Lagging Behind, Romney & Ryan Lash Out

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Sept 27, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

                 Capitalizing on the conservative conspiracy industry, 61-year-old Bombay, India-born Dinesh D’Souza establishes himself as one of the great right wing propagandists in his defamatory $32 million low-budget documentary film “2016:  Obama’s America.”  Disgracing his alma mater Dartmouth College or any other fact-based learning institution, D’Souza pushes the same pernicious propaganda insisting that Sept. 11 was manufactured by the U.S. government and the 1969 moon landing was created in a Hollywood Studio.  Conspiracy radio and TV shows abound, attracting a marginally adjusted audience.  While P.T. Barnum said “there’s a sucker born every minute,” it’s the American way to follow circus hucksters, garden variety con artists and pool-hall hustlers.  Who, for that matter, doesn’t play the lottery or roll the dice in Las Vegas or Indian casinos hoping to strike it rich?

            D’Souza’s credibility stems from his Dartmouth degree and affiliation in ultra-conservative GOP circles, including Stanford’s Hoover Institution, Washington’s American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation and the “Policy Review.”  D’Souza earned his conservative chops working as an “advisor” to the late President Ronald Reagan.  Currently working as president of King’s College, a small Christian college in lower Manhattan, D’Souza hides behind an academic mantle without real credentials.  While nothing takes away from his prolific writing history, including his 2007 New York Times best selling book, “The Enemy at Home:  The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11,” D’Souza’s lack of real academic credentials gives him license to write pernicious propaganda.  No one with any intellectual or academic integrity can blame liberals for Sept. 11. 

            D’Souza’s defamatory documentary struck gold from a readymade audience of conspiracy nuts with whom conservatives play like fiddles.  It was the same chatter used by former GOP VP nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin while she delivered her stump speeches in 2008 insinuating Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was a foreign born Islamic terrorist.  Whether it’s FOX News’ Glenn Beck, conservative firebrand Ann Coulter, AM radio-giant Rush Limbaugh or any other right wing huckster, it’s always the same message:  Liberals are destroying America.  D’Souza’s film about Obama preaches to the same choir, laughs its way to the bank and spews the same pernicious propaganda.  Unlike D’Souza who pretends to be an academic, other pop culture conservatives spew blatant falsehoods with impunity.  Catering to right wing nuts, D’Souza struck it rich.

            Most people see New York multimillionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump as a carnival-style huckster.  His allegations about Obama’s “phony” birth certificate play well in conspiracy circles, where facts don’t count, only vague rumors and unsubstantiated innuendo.  “People are really hungry for information about Obama.  There‘s a sense that even four years into his presidency, there are lots of missing pieces of the puzzle,” said D’Souza, catering to conspiracy wackos, raising more doubts and suggesting he’s performed some responsible research.  D’Souza knows every part of Obama’s history and background has been researched to death.  His movie suggests that Barack’s Kenyan, socialist roots impugn his loyalty to the U.S. Constitution and capitalist system, despite being a graduate of Columbia University, Harvard Law School and a University of Chicago Law professor.

            D’Souza holds no real credentials other than his large body of right-wing sponsored books and papers serving as one of the conservative movement’s leading propagandists.  “I think Obama’s is a dream of global justice,” said D’Souza.  “And he wants to redistribute wealth away from the United States and toward other countries.  And he also wants to redistribute power, he wants to shrink America’s footprint in the world because he thinks we’ve been stepping on the world,” sounding like he’s borrowing or sharing lines with GOP presidential nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his VP pick Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) stump speeches.  Speculation wrapped in conjecture and rolled in fantasy constitutes D’Souza’s commitment to fact-based scholarship.  He’s a right wing propagandist of the first order but isn’t smart enough to change any minds outside his choir.

            Propagandists like D’Souza hide behind the First Amendment that gives them a license to loom wild tales on their spinning machines.  Everyone knows that the U.S. tax system has always taken bigger chunks from more wealthy taxpayers.  If tax dollars are used to fund programs like Medicare, Social Security, national parks, roads, highways and bridges, food stamps, college education, health care to the poor, etc., then I guess D’Souza’s right it’s a “redistribution” system.  If shrinking America’s “footprint” means less foreign wars that usurp the tax base, drive up budget deficits and impoverish the country, then Obama seeks appropriate restraint.  Instead of questioning the real Barack Obama, people should ask who funds D’Souza’s vicious propaganda.  Pandering to conspiracy nuts and veiled racists, D’Souza betrays his own foreign background and pretence about his loyalty to organized religion and U.S. Constitution.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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