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RELATED LINKSInternal LinksProfiles: External LinksAlan Colmes calls Morgan's attack on Cindy Sheehan "despicable" Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor More stories by Bill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs' Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz The mouth that roarsReaching for the national spotlight, conservative radio talk show host Melanie Morgan zeroes in on Cindy SheehanShe still believes that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. She thinks that global warming is a liberal scare tactic. She has suggested that the editor of the New York Times be tried for treason. Now, she's taking on Cindy Sheehan. Morgan recently told the San Francisco Chronicle that New York Times editor Bill Keller should be jailed for treason for approving the publication of stories of how the federal government is monitoring international bank transfers to track terrorist financing, adding that she would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber if convicted If in your meanderings through assorted media you haven't yet encountered Melanie Morgan, hang in there, because you will very soon. Morgan who plies her trade as co-host of the "Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan Program" broadcast out of the San Francisco studios of KSFO-AM (560 AM), is delivering the mother of all hit jobs on Cindy Sheehan in a new book called "American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs," co-authored by conservative columnist Catherine Moy. Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in April 2004, helped revive a near-dormant anti-Iraq war movement and brought the war in Iraq back into the media spotlight when she set up Camp Casey just down the road from President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch last summer. While Bush was cutting brush and bike-riding about the property, Sheehan had one request: a sit down with the president so that he could explain to her -- and the American people -- what we were doing in Iraq. As the days passed and Bush refused to meet with her, hundreds of Sheehan and anti-Iraq war supporters came to Texas to bear witness with her. Camp Casey caught, and sustained, the attention of the traditional media. Not unexpectedly, Cindy Sheehan's vigil and the existence of Camp Casey drew the attention of a host of right wing pundits, columnists, and radio and television talk show hosts. Enter Melanie Morgan. In late-August 2005, Cybercast News Service (CNS), a daily news feed originally founded in July 1998 by L. Brent Bozell's Media Research Center as the Conservative News Service, featured a story headlined "Backlash Against Cindy Sheehan Gains Momentum." The story reported that Move America Forward, the right wing group co-founded and headed by Morgan and which had led an underwhelming "Truth Tour" to Iraq, was set to launch a "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" tour to counter Sheehan's vigil at President Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch. "For the past few weeks, this nation has heard from those voices in America who advocate surrender in the war against terrorism," Morgan told CNSNews.com. "Now, it's time to hear from the other side of this debate. "We are going to rally Americans together to show the terrorists overseas that our nation has not lost its resolve nor its nerve to prevail in the fight against their violent, extremist agenda," Morgan added. According to CNSNews.com, the group was going to air "a 60-second television commercial promoting the 'Support Our Troops & Their Mission' rally in Crawford, Tex. The ad [prepared by the Sacramento, California-based public relations firms Russo Marsh & Rogers] is expected to air nationwide on cable news networks or can see seen at the group's website." In June 2004, Russo Marsh & Rogers (website), a Sacramento, California-based Republican Party-affiliated public relations outfit, formed Move America Forward (website) as a non-profit pro-Iraq war organization. According to its website, MAF "is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America's efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces." The organization's Board of Directors and Staff includes Howard Kaloogian, a Republican Member of the California State Assembly from 1994-2000 who was a principal in the Recall Davis movement and is listed as a founder of MAF; Morgan, the Chairman of the group; Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson, USAF (Ret.), is the host of a weekly radio program on RighTalk.com radio called "The Buzz Cut," a regular columnist for Human Events, a longtime weekly conservative publication, and the author of two New York Times best selling books, "Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security" and "Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undercut Our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our Security"; Lew Uhler, listed as a member of the Advisory Board is the founder and President of the National Tax Limitation Committee (website); Sal Russo, who is listed as Chief Strategist is a founder of Russo Marsh & Rogers; and Richard Dixon, who is named as the group's Acting Executive Director and is credited with leading the MAF staff on the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" caravan. One of MAF's earliest -- and most unsuccessful -- "non-partisan" campaigns was aimed at getting movie theaters across the country to refuse to show Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's award-winning documentary film. In an e-mail dated June 29, 2005 and titled "The War at Home - in America," MAF identified its domestic opponents as "self-loathing liberal journalists and 'Blame America First' politicians." According to a late-December 2005 Wall Street Journal article, "Move America Forward magnified its reach by making small television and radio ad buys and then relying on cable-and local-television news outlets to give the commercials heavy coverage." The organization "has no discernible formal ties to the White House or the Republican National Committee, and the group says it operates independently from the Republican Party establishment. Still, the organization provides a clear benefit to the administration by spreading a pro-war message that goes