Clinton White House Created Secret 'Seminar Caller' Program for Talk Radio!

NightHawkeye

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From the "Yes, Virginia, there really was a vast left-wing conspiracy ... or, It's not just Russia to look out for" files:Clinton White House Created Secret 'Seminar Caller' Program for Talk Radio!

The Washington Free Beacon has unearthed a fascinating scoop about talk radio in the Clinton years using documents from the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. The Democratic party developed an "elaborate, multi-year operation" in the mid-1990s that "deployed thousands of activists" to compete in the talk-radio wars after Republicans took the House in 1994.
...
Rush Limbaugh and other talk-radio stars have long talked about "seminar callers" who called in to dish Democrat Party talking points. It turned out that "conspriracy theory" was spot-on accurate. ... Documents showed this was overseen at the highest levels of the Clinton White House.
...
It turns out there was a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, and Hillary was bringing it to fruition
.​

If the DNC produced thousands of 'seminar callers' over twenty years ago ... one wonders just how many such internet zombies might be active today? :scratch:
 

Tom 1

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From the "Yes, Virginia, there really was a vast left-wing conspiracy ... or, It's not just Russia to look out for" files:Clinton White House Created Secret 'Seminar Caller' Program for Talk Radio!

The Washington Free Beacon has unearthed a fascinating scoop about talk radio in the Clinton years using documents from the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. The Democratic party developed an "elaborate, multi-year operation" in the mid-1990s that "deployed thousands of activists" to compete in the talk-radio wars after Republicans took the House in 1994.
...
Rush Limbaugh and other talk-radio stars have long talked about "seminar callers" who called in to dish Democrat Party talking points. It turned out that "conspriracy theory" was spot-on accurate. ... Documents showed this was overseen at the highest levels of the Clinton White House.
...
It turns out there was a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, and Hillary was bringing it to fruition
.​

If the DNC produced thousands of 'seminar callers' over twenty years ago ... one wonders just how many such internet zombies might be active today? :scratch:

‘The program trained thousands of operatives to call in to radio shows, conduct surveillance of their contents, and secretly disseminate Democratic talking points while posing as ordinary listeners.’

Oh, the horror, the horror ... clearly spreading those terrible ‘talking points’ is every bit as awful and misleading as stories about kids locked in the basement of a pizza restaurant (etc).
 
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NightHawkeye

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‘The program trained thousands of operatives to call in to radio shows, conduct surveillance of their contents, and secretly disseminate Democratic talking points while posing as ordinary listeners.’

Oh, the horror, the horror ... clearly spreading those terrible ‘talking points’ is every bit as awful and misleading as stories about kids locked in the basement of a pizza restaurant (etc).
I'm surprised anyone would say that given the recent concerns about Russian operatives doing the very same thing.
 
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Tom 1

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I'm surprised anyone would say that given the recent hysteria over Russia doing the very same thing.

In what way is this the very same thing? What false stories, lies, smears and generally craziness have these Democrat ‘talking points’ led to?
 
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NightHawkeye

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In what way is this the very same thing? What false stories, lies, smears and generally craziness have these Democrat ‘talking points’ led to?
You do know that talking points are ... propaganda?

One might argue that propaganda from a political organization might be better than that from another country ... but then again, it might not be.
 
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Tom 1

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You do know that talking points are ... propaganda?

One might argue that propaganda from a political organization might be better than that from another country ... but then again, it might not be.

What?
 
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NightHawkeye

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Google provides this definition of propaganda:
prop·a·gan·da: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.​
 
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Tanj

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You do know that talking points are ... propaganda?

You know that the entire point of talkback radio is talking points, and that you just describe Rush and all other right wing radio shows as propaganda?

Oh wait...let me guess... The Russia thing is an investigation when it's about democrats but a hoax when it's about republicans, so when it's left wing talking points its propaganda, but when it's right wing talking points its...?

One might argue that propaganda from a political organization might be better than that from another country ... but then again, it might not be.

I for one would dearly like to hear more on the "might not be" option. Please do elaborate.
 
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Tom 1

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Google provides this definition of propaganda:
prop·a·gan·da: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.​

Show me the propaganda, as I said. What misleading information was contained in these ‘democratic talking points’? What were they exactly? How do they compare with the Trump propaganda machine in terms of accuracy and general craziness?
 
