How the Media Spin For Obama…

The White House walk-and-talk that changed Obama's mind on Syria

White House  -  President Barack Obama meets with his national security advisers in the White House Situation Room on Saturday to discuss strategy in Syria. Chief of Staff Denis McDonough is fourth from right.

The Spin: 

The White House walk-and-talk that changed Obama's mind on Syria

A stroll around the White House grounds with his top adviser on Friday evening changed President Barack Obama’s mind about getting Congress to sign off on a military strike in Syria, senior White House officials told NBC News.

Obama had been leaning toward attacking Syria without a congressional vote for the past week, the officials said. Obama was convinced he had the evidence to back up a strike and as a result dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to make a passionate case for U.S. action. But only hours after Kerry called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "a thug and a murderer" and accused his regime of using chemical weapons to kill 1,429 people, Obama changed his mind as he walked across the South Lawn with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the officials said.

NBC's Chuck Todd describes the political process for seeking congressional authorization for a strike on Syria, and says that the president's decision to wait on Congress is a departure from 30 years of strengthening executive branch power.

Returning from that walk, the president called his advisers in the early evening to inform them of his new decision.

The plan was immediately met with robust resistance from a whiplashed Obama team who had listened to Kerry lay out the administration's strongest case yet for action against Assad. "My friends, it matters here if nothing is done," Kerry had argued. "It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens."

Obama's National Security Council had believed since last weekend that requiring a vote was not even on the table and that “consultation” in the form of congressional briefings and behind-the-scenes conversation was all that would be needed before a strike. One senior official noted that no key leaders in Congress had specifically requested a vote on military intervention.

Officials said that after the president met with national security advisers on Aug. 24, they determined the evidence showed Syria’s Assad regime had used chemical weapons in an attack earlier this month. At that time, the president indicated he was leaning toward a strike.

But a growing number of Congressional members were beginning to question the administration’s strategy by the end of the week. And an NBC News poll released Friday morning showed that nearly 80 percent of Americans agreed that the president should seek approval in advance of taking military action.

Officials said Obama also was influenced by Thursday’s lively debate in the House of Commons, where Prime Minister David Cameron lost a vote in Parliament to authorize participation in an allied strike against Syria. Cameron had been a staunch advocate of military action but was chastened in the wake of the vote. “It is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action,” Cameron said. “I get that, and the government will act accordingly.”

While Obama's advisers argued Friday night in private that the humiliating defeat for Cameron starkly illustrated the risks of asking for congressional input, the president responded that the vote in Parliament demonstrated exactly why he should seek a vote on this side of the Atlantic, senior officials told NBC News.

And, the president insisted, seeking legislative backing was the approach most consistent with his philosophy. While debate within the administration continued into late Friday, by Saturday morning the senior advisers acquiesced.

Speaking to the nation early Saturday afternoon, Obama said he was “mindful that I'm the president of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. I've long believed that our power is rooted

The Reality:

AskMarion: On Friday, 08.30.13, Russia restructured Cyprus’ Debt; Cyprus Prohibits US strikes on Syria and this comes after Putin called for a meeting of the UN Security Council after France, Great Britain, Germany and most everyone else told Obama and the U.S. that they would not support us in the Syrian offensive. But in Obamaland: When All Else Fails… Spin – Obama Now Seeking Congressional Approval on Syria

Zero Hedge: Yesterday afternoon, Russia agreed to restructure Cyprus’ EUR 2.5 billion loan terms to a much more affordable 2.5% semi-annual coupon through 2016 and a principal re-payment over the following four years. While probably still out of reach for the desperate economy, it was a positive step. Of course, this ‘offer’ by Russia has its quid pro quo. This morning, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has stated that Cyprus territory will not be used to launch military strikes against Syria, as "Cyprus wants to live up to its responsibility as a shelter if needed for nationals of friendly countries who evacuate from Middle East". It would appear Obama’s influence is fading everywhere…

Cyprus is located ~183 nautical miles west of Syria and is the EU member nearest to Syria.

Russia restructures Cyprus loan (via ITAR-TASS – ):

The Russian government has endorsed restructuring of the terms of the Russian loan to Cyprus, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters Friday.

