The Message Control of Ari Fleischer

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

Days before the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the attack on the World Trade Center, the Jewish Policy Center hosted a special event in New York City: 9/11 a Decade Later: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges.  Featured speakers were former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, ex-Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and George W. Bush’s press spokesman Ari Fleischer.

The Jewish Policy Centre is a Republican think tank, tied to the Republican Jewish Coalition, who oppose any kind of peace settlements in the Middle East.  Their fellows have included neoconservative leader, Irving Kristol, and Canada's David Frum, a former speech writer for George W. Bush.

The speeches that night were not unlike those heard as justification for the War on Iraq.   "They hate our democracy” ...  “war on terror” ... " radical, fundamentalists".  Questions had to be written on index cards and then vetted by the Center.  "Ushers" made sure that there were no "liberal" thinkers in the crowd, and if you even hinted that the Bush Administration was wrong, you were promptly ejected.

One police officer who was ordered to remove a young woman who stood up in protest at the way the event was being handled, was heard to say “I just don’t understand how you could have sat there for as long as you did!” (1)

Clearly the Republicans have learned nothing from their disastrous foreign policy, and neither has Stephen Harper, who said in an interview that 'Islamicism' was the biggest threat to Canada. (2)  Not radical Islamists, but the actual religion.  It may have been a Freudian slip, or more speaking in code, but Islamophobia is alive and well and living in the Harper government.

The Jewish Policy Centre posted a glowing piece on Harper and his devotion to Israel.

Is Canada replacing the United States' role as Israel's number one supporter? It might be. During last week's G8 summit in France, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper blocked a G8 statement that would specifically call for Israeli-Palestinian talks to begin with negotiations based on an Israeli return to its 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps.

Since the White House appears content to follow its allies, Washington should follow Canada's lead under Prime Minister Harper. Aside from Harper's ability to stand strong against pressure when it comes to Israel, his decision to refrain from pledging more money to the "Arab Spring" countries is fiscally wise. (3)

Most Canadians support the "Arab Springs".

You Going to Believe What You See or What I Tell You?

Ari Fleischer  first made headlines in 1999, when he was working on Bush's presidential campaign.  On October 9, Bush had been interviewed by the Council for National Policy,  a pro-military religious organization, whose members* include; conservative political operatives, elected officials, military leaders, conservative broadcasters, corporate executives and financiers.  The brains and bucks of the New Right.

Said Jerry Falwell, who is a member: "Ronald Reagan, both George Bushes, senators and cabinet members—you name it, almost anyone of consequence has been to speak before the Council ... It is a group of four or five hundred of the biggest conservative guns in the country. It is the group that draws the battle lines."(4)

Extraordinary precautions had been taken to ensure that Bush's speech did not leak to the press.  His team had copies of it on tape, but according to Morton Blackwell, executive director of the CNP, "the Bush campaign declined to release them". Ari Fleischer also declined to even characterize the speech.  He told the New York Times "When we go to meetings that are private, they remain private"

He had proven his loyalty and when Bush won the election, he named Fleischer his Press Secretary, and it was he who had to sell the American people on going to war in Iraq.  He handled it beautifully.

Before resigning his position in the summer of 2003, Fleischer would be involved in another controversy.

Joseph Wilson, a former United States diplomat, was sent to Niger in 2002, to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium.  The British were the first to make the claim, and in Bush's State of the Union address, he said  "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." They even had documentation, though the documents would turn out to be forgeries.

When Joe Wilson returned from his fact finding mission, he filed his report and then wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times: What I Didn't Find in Africa.

Since this contradicted the message that the Bush administration was presenting to the American public, a meeting was held with Dick Cheney, his advisor, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Newt Gingrich and other senior Republicans, to produce a workup on Wilson to discredit him.

With the help of Fleischer, Karl Rove and others, columnist Robert Novak was given a tip that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA operative.  Novak "outed" her in the Washington Post, which was devastating to Plame, given that her family and friends had no idea.  It also cost her, her job.  They couldn't get anything on Wilson, but according to what Rove told Novak  "Wilson's wife is fair game."