beyond what administration officials can say publicly." Although it is unclear how successful MAF's pro-Iraq war advertisements are, the Wall Street Journal piece suggested that the ads, combined with a "flurry of speeches by the president and a ramped-up RNC effort aimed at boosting the war," showed that Bush's approval rating had risen. (Whether MAF's recent ads bear any responsibility for the recent tanking of the president's approval ratings is also unclear.) "The White House has really done a poor job of getting the message out, which is why we've had to step into the breach," Sal Russo, one of MAF's three founders told the Wall Street Journal. "They should do a better job of coordinating with those willing to get out and tell the story. We shouldn't be the only ones out here fighting." The Journal story pointed out that MAF "raised more than $1 million, mainly in small donations, over the past two years." The story also noted that Move America Forward was still -- at least in December of last year -- clinging to and promoting the notion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. "Morgan says she is baffled that the White House no longer makes the case that Mr. Hussein had WMDs," the Journal reported. "The White House dropped the claims after a variety of investigators found no evidence to substantiate them. But Morgan says her ads are justified, based on documents given to her in Iraq by an Iraqi general she identified as Abdul Qader Jassim, and on information from U.S. officials involved in the hunt for weapons there. She believes Mr. Hussein possessed WMDs, and that those weapons remain in Iraq today. It couldn't be ascertained that Mr. Jassim is a general and he couldn't be reached for comment." MAF is currently raising money to get an ad titled "Bill Clinton's Terrorism Rewrite - REBUKED!" on the air. The promo copy reads: "Move America Forward is pleased to unveil the new national television ad that counters former President Bill Clinton's recent assertions about his administrations' effort to combat Islamic terrorism." A relative Johnny-come-lately to conservative politics, Morgan has played a role in several significant political stories in California, including a successful campaign to remove MTBE from gasoline and the easing of smog checks. In addition, as Joe Garofoli pointed out in his October 8 profile of Morgan in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, "on her radio show in 2003 ... Morgan and then-California Republican Party chair Shawn Steel first publicly launched the idea to recall the Gov. [Gray] Davis," which ultimately led to the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. While the Rodgers and Morgan program is extremely successful in the Greater Bay Area -- it is the fourth-highest-rated morning show in the San Francisco market -- these days, Morgan is becoming better known for her provocative and controversial political statements -- comments that appear aimed at earning her a spot alongside bestselling conservative author Ann Coulter, and nationally syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin. While Morgan, and those in her audience who are still unalterably unconvinced that global warming exists, no doubt found humor in her "mocking" of Bay Area Spare the Air Days -- days when transportation officials call on Bay area residents to take public transportation and "avoid ... pollution-creating activities" -- advising listeners to get in their SUVs and drive as much as possible, her recent call for the jailing and possible execution of New York Times editor Bill Keller for treason was not greeted light-heartedly. According to Garofoli, Morgan "told the San Francisco Chronicle in June that ... Keller should be jailed for treason for approving the publication of stories of how the federal government is monitoring international bank transfers to track terrorist financing. When it was pointed out to Morgan that the maximum penalty for treason is death , she told the Chronicle: If he were to be tried and convicted of treason, yes, I would have no problem with him being sent to the gas chamber. It is about revealing classified secrets in the time of war. And the media has got to take responsibility for revealing classified information that is putting American lives at risk. Morgan's comments about Keller earned her national recognition as she was named by Keith Olbermann, the host of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," as the winner of one of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" awards. Garofoli notes that Morgan's new book presents the latest opportunity for Morgan "to point out what she sees as Sheehan's disrespect of American service personnel during wartime." Morgan and Moy juxtapose the reaction of Sheehan to the death of Casey "with the reaction of the family of Army Specialist Justin Johnson, a friend of Casey ... who was killed days later in Iraq." "The purpose of the book isn't to do a hit piece on Cindy Sheehan," Morgan told Garofoli. "But she is directly trying to undermine what the troops are trying to accomplish there." Cindy Sheehan has published three books of essays and commentaries; "Not One More Mother's Child," which included photographs and forwards by John Conyers, Thom Hartmann, and Jodie Evans, covered the period from November 2004 to September 2005; "Dear President Bush," which was published this past spring and contains a lengthy interview she did with Greg Ruggiero and material from September 2005 through January 2006, plus a note from the editor, an introduction by Howard Zinn, and a forward by Hart Viges, a veteran of the war on Iraq and a conscientious objector; and most recently, "Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey through Heartache to Activism." Interestingly enough, Garofoli's profile pointed out that Morgan, who grew up in suburban Kansas City, comes from a family of lifelong liberals. Her husband, Jack Swanson, who calls himself an "ACLU liberal," oversees operations at KGO, a very popular Bay Area talk radio station, and KSFO. According to Garofoli, Morgan considers herself "a pro-choice person until the last trimester," and doesn't "care what gay people do," two subjects that are rarely discussed on her radio program. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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