“The restructuring was endorsed at the last meeting of the Cabinet,” he said

Cyprus is to repay a EUR 2.5bn loan to Russia in eight semiannual installments starting in 2016, Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told reporters today, citing a revision of repayment terms approved at the latest cabinet meeting. The interest rate was lowered to 2.5% from 4.5%.

Russia extended the loan in 2011 for 4.5 years.

Cyprus UK Bases (via Bloomberg)

The U.K. has 2 sovereign bases on Cyprus; and despite its vote against a strike, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said today 6 RAF Typhoon interceptor fast jets deploying to British base at Akrotiri in Cyprus as precautionary measure "to protect British bases on island"

Cyprus Refugee Camp (via Bloomberg)

Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides says his country is prepared for any influx of foreign nationals in the event of military action against Syria, in comments to reporters in Nicosia today. Cyprus can accept up to 10,000 people daily on basis they remain for 48 hours before repatriation (Cyprus received more than 40,000 evacuees from Lebanon after 2 weeks fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters in 2006).

Cyprus Refuses To Allow Strikes From Its Territory against Syria (via Bloomberg)

Cyprus assured its territory won’t be used to launch military strikes against Syria, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said, according to a transcript of his comments posted on govt’s press-office website

Kasoulides commented that "Cyprus wants to live up to its responsibility as a shelter if needed for nationals of friendly countries who evacuate from Middle East"

So, it would appear there is the ‘quid’ and the ‘quo’… what next? US offers to build Cyprus casinos, Google ‘Glass’ for everyone, and the rights to "American Idol" for free?

And what comes next? A brand spanking new Russian naval base in the heart of the Mediterranean…

Some have commented that Obama is completely out of his league and lacks the ability to form coalitions.

Obama comes from a community organizer mentality of the hard left. The strategy in community organizing is to bully, intimidate, bluff, and humiliate the opposition into caving. There is no strategy for building coalitions, relationships, or win-win outcomes. During Obama’s years as a community organizer, things were pretty mush a cake walk. It wasn’t like in the early civil rights days when civil rights activists could be killed. By the time Obama was a community organizer, whites were pretty much caving in on anything, and more often than not, any conflict wasn’t even genuine, because both sides were from the Left. How much conflict is there in deciding between the democrat government, democrat unions, and democrat community organizers on how to distribute other people’s money?

As president, for the first time, he and his team, fresh from their graduate schools, are having to negotiate with people who are working in the best interest of their own peoples. And things are not going well for Obama, because real politics is not going like their term papers said it would, and they are not caving in like Obama’s only previous experience.

Now we see how out of his league Obama really is.

Others would say… this was the plan the whole time. Obama is the puppet placed in power by the progressives, the ruling global elite, and destroying America and moving the world to a new order with one central government was always the plan. And having done such a great job programming the average American, they knew if a black person was put into office, nobody would have the courage to speak out! Game over…

Earlier in the week, former U.S. United Nations’ Ambassador John Bolton appeared with Great Van Susteren on On the Record saying he hopes the world will realize that Obama does not represent the majority of the United States and that we, the United States, along with the rest of the world, is on a little over a 1200 day count-down until we get a new competent president.

This situation with Syria is just one example of how the mainstream media… ABC, CBS, PBS and especially NBC and MSNBC spin the news when the White House calls.  If you really want to understand what is going on on any issue you need to watch some news from another perspective like Fox or TheBlazeTV as well, listen to some talk radio and do some independent research online; read a few books on history, current events and politics when you can, talk to a few people on both sides of the issue if you are not sure and use your common sense.  Remember, God gave us common sense for a reason… If it sounds odd or sounds too good, it probably is!! 

New Book: Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election—and How to Stop Them from Doing It in 2016/Kindle

Are You Being Brainwashed by The Media?

