The American Spectator

Robbins Mitchell br> Houston, Texas /p>

I loved this observation which calls the entire concept of a “free press” into question.

For a number of years I have followed the American military concept of Information Warfare and its constituent parts, one of which is called Perception Management. (Crudely put elsewhere this is referred to as “Spin”.) The idea is to use all means of information to convince people you are right and your opponent is wrong.

Over these years I have come up with four simple but effective rules for Perception Management:

1. Never let the other guy swing first.

If you let your opponent pick the topics and start out with even a blatant lie, you wind up playing catch-up ball and if he crafted his approach well you may never get public trust or support for your point, even if you are correct and honest. This is obvious when you get some of the really egregious claims in the media (such as anything in the New York Times) and do not get them quashed fast enough. Right now the Daily Kosites are pushing the hoary old “Keating Five” things which are a typical dodge to get suspicion off the guilty.

2. When something goes wrong. be the first to take advantage of it.

This has been all too obvious lately when McCain says something which is not far wrong but “indignant” reporters and Obama take it up first and declare he is “out of touch with America.” His comments on the economy basically being sound but being made to seem like he has a “nothing to see here, folks” attitude are a good example of how this works, as it makes him look like a doddering fool even though the claimants are playing very loose with the facts.

3. Find a good “Buzz Word” and use it until it becomes part of the general lexicon of the day.

Most objective thinking people know that Socialism has not worked and will never work, so instead of using the term “Socialism we can believe in” which is a non-starter the concept morphs to “Change we can believe in” and is run out every chance they get, until Obama “owns” the word change and any other attempts to use the word are virtually meaningless.

4. Aim for the heart, not the head.

I learned early on in high school that some debating techniques may stymie your opponent, but will not faze a good judge who will can you for using them. Alas, these still work well in the court of Perception Management and are all too easy to employ. Cries of “Racism!” or “McCarthyism” are two of the worst and most frequently used by both Obama and the press to drum out any objective measures to counter their foolish proposals or lack of actual investigation into either the man, his background, or his mentors.

p>The Socialists masquerading as Democrats (oops, “Progressives”) and their media allies know these four rules by heart. Too bad they want to only use them on the American people and not our opponents or (perish the though!) our actual enemies.