Only Libby was ever convicted.

Freedom's Watch

By 2007, George Bush's popularity was at an all time low, and Americans had lost the taste for war.  Sensing that the Republications could take a huge hit in the upcoming election, a group of high-profile conservatives decided to do something about it.  So they created an AstroTurf group called Freedom's Watch, which began running ads on television stations, focusing on the sacrifices of soldiers and their families.

Ari Fleisher was on their board of directors.

Freedom's Watch worked in conjunction with the Republican Jewish Coalition and their partner, the Jewish Policy Center, where Fleisher spoke on the anniversary of 9/11.  They also worked closely with the American Enterprise Institute.

According to American Counter Punch:

While Americans and Iraqis suffer ... a new conservative organization has appeared on the scene. Called, ironically, 'Freedom's Watch,' with former White House press secretary Ari Fleisher as spokesman, this group is spending 15,000,000 on advertising to urge members of Congress to support the war. Said Mr. Fleisher: "We want to get the message to both Democrats and Republicans: Don't cut and run, fully fund the troops, and victory is the only objective." (5)

Their messages were misleading since they linked Iraq to the attacks on the World Trade Center, which we know is false.  The group would also run ads during the 2008 election, in support of several Republican candidates, before disbanding.

Passports Required for Witch Hunts

According to Ari Fleischer's personal bio, he is among other things, "an international media consultant to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper".  When the story of his hire made the news in Canada, in 2009,  MacLean's Scott Feschuk quipped:  "I guess if there’s an upside, it’s that members of our own press gallery now understand what it takes to get a question answered by our Prime Minister – an American passport and Ari Fleischer’s cell number." (6)

In January of 2010, the Canadian Press revealed:

Follow-up information on the original G20 contract, provided by Fleischer in his filings to the Justice Department, sheds new light on his activities on behalf of Canada's prime minister.  Canadian news consumers, who this week are seeing their first limited interviews with Harper about his Christmas holiday decision to suspend Parliament, might aspire to the access provided for conservative American opinion-leaders - eight of whom enjoyed dinner with Harper in Washington last Mar. 29 at the invitation of Fleischer. The guest list included newspaper columnists Charles Krauthammer, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks and Anne Applebaum, senior editors Fred Barnes and William Kristol, and conservative syndicated talk-radio host Laura Ingraham. (7)

It would appear that Fleischer may have assisted in Canada getting its Fox News North (Sun TV) station.

However, as a media consultant, he may have played an even more important role for the Canadian Conservatives.  When President Obama first announced that he would be releasing the Bush memos, the American neocons went into a spin.

Liz and Dick Cheney, Bill Bennett, Ari Fleischer, and countless other commentators have saturated the public airwaves of late ever since the Obama Administration decided to make public the Bush torture memos. "I think the decision is disgusting," Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's first press secretary, told the Huffington Post. "It's amazing to me that the people who kept us safe may now become the people our government prosecutes. There are plenty of real criminals out there -- it would be nice if the Justice Department went after them ... this is a witch hunt."  (8)

Feeling that it was quite OK to attack a diplomat if he contradicted the government's line, or lies, Harper and crew attacked Richard Colvin with a vengeance, after he exposed the abuse of Afghan Detainees.  But read Peter MacKay's response:

“I am very proud of the fact that we have dedicated soldiers, civil servants, individuals who are working closely with the government of Afghanistan, as challenging as that is, to see that we improve its capacity. We will continue to do so. That is the real work that is being done. This is a witch hunt.” (9)

It's hard not to imagine that Fleischer had  a hand in choreographing the way that the Harper government handled Afghan Detainee abuse allegations.  He's earning his $25,000 a pop fee.