Edward Bernays – From Bacon and Eggs to Mind Control

Book:  Propaganda/Kindle

Technorati Tags: spin,media spin,Obamaland,Syria,smoke and mirrors,lies,Middle East,complicit liberal media,media collusion,media,propaganda,mind control. manipulation of the public,low-informed voters

Bernays' Ideas on Propaganda Continue to Haunt Americans - The Cattle verses the Ranchers

When Americans see the bizarre responses of the mainstream media and the progressive politicians to tragedies such as the Tucson shootings — for instance, the proposal to ban rhetoric or symbols perceived to be violent — many wonder how the country has come to this strange place where elitists are moving to gain control at the expense of individual liberties. Perhaps one need not look past the Woodrow Wilson administration for the answer.

Today’s politicians and progressives seem to have taken some notes right out of the works of Edward Bernays, President Wilson’s propaganda master. The author of books such as Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and Propaganda (1928) — both of which were heavily utilized by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels — Bernays has been accredited with manipulating public opinion about such varied subjects as World War I, smoking, and even bacon. He has been dubbed the “Father of Spin” and the “Godfather of modern public relations” because of his extraordinary ability to alter public opinion. 

What today's politicians seem to share with Bernays is the mentality that they are in fact members of an elite class, and that it is their sole responsibility to manipulate the huddled and often confused masses.

For example, Bernays declared in Public Opinion:

Ours must be a leadership democracy, administered by the "intelligent minority" who know how to regiment and guide the masses. The common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely, and can be managed only by a specialized class whose personal interests reach beyond the locality.

He also indicated:

If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it.

According to Bernays’ daughter, Ann,

Democracy to my father was a wonderful concept, but I don’t think he felt that all those publics out there had reliable judgment. That they very easily might vote for the wrong man or want the wrong thing. So they had to be guided from above. It’s enlightened despotism.

Similarly, in his January 11 appearance on Tom Hartman’s liberal talk radio show, progressive thinker John Dean, former Nixon counsel, commented:

What the studies show, the empirical studies over — almost, you know, well over a half a century of studying this issue — they really show that about 25 percent of a given population easily follows into the authoritarian personality-types.

These are people who, as I said, like to be told how to think [and] what to do. Some of them who were more aggressive in their personality want to jump out in front and say, "Follow me." But they will follow their leader until they get their turn. And they look upon others who don’t see the world as they do as outsiders.

[These people] are very susceptible to the direction they get from their leaders.

That's why I think it's very irresponsible (or at least dangerous) for the Palins, the Becks, the O'Reillys and the people who feed this violent atmosphere, they should realize ... the people they're dealing with. They're smart enough to look at this information and know indeed they can provoke this kind of behavior.

Likewise, Obama’s regulatory czar Cass Sunstein has indicated that the presence of too many choices can be confusing to the American people. In describing the premise of his book, Nudge, he virtually claimed that the American people were too ignorant to make proper decisions:

We think there is a little Homer Simpson in all of us. Sometimes we have self-control problems, sometimes we’re impulsive. In these circumstances, both public and private institutions, without coercing, can make our lives a lot better.

According to Sunstein, once that reality is accepted, Americans can be “manipulated.”

Joe Klein of Time magazine noted, “It is very difficult to thrive in an increasingly competitive world if you’re a nation of dodos.”

Congressman John Dingle (D-Mich.) has discussed the difficulties of trying to control the people:

The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 million American people in different ways, it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.

Conservative pundit Glenn Beck has dubbed this the "rancher/cow" mentality: The progressives view themselves as the ranchers, and the average Americans as the cows — incapable of formulating their own thoughts and willing to be herded into a fenced area.

TheDailyBeck2 Video: “Rancher/Cow Mentality”

Show Description: (credit glennbeck.com)  -  Note: Tonight is Glenn’s two year anniversary at Fox News.

Glenn opened up the show the CNN clip of John King saying they are trying to avoid using language like “crosshairs”.

Glenn opened the TV by talking about how stupid CNN must think its listeners are. Glenn played the video of CNN host John King apologizing for using everyday language in a news report. Glenn talked more about it on radio today (LINK), but let’s just say that Glenn said that if CNN felt like they needed to apologize for casually using the word “crosshair”, then Warner Brothers should apologize for having cartoon coyotes drop pianos on road runners.

