FOR OBAMA CARE

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* TAXPAYER-FUNDED, ADMINISTRATION-DIRECTED POLITICIZED ART

* WHITE HOUSE, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS On Conference Call to Artists
* BUFFY WICKS, Office of Public Engagement and lead White House official on the President’s Serve.Gov initiative WAS ON THE LINE
* So was NELL ABERNATHY, Director of Outreach for Serve.Gov

* NEA DENIES, LIES
* WHITE HOUSE, MEDIA MUM

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* PAYING FOR POLITICIZED ART REMINISCENT OF SOVIET UNION

This week’s “Latest Media Bombshell” comes again from Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com. It involves the active participation of the White House in a conference call with selected artists who were rounded up by the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in paid political art to help support Administration policies.

The two BigGovernment stories are:
Pregame Report: The NEA Conference Call; and,
Planting the Seeds: The Politicized Art Behind the ACORN Plan
{CORRECTION: The first story is from Big Hollywood, another Breitbart site. Oops!-Ed.}

From the Pregame Report:

So what did happen on that call? Was the NEA coordinating with the White House to push their agenda on a group of artists eager for and reliant upon the NEA for grants, or is the NEA telling the truth that this call “was not a means to promote any legislative agenda”?

Tomorrow at noon ET, explosive new information will answer that question and raise many others.

Breitbart himself, in the second of the stories begins with:

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah.

They were not going to report this blockbuster unless they were forced to. And they were. What’s more, it ain’t over yet. Not every hint I dropped in that piece about what was to come has played itself out yet.Stay tuned.

Of course, by “politicized art”, it’s more accurate to say “taxpayer-funded politicized art”.

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THE BLOG PARLOR GAME OF GUESSING BRIETBART’S BLOCKBUSTER

Over the weekend, a parlor game of sorts was played at several conservative web sites which involved guessing the answer to the question, “What’s Breitbart’s Blockbuster?”.

Patterico had it nailed [Breitbart Promises New Bombshell from “Left Field”]:

If you’re trying to figure out what the next big shoe to drop might be, I suggest that you consider re-reading his column [BREITBART: Couric should look in mirror] to see what he identified as the second story that demonstrates the media’s complicity with the Democrat party. Namely, the NEA:

Ace [Breitbart: "Blockbuster" Hit from "Left Field" Next Week] weighed in with, “By the way, Breitbart did seem to have it mind to nail the media from the outset; this September 7th column tipped his hand, but no one I know of picked up on his hints.

He warned the media. They ignored the warning.

But then, I thought he was speaking rhetorically myself.”

Mickey Kaus [What's Breitbart Got Next?] thought about Patterico’s thesis and answered: could be.

HOT AIR [Breitbart: Prepare for a “blockbuster” “from left field” next week; Update: It’s the NEA] also speculated:

Speculation? I would guess he’s got something on SEIU, but given the union’s close relationship with ACORN, that may not fit the “from left field” bill. Other guesses?

OUR GUESS

One guess from this corner was the NEA (”But that’s not big enough for a blockbuster, is it?”). Another was that it would involve an example of The Media not just trying to squash the stories of corruption that are bubbling from this Administration, but actively engaged in attacking the whistleblowers (”But they’ve already done that, especially the New York Times.”)

Michelle Malkin details how the NYT killed the investigation of one of its own reporters into ACORN–even though the Times had extensively interviewed whistleblower, Anita Moncreif and had piles of the relevant records in its hands:

The files that Strom was planning to get from MonCrief (files that I have since obtained and reviewed) were spreadsheets of donors from Democrat campaigns — Obama, Clinton, Kerry — as well as from the Democratic National Committee that had been passed on to non-profit, tax-exempt, and supposedly non-partisan Project Vote. There were no Republican donor lists. MonCrief told Strom that the Clinton and Obama campaigns were in “constant contact” with Project Vote. A few weeks after I reported in August 2008 on how Obama hid an $800,000 payment to ACORN through “Citizen Services, Inc,” Strom told MonCrief: “Am also onto the Obama connection, sadly. Would love the donor lists. As for helping the Repubs, they’re already onto this like white on rice. SIGH.”

But the damning story of coordinated corruption between Democrats and Project Vote never appeared. The Times suddenly “cut bait” — and the story never saw the light of day in the purported Paper of Record.

