Did it ever cross your mind that one company could be behind the demonization and political polemics that now make up such a great part of American politics? My most recent Cagle.com column is an exclusive interview with a man who influences what so many Americans say, hear and think in today’s politics. Here’s the beginning of it:
An office located in a tiny building in Oriskany Falls, New York influences how we think about politics. It’s the Polemics Manufacturing Co. which secretly came up with such phrases as “Death panels …Just doesn’t get it..The Party of No…” Politicians, talk show hosts and pundits rely on its scripted material. Production can’t keep up with demand.
In a rare interview, CEO Howard Schmidlap revealed his company’s role.
“It takes a lot of money to come up with trite political phrases and demonization smears,” Schmidlap said. “I need to cut costs, so I started consulting some top CEOs for advice..”
“Have you talked to anyone yet?”
“Sure. I talked with Walmart’s CEO. He told me I could get the cheapest polemics by outsourcing further to China. I talked with a top BP official. He told me I could cut corners on product and no one would even notice.”
The phone rang.
“Yes, Rush. You need to top yesterday’s comment questioning Obama’s patriotism? You’re going on the air soon? Yes. I know that if you don’t get some fresh inflammatory inaccuracies your ratings will sink. I’ll get on it right away.”
He dialed the phone. “Ramnath in New Delhi? Get me catchy sound bite ASAP that will enrage the mainstream media, delight conservative bloggers, upset liberal bloggers and get centrist bloggers tsk-tsking. It’s for Limbaugh. Tie Obama in with Al Qeada, ridicule his golf game and link it to Tiger Wood’s affairs. That should be worth three Special Comments on Olbermann. Oh: and make fun of Michelle’s hair.”
There’s a lot more (more calls come in) so GO HERE to read it in full.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.