The Clinton administration figured out how the Mighty Right-Wing Wurlitzer worked at least eight years (pdf) before I did. They obviously had a greater need to know. I had no idea that bullshit that was unfit to print was first laundered through the British tabloid press, then to the American right-wing press, then to the mainstream American press, and finally to the congressional committees responsible for government oversight.
I discovered that this was going on in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I first wrote about here in 2005, shortly after I launched this blog. But it was something that had been established in Clinton’s first term, even before the launch of Fox News. In fact, the existence of Fox News basically eliminated the need for this tactic, but that doesn’t mean that it went away. It was still a major tool in the pro-invasion toolbox in the 2002-3 period, and it probably is still utilized from time to time.
Also of interest is that the same people behind the Obama birth certificate insanity were behind the Vince Foster conspiracies.