As Glenn put it, as you squelch language and questioning you stifle creativity and problem solving. You have to push the edges in order to make progress (not progressive progress), and you have to be allowed to fail.

Glenn also pointed out that freedom of speech is important because it exposes your character. For example, Glenn would rather people use terms he finds offensive so that he can know not to interact with them. They have low character.

How does this tie in with Edward Bernays? Well, Bernays believed that people were motivated by animal instincts. And so does Francis Fox Piven. Glenn played a series of clips showing Francis Fox Piven applying Bernays and Freud’s philosophies to modern society and the Tea Party.

Video: Insidious & Scary: Frances Fox Piven Answers Glenn Beck

So what does the whole rancher/cow designation mean? The way Glenn explained it, Progressives believe that as “ranchers” they have a responsibility to guide the people in the “herd”. They use the aggression, self-preservation, sex, and security. Glenn believes that Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud, Francis Fox Piven, and Cass Sunstein are all guided by this rancher/cow philosophy. But this viewpoint is the opposite of the Founder’s beliefs.

So how does this tie into E4? Glenn promised he would tie everything back to the enlightenment, education, empowerment, and entrepreneurial themes. Glenn showed how the rancher/herd philosophy could affect education. Glenn played several clips, the most outrageous of which showed John Kerry say that without an education you end up in Iraq. Glenn also showed quotes from Woodrow Wilson, who said that the aim of the university is to make students unlike their fathers.

The Progressive elite doesn’t believe in educating the “herd”, but rather keeping them in the lower caste in which they reside. Wouldn’t it be better if they tried to empower and educate the herd rather than giving them money and entitlements so they won’t ask questions.

Glenn also talked about Obama’s regulation reform that was issued through Executive Order. But something was missed. “Equity, human dignity, fairness, and distributive impacts” can be taken into account in regulations. The result, more of the “fence surrounding the cattle can be filled in.

Links to stories and information used in tonight’s program:

INSULT SOT MONTAGE
JOE BIDEN, SEPT. 15, 2008, FLAT ROCK, MICHIGAN

* All this stuff about how different Barack Obama is, they’re not just used to somebody really smart. They’re just not used to somebody who’s really well educated.

JOHN KERRY SOT, Oct 2006

* You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

PRES. BILL CLINTON, SEPT. 26, 2010

* so far, they’ve gathered up about everybody for this Tea Party but the Mad Hatter and Alice in Wonderland will give it to them, I think

ED RENDELL 60 MINUTES

* You guys don’t get that. (Stahl off cam: I do get that) You’re idiots. You’re simpletons if you don’t get that.

INSULT QUOTES  -  PRES OBAMA

* (Rolling Stone, Oct. 2010) It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election… The idea that we’ve got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.”

Beck contends that the elites have managed to make some headway in their power struggle by preying on the youth:

We used to be taught as kids ourselves that there was no such thing as a stupid question. We were encouraged to be curious.... You know who's protected to ask questions and say controversial things [today]? Not the students — they get downgraded for that. Only the elites. Only the ranchers. Only the professors.

For example, in September 2008, Joe Biden said this of Obama’s critics: "All this talk about how different Barack Obama is. They’re just not used to somebody really smart. They’re just not used to somebody who is really well-educated."

Similarly, liberal pundit Bill Maher observed of politicians’ efforts to sway public opinion on healthcare: "Members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and listen to their constituents, an urge they should resist because their constituents don’t know anything.”

Such opinions explain why outspoken critics of presidential administrations are accused of hateful rhetoric. Questioning authority is a criminal activity.

Americans today are not encouraged to “question with boldness,” as Thomas Jefferson so artfully phrased it — that is, unless they are questioning the Constitution’s usefulness and whether it is an outdated document.

Preying upon impressionable minds was a notion President Woodrow Wilson embraced. He once asserted, "The use of a university is to make young gentlemen as unlike their fathers as possible.”

It is the elitist mentality that allows billionaires such as George Soros and wealthy Americans such as Andy Stern to believe that they are above the very rules they would like to see imposed on the American people.