Footnotes:

* Best selling author, Craig Unger, was able to obtain a partial list of CNP members in 1996. They included Richard V. Allen, former national security adviser under Reagan; Gary Bauer, former Republican presidential candidate and head of the Family Research Council; Morton Blackwell, president of The Leadership Institute; Richard Bott, of the Bott Broadcasting Company; Brent Bozell, chairman of the Media Research Institute; Larry Burkett of the Campus Crusade for Christ and Christian Financial Concepts; Congressman Dan Burton (R-Ind.); Holland Coors and Jeffrey Coors, of the Colorado beer family; Congressman William Dannemeyer (R-Calif.); James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family; Congressman Robert Dornan (R-Calif.); Jerry Falwell, Liberty University; Edwin Feulner Jr., the Heritage Foundation; George Gilder, supply-side economist; Donald Hodel, former secretary of energy and secretary of the interior; Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt; Reed Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media; Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University; David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union; Congressman Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.); Dr. D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church; Congressman Alan Keyes (R-Md.); Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.); Beverly LaHaye; Tim LaHaye; Marlin Maddoux, president, USA Radio Network; Ed McAteer, president, The Religious Roundtable; former attorney general Ed Meese; conservative activist Grover Norquist; Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, North American Enterprises; Howard Phillips, chairman, The Conservative Caucus; Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition; Pat Robertson, Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent University; Phyllis Schlafly, president, Eagle Forum; Richard Viguerie, conservative political strategist; Doug Wead; Paul Weyrich; and Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. (4)

Sources:

1. Bird-Dogging Torturers in NYC, Consortium News, September 9, 2011

2. Harper says 'Islamicism' biggest threat to Canada, CBC News, September 6, 2011

3. Canada Takes a Stand at G8 Summit, by Samara Greenberg, Jewish Policy Center blog, June 1, 2011

4. The Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seied the Executive branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America's Future, By Craig Unger, Scribner, 2007, ISBN: 13: 978-0-7432-8075-4, p. 171-172

5. Ari Fleischer, Freedom's Watch and the Pro-War Lobbyists, American Counter Punch, August 2007

6. Harper hires Americans to help him "brand" Canada, presumably as a nation incapable of branding itself, by Scott Feschuk, MacLeans, April 16, 2009

7. Canadian Press, January 6, 2010

8. Torture:  "It's perfectly Leagal -- But We Don't Do It",  By Joseph A. Palermo Associate Professor, American History, California State University, Sacramento, Huffington Post, April 25, 2009

9. The Commons: Eighteen attempts to explain the same story, By Aaron Wherry, MacLeans, November 19, 2009

The Canadian Manifesto: Chapter One: Movement Conservatism

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neoconservatives Stole My Country

In March of 2010, it was revealed that several wealthy Alberta ridings had sent cash and staff to poorer ridings in Ontario and Quebec. (1)

Jason Kenney, Rob Anders and Stephen Harper, all confident in their bids for re-election, helped to finance several campaigns, including that of Conservative MP for Nunavut, Leona Aglukkaq.  Shelley Glover, Saint Boniface, Manitoba, was another recipient.

What made the transfers questionable, was the fact that they did not report them to Elections Canada as "transfers", the way they should have, but as "donations".

However, while the media focused on that story, it was a comment made by Rob Anders that got my attention. "If people are true movement-oriented Conservatives, then it makes sense they would support those candidates and show up and support them and cut cheques."

I had heard the term "Movement Conservatives" many times, in relation to the New Right movement in the United States, and certainly recognized that the Reform-Alliance-Conservative Party, in all of its manifestations, was a "movement", and not just another political party.

However, in a moment of clarity, I realized that they are just part of the broader American movement.  Rob Anders had studied at the Leadership Institute (2), Morton Blackwell's training centre for conservative political activists.  (Other graduates included Karl Rove and Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed).

