Project Propaganda

Here's what I wrote to Brian Williams, who in his Daily Nightly blog column, was peddling Peggy Noonan's Democratic-bashing tripe.

Peggy Noonan, on the "Opinion Journal" (and isn't the title a clue for you?) wrote only a single line which has some legitimacy: "Americans should not fear talking--and listening--to those whose views we loathe".

The rest of innuendo, unsupported fallacy and right-wing propaganda with the always-present Democrat bashing. It is readily apparent that Democrats are the people to which she references loathing.

Mr. Williams, your work on behalf of the Republican Party is legitimate when it is on your own time and your own dime as a private citizen. However, in this venue, as an employee of GE, to put forth political propaganda of any stripe is unethical and is just sleazy.

Stop it.

Wanna bet that it will never be posted in the comments?

Here's the seemingly innocuous lead in to Noonan by Williams:

After months in new (temporary) quarters, we're back on the 3rd floor of 30 Rock in our old space made new -- part of the huge consolidation of NBC News and MSNBC that will be complete in just a few weeks. Everything looks great, and while we will all head home tonight wearing the light white sheen of a day-long dusting, its exciting to stake a new claim to our old floor. Tags hang from chairs, workers come through armed with punch lists and my old trash can may be lost forever. Then there's the matter of tonight's broadcast...

First, what I thought was a terrific piece of writing by Peggy Noonan, artfully taking on a big issue here in New York last week.

Here's a noxious, but not lethal, sampling of Noonan's poison:

Americans should not fear talking--and listening--to those whose views we loathe.

You don't want to judge Christ by Christians, someone once said. He is perfect, they are not.

In a similar way you don't want to judge capitalism by capitalists, or the legitimacy of democracy by the Democrats, or the vitality of our republic by the Republicans. You have to take the thing pure and in itself, while allowing for the flaws and waywardness of its practitioners.

I say this because here in America we have reached a funny pass. People are doing and saying odd things as if they don't know the meaning of the thing they say they stand for. In particular I mean we used to be proud of whom we allowed to speak, and now are leaning toward defining ourselves by whom we don't speak to and will not allow to speak. This is not progress.

Conservatives on campus are shouted down. A crusader against illegal immigration is rushed off the stage at Columbia University. Great newspapers give ad breaks to groups with which they feel an ideological affinity, but turn away ads from those they do not, such as antiabortion groups. And they call this a business.

So much silencing. It seems so weak, so out of keeping with who we are. We love the tradition of free speech in America, but you don't want to judge its health by what we've done with it lately, or to it.

Not a single fact, no evidence, just innuendo, propaganda and slime. Oh, in Noonan's piece, too.