Similarly, former Vice President Al Gore, nearly 100 years after Edward Bernays, declared at a conference of young people in Washington, D.C.:

There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know. Why would that be? Well in a period of rapid change, the old assumptions sometimes just don’t work anymore because they’re out of date.

The belief that they are above the fray explains how liberals in Washington could propose banning violent symbols and rhetoric following the Tucson shootings, when these violent assertions have been made by their own man, President Barack Obama:

                “I’m ready to duel John McCain.” — Sept. 30, 2008

                “I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” — Sept. 17, 2008

                “… so I know whose ass to kick.” — June 8, 2010

                “We're going to have just hand-to-hand combat up here on Capitol Hill.” — Oct. 2010

                “We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends.” — Oct. 2010

Likewise, it is their elitism that drives liberal politicians to implement a nanny state — one in which it is the responsibility of the federal government to see to the individual’s wants and needs. It is this attitude that fuels programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, and policies such as gun control. 

For example, the Obama administration has announced that it will be reviewing regulations for redundancies to ensure that agencies are operating smoothly. On the surface, the effort appears well-intentioned, except that once again, the President has circumvented Congress by issuing an executive order to carry out the process. Likewise, what is also mentioned in the executive order that has not been touted in the media is the following: “In weighing costs and benefits, for instance, agencies may now consider equity, human dignity, fairness and distributive impacts.”

Only elitists believe they have the right to make such determinations.

The key to Bernays’ ideas on propaganda is the notion that the masses must never know that they are being manipulated. Instead, they must believe that they themselves have conceived the ideas or have come to the very conclusions to which they were actually led by the leaders. Bernays declared:

In practice, if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion about anything. We have voluntarily agreed to let an invisible government sift the data and high-spot the outstanding issues so that our field of choice shall be narrowed to practical proportions. [Emphasis added.]

Eliminate choices and oppose views of the masses. So much for the days of President George Washington, who asked to be met on the “battlefield of ideas.”

Perhaps that explains the concerted efforts to destroy conservative critics such as Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Michele Bachmann, Sean Hannity, the John Birch Society, average patriotic American in the tea party and others.

The similarities between the progressive elitists of today and Edward Bernays are stark. It is becoming increasingly evident that Bernays’ ideas are taking form at the hands of the ruling elite in Washington.

Will Americans be the cattle or the ranchers?

Source: The New American

h/t to J. Stoner

Related:

Mind Control Theories and Techniques Used By Mass Media

Edward Bernays – From Bacon and Eggs to Mind Control

Global Elites Picked Obama Long Before Voters

Breaking Free of the Herd  -  The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life

Breaking free of the “Herd”

Breaking Free of the Herd Audio

Check out the official site of The 7 here

Glenn had Dr. Keith Ablow as a guest on radio today and they continued their discussion about The 7, this time focusing on the wonder of “faith” – and of course

Glenn found a way to tie it into Edward Bernays.

1/18/11:  Glenn started off the interview by asking if Freud, who along with Bernays believed that man was led by base instincts and animalistic motivations, was still popular or if he had been discredited.

“I think he has his detractors.  But after all we’re talking about a guy who really plumbed the unconscious and gave us a lot of the tools that continue to help people heal,” Ablow said. “I would say some of his thoughts are discredited in the way that, you know, someone invented math and some of the outer reaches of calculus seemed rather esoteric or even just dead wrong.”

Ablow also pointed out that a lot of the themes of The 7 go against Freud’s beliefs. “One of the things that we noted as we created The Seven is that we were keeping afoot in spirituality and religion at the same time as in psychology.  Something that drove Freud nuts.  He really resisted the notion that religion was a sensible thing.  So do totalitarian states.  They don’t want people connected to their best instincts. They don’t want people to find individual courage.  It’s dangerous for the herd.”

Glenn also asked Dr. Ablow about the libertarian viewpoint and how, even though a person may not be deeply spiritual, they can still focus on the individual. He used his relationship with Penn Jillette as an example. According to Glenn, Penn Jillette strongly disagrees with Glenn’s belief in God, but still respects Glenn as an individual with the right to choose, and Glenn feels the same way towards Jillette.

