The US Defense Department has set up a new unit to better promote its propaganda across 24-hour news outlets. Earlier this year, Rumsfeld criticized critics of the war for allowing the media to fall into the hands of the enemy. “That’s the thing that keeps me up at night,” said Rummy.

On Monday, Vice President Cheney placed blame on the US mid-term elections for an increase in insurgent attacks, implying that the terrorists want the Republicans to lose. The administration has expressed a particular interest in flooding the internet, claiming they need to counter terrorists who have done the same. “It’s my belief that they’re very sensitive of the fact that we’ve got an election scheduled and they can get on the websites like anybody else,” Cheney told Fox News. “There isn’t anything that’s on the internet that’s not accessible to them. They’re on it all the time. They’re very sophisticated users of it.”

The newly-established unit would use “new media” channels to push its message and “set the record straight”, Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff said…

A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press news agency said the new unit would “develop messages” for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to “correct the record”. The unit would reportedly monitor media such as weblogs and would also employ “surrogates”, or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio shows.

Apparently, Faux News hasn’t been a large enough outlet to disperse the White House’s pre-packaged perspective; blogs and news sites will also be targeted. Bush recently blamed eroding US public support for the war in Iraq on terror groups who were influencing public opinion. He described their efforts as the “war on ideas”.

Frankly, if the Republicans are just as incompetent at waging the “war of ideas” as they are on waging the “war on terror” and “war on drugs”, then I don’t think we have much to worry about. Afterall, the Bush administration trying to wage a “war of ideas” is as pathetic as Ethiopia getting involved in a food fight. I almost feel sorry for them.

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thanks to SirJouge for the story