Sharyl Attkisson's book, "The Smear: How the Secret Art of Character Assassination Controls What You Think, What You Read, and How You Vote", makes clear that Politics is a dirty business. Anyone who has seen election campaign commercials or mailings ​won't be surprised to hear this. Campaigns pay consultants to dig up negative information on the their opponents, distort the facts, and deliberately mislead to make their candidate appear more favorable.

And, as the book's title suggests, Attkisson offers plenty of examples of the above. She​ details examples of how political consultants, campaign advisors, and the media smear opponents​, and really shouldn't be taken at face value without doing some critical thinking and checking the information very carefully.

​Attkisson focuses heavily on ​the Clintons and ​liberal media outlets, and especially ​on the likes of Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthall, David Brock​,​ and his left-leaning organization, Media Matters. ​But for every Sidney​ Blumenthall or David Brock​, there's a Karl Rove or a Charles Koch. And for every political organization such as Brock's American Bridge 21st Century or MoveOn.org, there's a corresponding American Crossroads PAC​ or CATO Institute or Americans for Prosperity ​PAC.

All of which made me wonder if there was a particular reason Attkisson focused so heavily on Hillary Clinton. ​Since Hillary was defeated in her run for the Presidency in 2016, I had been thinking of her as "old news". But one explanation for that focus on the Clintons ​made more sense after seeing an April 23rd Associated Press article in my local newspaper with the heading "GOP Midterm Plan: Revive Ghost of Clinton"​. That article explained that Hillary and her associates will be very much in play during the upcoming mid-term election cycle. The article pointed out that while Hillary lost her bid for the Presidency, holds no position of power in government, and is not expected to run for office again, she still will be a major factor in the Republican Party's 2018 political strategy. ​According to that newspaper article, the plan will be to feature Hillary as a central villain in attack ads against vulnerable Democrats nationwide, which indicates how strong her dislike remains among ​likely voters.

​Sadly, one other impact of all the smears and half-truths or outright distortions common in campaigns is the affect on voters. A recent ​ Suffolk University / USA Today survey ​noted that ​an increasing number of​ Americans do not plan to vote in the upcoming 2018 mid-term elections because they are fed up with a political system they feel is too "corrupt". The survey found that "Nearly two-thirds of adult U.S. citizens will stay away from the polls during the coming midterm elections, and they say they have given up on the political parties and a system that they say is beyond reform and repair. And perhaps that's exactly what these political operatives want, e.g., turn off the independent voters, knowing that they will be able to motivate their true party loyalists, who are most likely to believe anything that's written which supports their candidate and vote that Party line. ( )

I was optimistic when beginning this book, thinking that I would get a better idea of the ways in which the public is being manipulated by what is reported and how. It was not long into it that I realized that this author has a strong agenda. While she claims to show how both liberals and conservatives use news outlets to twist the media for their own purposes, in actuality she focuses almost solely on the left and mainly on David Brock. In fact, she is so one-sided, I think she may have a personal beef with Brock.

Now, a year into the investigation of how Russia impacted the 2016 election, her opinions are even more irrelevant. That this book was almost entirely anecdote and opinion was another downfall. Not one note was included that corroborated her.

It was not lost on me that I was reading a book about media manipulation authored by someone who was trying to manipulate the reader.

This book should be required reading for everyone. Well supported and documented expose of the thoroughly corrupt media working for political operatives. I'm "woke" after reading The Smear and won't believe anything I read online, in the newspaper or hear on TV henceforth. The author knows what she's talking about, having first hand experience of how this despicable system works. ( )