“When libertarians, they listen to my message and they say, well, he’s so God,” Glenn said. “I don’t have a problem with Penn Jillette.  Now, he has a real problem with me because of my faith, he really is somebody who really despises religion and thinks that, you know, you’re a moron if you’re part of religion.  But I don’t have a problem with him saying that because he’s an individual.  He believes in my individual right to choose.  And so as long as you’re a libertarian, as long as you’re somebody who says, hey, it’s not a herd; we’re all individuals.  So you do what you do, and I’m not going to try to control your life, then it works.  Correct?”

Ablow responded, “Correct.  That’s exactly right.  What ‑‑ we know this across the board.  We know that until an alcoholic decides for him or herself to make a change, for himself to make a change, that nothing’s really going to make that change for that person.  That person needs to find solid ground.”

“We’re going to let you find your way.  Sure, if you fall down, will we try to pick you up?  Sure.  But not to the extent that we hobble you,” Ablow added.

Tomorrow, Glenn and Dr. Ablow will be appearing on The Today Show to talk about their new book. Glenn asked Dr. Ablow, “What do you think the odds are that we can even get one person on the Today Show, let alone the country to understand that the answers to our problems in the country really come from the individual and empowering the individual?  Because that’s the solution.”

“I always believe there’s hope.  You know that I think that people are worth fighting for.  They’re worth reminding that they’re good and decent and they have autonomy and power,” Ablow said.

** The duo appeared on The Today Show, today 01.19.11 at 7:40am and again at 9:00am to talk about The 7.  The Hope for America – Glenn Beck on Dr. Keith Ablow Interview **

“It is time to reverse the course of the herd!!”

Time for a Personal Revolution in the Hearts and Minds of Americans

Wilmington Ohio, An Example of Hope 

Wilmington Ohio… An Amazing Town to Give Us Hope

Edward Bernays – From Bacon and Eggs to Mind Control

Remember… the Truth has no agenda and keep watching the other hand!!

Edward Bernays

Video:  Edward Bernays – From Bacon and Eggs to Mind Control

--> Mind Control Theories and Techniques Used by Mass Media  <--

THE GREENBAUM SPEECH – Hypnosis in MPD: Ritual Abuse

Edward Bernays: On Propaganda and Public Relations

Video:  Edward Bernays:  On Propaganda and Public Relations

Two books to add to your ‘Must Read List ‘if you have not already read them…  and perhaps time to read them again if you haven’t!

Propaganda

The Overton Window  -  Description

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

The above poem appeared in both the commercial for Glenn Beck’s newest book, The Overton Window, a political thriller, and resonates often throughout the novel as well. It fittingly describes how quickly mankind forgets the political past of its country and willingly allows bad history to repeat itself.

Funnily enough, when this commercial aired, the Left had a field day, mocking it and the poem Beck used, seemingly unaware that it was written by one of the most famous poets in history: Rudyard Kipling.

A plan to destroy America, a hundred years in the making, is about to be unleashed . . . can it be stopped?

There is a powerful technique called the Overton Window that can shape our lives, our laws, and our future. It works by manipulating public perception so that ideas previously thought of as radical begin to seem acceptable over time. Move the Window and you change the debate. Change the debate and you change the country.

For Noah Gardner, a twentysomething public relations executive, it's safe to say that political theory is the furthest thing from his mind. Smart, single, handsome, and insulated from the world's problems by the wealth and power of his father, Noah is far more concerned about the future of his social life than the future of his country.

But all of that changes when Noah meets Molly Ross, a woman who is consumed by the knowledge that the America we know is about to be lost forever. She and her group of patriots have vowed to remember the past and fight for the future—but Noah, convinced they're just misguided conspiracy-theorists, isn't interested in lending his considerable skills to their cause.

And then the world changes.

An unprecedented attack on U.S. soil shakes the country to the core and puts into motion a frightening plan, decades in the making, to transform America and demonize all those who stand in the way. Amidst the chaos, many don't know the difference between conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact—or, more important, which side to fight for.

But for Noah, the choice is clear: Exposing the plan, and revealing the conspirators behind it, is the only way to save both the woman he loves and the individual freedoms he once took for granted.

