For those of us who are big fans (not!) of former Allen for Senate campaign manager Dick Wad(hams), this is a classic on par with trying to claim that George Allen REALLY said "mohawk" or "caca," not "macaca."
Wow -- a leading Republican appears to have just inadvertently admitted that the GOP's spin machine set up to counter Barack Obama during the convention is a propaganda machine spewing nothing but lies.The GOPer in question is Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams, who accidentally made the admission when describing the GOP's war room in Denver set up to hammer Obama during convention week.
Wadhams described the GOP's outfit thusly to the Denver Post: "Just consider this the Ministry of Truth."
Um, as anybody who has ever read George Orwell knows, the Ministry of Truth exists to disseminate false propaganda about how great the ruling regime is, continuously rewriting both history and the present-day facts in order to maintain total control over the population.
According to Wikipedia, the Ministry of Truth "is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four," with slogans like "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," and "Ignorance is Strength" on the outside wall. Wikipedia's entry adds:
The Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books. Its purpose is to rewrite history and change the facts to fit party doctrine, for propaganda effect.
Rewrite history? "Involved with news media?" Change the facts to fit party doctrine? Does that sound like the Bush Administration (and the Republican Party more broadly) on issues ranging from global warming (sorry, don't like that study by the experts, rewrite it to suit Big Oil) to Iraq (WMD, supposed ties between Saddam and Al Qaeda) to science (e.g., stem cell research, evolution) to torture (it's not REALLY torture unless we SAY it's torture)? Speaking of the latter, I wonder if Faux News (or right-wing talk radio) would constitute "Room 101" for any sane American in this analogy?
Parsons was Winston's fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish but active man of paralysing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms-one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended.--George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four