The Smear, Sheryl Atkisson, narrator and author
Very clearly and concisely, the author explains the charade that is masquerading as journalism today. She outlines the events leading to the current dirty tactics used by all sides of the political spectrum. Covering the CIA, Borking, Clarence Thomas, Bill Clinton, Saul Alinsky, Hillary Clinton, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broderick, Barak Obama, Eric Holder, James Comey, Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, to name a few, she paints a nasty, cut throat picture of our modern news media. She exposes the corrupt way in which news is presented today, calling it transactional news and details the strong arm methods used to get and present information that benefits one side over another, whether or not the information is credible, or true or false. If news doesn’t have to be sourced or verified, and it does not have to come from a reliable informant, is it news? All someone has to do is feed some salacious fact, some piece of propaganda, to a pundit or a journalist and it will make headlines, especially if it supports the candidate that particular supposed expert favors. Some have a direct line to contacts in the party they support and feed their talking points to the public with abandon showing a distinct bias which they and their readers or listeners continue to ignore.
Atkkisson gets deep into the last election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The picture of the way the news was handled by so-called journalists is shameful. Although much has already been covered, putting it together in one place makes the sins of those campaigns and reporters seem even more egregious. Liars accuse others of lying. Cheaters accuse others of cheating. Up is down and down is up in the new world of media. If someone accuses someone of wrongdoing, you can bet that accuser may be representing wrongdoers trying to deflect their own blame. She completely exposes the bias of the politicians and the media, and those exposed will stand naked before you in their triumph because they have no shame about it and because they succeed in their efforts to often cast unjustified blame on others.
It has been well researched, and there is proof that the media was complicit in making up stories and condemning candidate Trump. Fake news was presented and promoted. It has been proven that they covered Donald Trump far more negatively than his opponents, especially Hillary Clinton, although there was some minimal fake news concerning her, as well. When the truth was revealed about her illicit email use, she angrily objected to the fact that it was exposed by Wikileaks. She had no remorse for her own behavior. The media was complicit and tried hard to portray her as the victim of a conspiracy, a Russian conspiracy that promoted Trump. It continues today. The news slants to the left, and so there seems to be very few journalists or news outlets that are rushing to support Sharyl Atkkisson in putting out the truth or exposing the lies, even when they know that falsehoods are being presented to the public. They are complicit in misrepresenting the truth, and often they spread outright lies. Ethical journalism seems to have died. It is difficult to discern the reality from fiction today.
Public relations firms have sprung up with a singular intent, to smear a person’s reputation and to cast doubt on their credibility and honesty. The Hill staffers used tax dollars for their “opposition research”. Character assassination and smears were responsible for removing Lou Dobbs from CNN. Imus was smeared when he made unnecessary racial remarks. The “smearmongers” follow the money and look for dirt to discredit the person they are targeting. The media is a ready and willing accomplice, forgetting that they are supposed to present the news, not make it up. Their lies are told so often, they are considered the truth and no decent journalist exposes them. Retractions are hidden in the pages of the newspapers or briefly mentioned on television and radio outlets. They all become accessories to the smearing and the spreading of misinformation in a deliberate attempt to favor one person or bring down another. Apparently, the public loves the dirt more than the truth, especially if they bear animus toward someone. Because it is the left that is largely running the smear campaigns, they are getting away with their dishonesty under the guise of innocent reporting. They have their supporters in the right places. Media Matters is one of the worst offenders, using exaggeration, the internet, emails, social media and reporters to spread their fabrications or distorted information.
At times, the book was repetitive as the author discussed the various ways that the news was tainted and disseminated. However, she really did her research well. Concentrating on one smear champion named David Brock, whose tactics are despicable, she makes the reader aware of how these smear groups are manipulating the public. He and the Bonner group have made millions duping the American public by presenting incomplete information with the purpose of destroying a person’s character and career. The organized effort to boycott companies or threaten them with repercussions if they are not compliant with their demands succeeds. Social media has given many people with less than stellar ethical characters, a bully pulpit, and an opportunity to conduct what is essentially blackmail. Brock changed his party affiliation and moved to the far left in what might be an effort to simply make money. He creates “smears” to ruin the people his clients choose to destroy or people he does not support, like Trump. He creates scenarios favorable for those he does support and spins their news positively. He chooses words as weapons. He seems to have no filter when it comes to a code of ethics. He will do anything necessary to accomplish his goal of destruction.
Atkkisson also sheds light on the oblique business arrangements of both George Soros and David Brock. They have multiple businesses and funnel money back and forth from one organization to another with a trail so circuitous it is impossible to follow. They control the output of many news outlets whose only purpose is to smear their enemies. Opposition research has taken on a life of its own. Facts no longer matter, rumors and innuendo rule. She describes the methods that have been used to publicize inaccurate information, spread lies and affect election results, congressional rulings, and the information presented by television journalists. Although the book definitely leans to the right (because it seems that the left is more heavily into the smear effort), it is a non-partisan presentation because, where it is known, she also highlights conservative groups like Richard Mellon Scaife’s, that operate with the same purpose, to assassinate a person’s character because they dislike their politics or methods.
It was left leaning Media Matters that forced Glen Beck off the air. They used their influence and power to make it financially profitable or disadvantageous to Fox. Yet, the same company ignored those who appeared on MSNBC and CNN, or covered them less broadly and far less often because they supported their views. They found ways to reinterpret the ill deeds of those on the left to make them appear less negative. The worst thing is that the people who work for these smear outfits, like Mike Allen of Politico, seem distinctly in the pocket of the left, promoting their talking points. The left outlets do not cover the scandals of the Democrats as vociferously as they do those of the GOP, unless they are forced to by public outrage. Examples of offensive behavior in the Obama White House that were largely ignored by a dishonest media, until they were forced to expose them, were the “Fast and Furious” episode, a gunrunning scandal, the promise that if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor made in the effort to pass Obamacare, the outrageous statement by Nancy Pelosi that you had to pass the bill before you read it, and Hillary Clinton’s email debacle in which many operatives were exposed as liars and cheaters, getting debate questions in advance or actively working against other candidates of their party. This is not to say that the right did not participate in this debacle, but it was far more damaging and prevalent on the left in its outrageousness.
I believe that this book should be required reading in high school civics classes, so that the electorate of the future is more educated about the process and will demand honesty from the fourth estate, not collusion or complicity with the one candidate they personally favor, but with honest representation of both sides of the spectrum. ( )