After five back-to-back #1 New York Times bestsellers, national radio and Fox News television host Glenn Beck has delivered a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that seamlessly weaves together American history, frightening facts about our present condition, and a heart-stopping plot. The Overton Window will educate, enlighten, and, most important, entertain—with twists and revelations no one will see coming.

Book Review

Glenn Beck’s Thriller  -   JUNE 23, 2010 4:00 A.M.

The Overton Window is a bona-fide thriller, but it’s also a book of ideas to ponder:  like thoughts of why the American experiment matters and why some people hate it.  You can read a few pages of this book and then set it aside and think about it or spend a good while researching connections or ideas.

Example: Who is Eli (Elijah Churchill)… really?  The name of one of Glenn’s characters…  (And is this the person Glenn meant you to look up and learn about when writing The Overton Window?)

Elijah Churchill (1755-1841), was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Enfield, Connecticut, a carpenter, he entered the 8th Connecticut Regiment as a private on 7 July 1775. On 7 May 1777, he re-enlisted for the duration of the war as a corporal in the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, later the 2nd Legionary Corps, and was promoted to sergeant on 2 October 1780. He was cited for gallantry in action at Fort St. George near Brookhaven, New York on Long Island, in November 1780, at Tarrytown, New York, in July 1781, and at Fort Slongo (now known as Fort Salonga, also on Long Island) on October 2nd, 1781. He was awarded the Badge of Military Merit for his actions, one of only three soldiers to receive the medal that later became the Purple Heart.

The uniformed factotums of Homeland Security and TSA are checking airline travelers’ papers; grumpy crowds, long lines. But follow the beautiful people past the velvet rope and through an unmarked door to the VIP lounge, and you’re no longer in a major New York airport, but in the spaceport of Mos Eisley (from Star Wars): streamlined “security” where the privileged are quietly ushered past the polloi. Now the infuriating boarding process boils down to one lone guard. No fuss, no muss.

But in Glenn Beck’s thriller, The Overton Window, this guard by the metal detector is a Star Wars geek with a shiny plastic tray for your jewelry who may very well recognize an impersonator when he sees one. He may be the one guy in a million who’d know the difference between Natalie Portman in the flesh and patriot Molly Ross, a plucky gal claiming star status, cloaked in hoodie and sunglasses, and exuding eau de Hollywood. If the impostor is unmasked, our civil servant will allow agents provocateurs out west to unleash a national catastrophe.

“Would you take off your sunglasses for me, please?”

The let-me-see-your-identification moment has arrived. Well, if you’re going to bluff the Imperial Storm Troopers of the Empire, do it with a wave of the hand and a Jedi mind trick; the impostor, Molly Ross, plumbs a reservoir of gumption and goes all Queen Padmé on the poor man. Peering over her Foster Grants, she says: “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

And the TSA functionary, stunned at what he thought would never happen as long as he lived, the real Queen Amidala talking to him,repeats in a dream of delayed gratification, “These aren’t the droids we’re looking for,” letting our damsel pass. The words alone bring the TSA lad’s easily influenced mind to heel. He sees what he wants to see, Natalie Portman, not Molly Ross. Mixed episodes be damned. He couldn’t care less.

Yeah!

The real Jedi mind trick of Beck’s The Overton Window is that it says thriller on the cover. And, yes, a scion of wealth, power, and privilege, Noah Gardner, heir to the Gardner public-relations empire, dabbles in rebellion and gets in over his head. But Beck’s novel is, more than anything, a book of ideas. Ideas that are very frightening to many in our media elites. Like the idea of liberty, the idea that we have a right to pursue happiness, the idea of the responsibility that comes with limited self-government, and the idea that our rights are granted by God with a capital G. Ideas that make some men uncomfortable and afraid.

Want to ponder a vast idea? Go to almost any page in this book and you’ll find something to chew over. Beck quoting Thomas Sowell: “The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.” How truly shocking in its clarity.