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JIMINZ

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Oh wait...let me guess... The Russia thing is an investigation when it's about democrats but a hoax when it's about republicans, so when it's left wing talking points its propaganda, but when it's right wing talking points its...?

YES
 
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JIMINZ

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Show me the propaganda, as I said. What misleading information was contained in these ‘democratic talking points’? What were they exactly? How do they compare with the Trump propaganda machine in terms of accuracy and general craziness?

Are you a Democrat Point talker yourself?
 
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childeye 2

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If the DNC produced thousands of 'seminar callers' over twenty years ago ... one wonders just how many such internet zombies might be active today? :scratch:
Nowadays they have super PACS bankrolled by various special interests. They still use campaign volunteers to do this kind of stuff though, write letters to newspapers, comment on social media platforms, make phone calls to individuals, go door to door, and yes do call-ins on talk radio shows. It's not new to campaigning. This is actually old news which is probably why it's a matter of public record available in the Clinton library. Hillary isn't even running this time around which makes it doubly redundant.
 
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KCfromNC

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I'm surprised anyone would say that given the recent concerns about Russian operatives doing the very same thing.

Weird. I thought the GOP spin was that the whole Russian interference thing was a hoax.

Anyway, lol at stuff from the early 90s being used in a discussion about "recent" concerns.
 
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NightHawkeye

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Nowadays they have super PACS bankrolled by various special interests. They still use campaign volunteers to do this kind of stuff though, write letters to newspapers, comment on social media platforms, make phone calls to individuals, go door to door, and yes do call-ins on talk radio shows. It's not new to campaigning. This is actually old news which is probably why it's a matter of public record available in the Clinton library. Hillary isn't even running this time around which makes it doubly redundant.
Ok, then. It's all just politics as usual.

One wonders though why all the hysteria when a few Russian troll farms decided to do similar things ... since this is all just politics as usual. :scratch: [Not that NHE disagrees that this sort of stuff has been commonplace for a long time.]

Methinks, it's only a problem of grave concern when the other side does it. Somehow, that's just not fair.
 
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You know that the entire point of talkback radio is talking points, and that you just describe Rush and all other right wing radio shows as propaganda?

Oh wait...let me guess... The Russia thing is an investigation when it's about democrats but a hoax when it's about republicans, so when it's left wing talking points its propaganda, but when it's right wing talking points its...?
.

I’m glad someone else picked up on that.

Also, the program ran for less than 2 years and doesn’t appear to have been terribly effective.
 
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essentialsaltes

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I'm surprised anyone would say that given the recent concerns about Russian operatives doing the very same thing.

It seems to me that there's a difference between the Democratic Party putting its message out to get people to vote for the Democratic Party and a foreign power committing a crime.

The Democrats did publicize some aspects of this secret program while it was running, praising the initiative as their first step in bringing back "truth" to radio.
The Washington Free Beacon reviewed years' worth of previous reporting


I guess it wasn't so secret.

However, the inner workings of the TRI were kept secret for decades.

Kudos for combing the archives for memos about astroturfing the airwaves.
 
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From the "Yes, Virginia, there really was a vast left-wing conspiracy ... or, It's not just Russia to look out for" files:Clinton White House Created Secret 'Seminar Caller' Program for Talk Radio!

The Washington Free Beacon has unearthed a fascinating scoop about talk radio in the Clinton years using documents from the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. The Democratic party developed an "elaborate, multi-year operation" in the mid-1990s that "deployed thousands of activists" to compete in the talk-radio wars after Republicans took the House in 1994.
...
Rush Limbaugh and other talk-radio stars have long talked about "seminar callers" who called in to dish Democrat Party talking points. It turned out that "conspriracy theory" was spot-on accurate. ... Documents showed this was overseen at the highest levels of the Clinton White House.
...
It turns out there was a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, and Hillary was bringing it to fruition
.​

If the DNC produced thousands of 'seminar callers' over twenty years ago ... one wonders just how many such internet zombies might be active today? :scratch:
The Clinton White House? That was like what, 25 years ago?!
 
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