The NEA story will only be the latest in an almost-constant stream of news stories not covered by the NYT over the last year. ACORN, Van Jones and John Edwards are three that come to mind. The Grey Bag Lady only covered the Bill Ayers story last fall in order to provide cover for their candidate. [Barack Obama, Bill Ayers: NY Times Continues to Whitewash Obama-Ayers Connection].

It’s not much of a stretch that the Times would actively attack someone with information that could damage one of their chosen politicians.

Oh wait, that’s the policy of the paper’s editorial board.

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Back to the growth industry that taxpayer-funded political art has suddenly become.

PREVIEW?

Dan McCleary, among others noticed some similarities last November.

From Obama Poster Mimics Soviet Propaganda Art:

“The template appears to be lifted directly from this Soviet propaganda poster painted in the 1920s by Russian Constructivist artist Alexander Rodchenko”.

McCleary wasn’t the only one. From The Not So-Subliminal Message of Obama Socialist Realism Art:

The similarities between the Soviet, Cuban, Chinese Communist and Barack Obama propaganda posters are not coincidental. Barack Obama is a collectivist, a far-Left socialist who has attracted and has the support of radical groups, including the Communist Party Illinois, Socialist Party USA, The Center for Constitutional Rights and The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

The Obama “Progress” poster was designed by leftwing (surprise!) artist Shepard Fairey. A similar poster by Fairey, with the word “change” on it is sold by Barack Obama’s online campaign store.

Even though he has shown in galleries for years and attracted a following of wealthy buyers who enjoy his brand of art, Fairey achieved mainstream attention only this summer, after he designed what’s become an iconic poster of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The image has been interpreted by critics as either capturing the inspiration Obama embodies or as just downright creepy in its propagandistic depiction of the political figure. The portrait, in muted tones, takes cues from socialist realism and is reminiscent of posters created to celebrate Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Fairey has enjoyed this debate. “The illustration does have roots in propaganda art,” Fairey said. “I also want it to seem like a patriotic image, but not be seen as too countercultural. … It needed just enough mainstream ingredients to transcend.”

Hit the link for a comparison gallery at Flopping Aces.

Left-coast photo-journalist, Zombie, in Bark for Barack!, first picked up on the Bark for Obama/Rodchenko similarities.

Unfortunately, this was not a topic for polite conversation in November 2008–especially not in the Incredibly Shrinking Media.

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It’s not hard to imagine how Team Obama will respond to all of this.

We got ample evidence of it during the campaign.

Ignore.

Ignore.

When it becomes too hot and someone does question them (it can be weeks before the press asks uncomfortable questions on ’sensitive’ issues), give only enough info to quiet everyone down.

Ignore.

Deny.

Clam up.

Only one of “news” shows that comprised the president’s Sunday News Marathon bothered to ask him about ACORN [Obama Clueless on ACORN Videos: Gives Interview on ABC’s This Week].

True to form, the president responded: “You know, if — frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.”

In these days of multi-trillion dollar government expansions, $50+ million might be considered chump change.

Neither Obama or Stephanopoulos pointed out which video-there were five-or, what it was he “saw” on the video was “inappropriate”, or “what” should be investigated. We’re not being tough on Stephanopoulos because, out of this morning’s big three media Obama blitzkrieg, Stephanopoulos was the only one to inquire about ACORN.

We thought we’d remind our readers that Obama is an attorney and a former law professor, he knows the weight of words and how to carefully parse what he says. Watching the video and reading the transcript he seemed purposely “vague”. If not, he needs to fire those who brief him on current affairs, a supposed daily occurrence at the White House.

When pressed about whether he would sign a bill to cut off ACORN’s funding, the President offered the following: “George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.”

I bet.

Maybe after the next few weeks, his attention might be piqued.

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UPDATE @ Sept 21 2009

From Big Hollywood’s EXPLOSIVE NEW AUDIO Reveals White House Using NEA to Push Partisan Agenda:

NEA’s Yoshi Sergant to artists on conference call: “I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service.”

Patrick Courrielche also points out that there was no effort to enlist artistic shills in the cost of “drilling off-shore” or any issues not on the Obama administration’s agenda.

by Mondo Frazier
images not credited: DBKP file

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