Blackwell is a key player, having worked on the campaigns of both Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, and was instrumental in bringing in the Evangelical vote.  Blackwell, as I mentioned in the Introduction, also helped Preston Manning create the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, fashioned after the Leadership Institute. (2)

That revelation caused me to change the direction of my book.  This is not simply about our Christian Right attempting to create a Canadian theocracy, nor is it about our now having a neoconservative government.  This is about the fact that the American conservative movement has taken over Canadian politics.

And that should be troubling to everyone.

".... your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world." Stephen Harper.  Speech to Council for National Policy, 1997.  Made at the invitation of none other than Morton Blackwell. (3)

Movement Conservatism 101

In his book The Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman discusses the fundamentals of "Movement Conservatism".  He says that the first step was to build "a base".  How often do we hear of Harper's "base".  It has become so common that the media now use the term matter of factly, no longer explaining who they are, what they are, or why he even has one.

"The base" has become more than just a group of loyal supporters, but people conservatives feed off, when they need a little noise, to drown out those opposing their actions.

When the debate over whether or not to fund abortions overseas, as part of the government's maternal health initiative heated up, Harper's then Chief of Staff, Guy Giorno, told his boss to  “protect the base.” (4)

Karl Rove would often advise George Bush of the same thing (5).  Protecting the base was first and foremost.

Blackwell once wrote a letter to a newly elected Republican, and offered his advice on "the base".  "Your constituency is the voters, especially the coalition which elected you. You can't count on the news media to communicate your message to your constituency. You must develop ways to communicate with your coalition which avoids the filter of the media. Focus on your base. Write to them. Meet with them. Honor them. Show yourself to be proud of them. Support their activities. Show up at their events."

He also advised that you should never betray your base, by "outing them", if they wanted to remain in the shadows.  That he claimed would be "politial suicide".
But the creation of a base has many levels.

Populist Level -  The populist base, or what both Richard Nixon and Stephen Harper referred to as the "silent majority", are perhaps the most important element of movement conservatism, and in fact without them, there probably never would have been a movement at all.

The New Right learned how to tap into the insecurities and prejudices of a segment of the population that had become disenfranchised with feminism, gay rights and "political correctness".  Reserving their comments for like minded souls, they were instead told to let it out.  They weren't wrong.  It was only the liberal society that was tramping on their rights.

As early as the 1950s, the National Review, edited by a young William F. Buckley, was defending the right of the South to prevent blacks from voting—"the White community is so entitled because it is, for the time being, the advanced race".  (6)

A decade later, Ronald Reagan joined the movement, and without being overtly racist, made it clear, that he too was on their side.  When he gave his first major speech in 1964,"A Time for Choosing," it was drafted to feed off paranoia.  As Krugman says of Reagan, "His early political successes were based on appeals to cultural and sexual anxieties, playing on the fear of communism, and, above all, tacit exploitation of white backlash against the civil rights movement and its consequences."

He would carry that into his federal campaign and in 1980, stumped about states' rights (as in the right to continue policies of segregation), at Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers had been murdered by the Klan.

In Canada, when the Reform Party was organizing, they too established a base of  "white nationals".  And while Stephen Harper and Preston Manning were careful not to write extremist views into their policies, the message got through.

According to Trevor Harrison in his book Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada

"... the notion that some Reform members may have strong Anglo-Saxon nativist inclinations is supported by more than merely the background profiles of its leaders, members and supporters. It is supported also by the words of many of its ideological mentors who depict Canada as not only historically an Anglo-Saxon country but also part of a wider Anglo-Saxon culture that is in need of recognizing and re-establishing its heritage. (7)

They also fed off fears, brought on by immigration and  a communist threat.  But while leaders of the American movement stood with their base against blacks, the Reformers stood up to Quebec, who they claimed were getting special favours from Ottawa; and forced bilingualism.

Business Level - Their populist base provided the noise, but they still needed money, and for that they tapped into the corporate sector, with promises of lower taxes and massive deregulation.  And by standing with corporations against unions, they easily created a base of the monied elite.

These people provided the funding for the think tanks, while the populist base provided the bodies for the Astoturf groups, even though they were often rallying against their own self interest.