In Beck’s novel, the heavy is Noah’s father, Arthur Gardner: a public-relations master, but really a Sith lord, a master manipulator of public opinion. He is Beck’s anti–John Galt. A modern-day Mephisto with powers Ellsworth Toohey could only dream of. A man consumed with fixing and arranging outcomes, not creating anything of value. In Arthur Gardner’s preferred world, the enlightened elites rule. “The American experiment has failed, and now it’s time for the next one to begin. One world, one government — not of the people this time, but of the right people: the competent, the wise, the strong.” (The New World Order).

Why does that sound so darn familiar? Oh yeah . . . Bill Maher said something strikingly similar. Or how about Ed Schultz saying Obama should act like a dictator… or Woody Allen who said he should be one.

The scariest of Arthur Gardner’s ideas is that you can twist and mold the average citizen to achieve just about any desired outcome. Beck’s book is studded with real-life examples, some anticipating and reflecting the Orwellian nature of our present definition-of-reality struggles. As in: If it’s “Net Neutrality,” you can bet the effect will be anything but neutral.

In a planning session for societal transformation at Doyle & Merchant, Arthur Gardner’s public-relations firm, there’s a big screen in the conference room, showing how it’s going to be realized. We see a dozen items devoted to command and control, influence, the mind tricks of PR. All on the cusp of being put into practice. Take this item, for instance:

“Associate resistance and ‘constitutional’ advocacy with a backward, extremist world view; gun rights a key.”
Believe in the Constitution as written? Believe in gun rights? I mean that’s beyond the pale. No one enlightened believes in that sort of thing any more. Just ask Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan: NRA = KKK. Gosh, I wonder what “bad guy orgs” means? (Progressive community featuring updates on current affairs, politics, news, technology and humor.) NRA, KKK? Sheesh, they even sort of rhyme.

(Did Kagan Compare the NRA with the KKK?)

In another part of the novel a bunch of hired thugs break up a political meeting and get everyone thrown in jail for the night; there’s a dicey moment when we wonder whether New York’s finest are in on this abuse of power. As it turns out, our New York men in blue are true blue and won’t sign on to thuggery (like in Chicago). Now take a look at some real-life cops down on the D.C./Maryland border who can’t seem to find it in their powers to protect a kid in his own house from being terrorized by SEIU Imperial Storm Troopers and who go all lawyerly on Megyn Kelly of Fox News. Guess it depends on what the meaning of “terror” is.

Some critics get the vapors at the prospect of this book’s somehow inciting others to terrible deeds. In fact, this novel is about people trying to prevent others from doing terrible deeds, and it says so explicitly. Unlike Obama’s manufacturing czar, who has no problem with the concept of power coming from the barrel of a gun. And says so explicitly.

A grotesque monster of public relations, Arthur Gardner knows where his power comes from. And mere words are not enough. In the final scenes of the novel, Arthur Gardner, fearing that his son, Noah, is lost to him, uses every device he can find to twist and sculpt Noah and bring him back into the fold. Make his son a worthy image of himself, completely heedless of anyone else’s integrity.

I believe the character of Danny Bailey, one of the more outspoken members of the Founders’ Keepers, is mirrored after Glenn Beck himself. Bailey has used blogs, and other less mainstream media outlets to put forth his message, which is often distorted to appear insane and potentially dangerous, though it is never his intention to promote violence.

The last 20 or so pages of the novel actually identify most of the areas throughout the text that are based on actual events, people, and language used by America’s politicians and other powerful individuals, including Edward Bernays, author of the 1928 book, Propaganda, and a member of Woodrow Wilson's World War I propaganda agency — the Committee on Public Information. Bernays’ ideas on propaganda were so demented and powerful that his book was actually used by Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels along with the general concept and ideas behind American Progressivism.

In a truly horrifying final sequence, where the brainwashed Noah tries to please his father with little public-relations tasks, he just can’t get them right. Trying to make a statue of the perfect man, the great Arthur Gardner has only brutalized it — much like the commissioned statue in his private office, which appears on the cover of the book: the Statue of Liberty, partially morphed into the Colossus of Rhodes, no longer beckoning, now a bearded freak brandishing a spear. That upright arm still holds the torch, but it’s not the torch of freedom.

Hat Tips to Keith Korman and Raven Clabough