Associated Press.
... It's journalistic malpractice. "Another Oil Pipeline on Fast Track." The Keystone pipeline has not been approved. He still opposes it. This is a pure political move to satisfy 78% of the American people who want it done. So Obama's doing nothing, and he's got a very supportive news media out there trying to convince you and everybody else that he just today authorized the Keystone pipeline. That's what's going on. It's as dishonest as possible. It's as dishonest and misleading as possible.
... Never has it been more obvious that without the media, Barack Obama would not have a chance. Without the media, Barack Obama would be a national joke. But he has the media. He has the largest propaganda arm that a president has ever had. He has people willing to lie. He has people willing to publish his lies. He has people willing to work with him against the best interests of the people of this country. I've been alive 61 years, and I have never seen anything like this. I'm telling you. There's always been media bias, and the media were sickeningly slavish to things like Camelot, to JFK and Clinton. But this is unprecedented. I know they carried the water for Clinton for a while with Monica Lewinsky and that whole event, but even they drew some lines there. This has no boundaries. Whatever it takes.
... This what the Democrats do, folks. This is what the left does. There is no moral core. There's no concern for truth and there's no concern for being caught lying, because Obama knows that his number one support group's not gonna call him on it. The only people who are gonna call him on it are people like me, and they're not worried about that. They've got the AP on their side. They've got the Washington Post, the New York Times. They don't care. But what it indicates is the good news about this: They know how deep the trouble Obama is in.
What Rush said explains why yours truly has been calling AP the Administration's Press for some time. Because that's what this outfit, dominated by a sorry collection of propagandists and leftist activists masquerading as journalists, really is.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
