The president's secret Thanksgiving trip to Iraq prompted predictable gushing from major media. As we head toward a presidential election, mainstream media and their pundits are telling us Bush will be difficult to beat. What mass media don't discuss much is their own role in public opinion and public ignorance, two measures that run hand in hand.
That half or more Americans think Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attack -- perhaps the most media-covered event in our history -- stands as a horrific indictment of U.S. media today. Such levels of ignorance can't be found in other countries.
Americans who are fundamentally misinformed about 9/11 provide the bulk of those tallied in polls as supporting Bush and the Iraq war. Subtract them from polls and Bush is an unpopular president -- widely seen as having accomplished a bait and switch, redirecting U.S. anger and vengeance toward a country that did not attack us.
The run-up to the Iraq war offers a case study in news bias: how mainstream media, especially television, were incapable of getting the truth out in the face of administration lies and innuendo about Iraq's 9/11 role and weapons of mass destruction.
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New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com
The Candidates on Immigration
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Editor's note: Tancredo dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on December 20, 2007.
Fred Thompson
Thompson emphasizes tougher border enforcement to impede illegal immigration and opposes a path to citizenship for the estimated twelve million currently in the country illegally. He was critical of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation that stalled in Congress in 2007. "We should scrap this 'comprehensive' immigration bill and the whole debate until the government can show the American people that we have secured the borders—or at least made great headway," he said in May 2007.
He opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supports increased border security. In 1996, Thompson voted in favor of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which provided for additional border security personnel. It also made penalties for immigration document fraud and smuggling more stringent.
Tommy Thompson
Thompson is in favor of a guest worker program and "opposes amnesty or a pathway to legalization," the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
Editor's note: Thompson dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on August 12, 2007.
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