Intelligentsia Level -  This level was created when "movement conservatism" joined forces with the Neoconservatives.  Milton Friedman of the Chicago School pushed back against Keynesian economics and the Welfare State, while men like Irving Kristol, who called himself the Godfather of Neoconservatism, produced scholarly papers promoting free market theories and denouncing "big government" solutions to social problems.

With an eager populace and more money than they could imagine, it became a smart career choice for many academics.  In fact, at all levels, those who worked for the movement, were never unemployed.  They moved from government to think tanks, and back again, always campaign ready.

The intelligentsia also created a special language.  One speech written for a politician, could mean one thing to the populace, another to the corporate sector and yet another to other intellectuals.  Krugman called it speaking in code.  When they targeted a specific group with their message, it is "dog-whistle politics".

A good example of this was when George Bush called himself a "compassionate conservative".  The masses heard "compassion", believing that he would protect the social safety net.  However, he was actually referencing the 1992 work of Marvin Olasky, who called for dismantling the welfare state, and putting social services into the hands of Christian organizations to dispense at their will.

David Kuo, one of the Evangelicals who helped to put George Bush in the White House, caught the reference, believing that the "faith-based" group he was part of, would be given funds to start a domestic ministry, to fight against poverty.

As it turned out, Bush had no such plans, and in the end only corporations benefited from any "charitable" initiatives.

By now many have picked up on the coded language.  "Choice" means "private",  "private" means "corporate",  and so on.  There are also phrases that are common to the group on both sides of the border.

"Tax relief" is a good example of this.

When the Globe reported that nearly all Canadian workers would pay more income and payroll taxes in 2011, Jim Flaherty's office responded by suggesting that all sectors benefited from "tax relief". (8) That was a common term used by the Bush administration, to ward off the same kind of accusations.  According to George Lakoff:  On the day that George W. Bush took office, the words tax relief started appearing in White House communiqués to the press and in official speeches and reports by conservatives .... (9)

Bush and Flaherty used "averages", instead of actualities.  G.W. announced that Americans would receive an average $1,083 in savings, when in fact the "average" American netted about $200.00.  The huge savings by the upper class distorted the "median".

Religious Level - This refers to the Moral Majority or Christian Right, who now greatly influence public policy in Canada and the U.S. 

Conservatives have painted themselves as the only party that believes in God.  Daivid Kuo in his book, Tempting Faith: An inside Story of Political Seduction, speaks of how the Republicans suddenly became the party of church goers.

At Sunday morning brunches around Washington, they appear in their "Sunday best", dressed as though they had just returned from "service", when in fact many had come directly from their homes or apartments.  It was important to keep up appearances.

With the Tea Party, has "movement conservatism" hit bottom?  They are certainly the embodiment of racist populism and religious extremism, funded by the corporate sector, and marching against their own self interest.

Now that we can put a name to the odd combination of forces, and have an idea of what a Harper "base" might look like, it's time to go back to where it all began.

1. Harper, Anders and Kenney ridings transfer to 'poor' Ontario ridings, By Tim Naumetz, The Hill Times, March 8, 2010

2. The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, By: Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-307-35646-8 3, p. 104

3. McDonald, 2010, p. 105

4. Guy Giorno: national man of mystery: PM’s chief of staff target for blame, but insiders say he gets big things right, by John Geddes, May 31, 2010

5. Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, By James Moore and Wayne Slater, John Wiley & Sons, 2003, ISBN: 0-471-42327-0

6. The Conscience of a Liberal, By Paul Krugamn, W. W. Norton & Co., 2007, ISBN: 13 978-0-393-06069-0, p. 9

7. Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada, By: Trevor Harrison Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6, p. 105

8. Tax man to hit Canadian workers harder in 2011, By Sunny Dhillon, Globe and Mail, December 28, 2010

9. An introduction to framing and its uses in politics, By George Lakoff, Cognitive Policy Works, February 14, 2006