FAKE NEWS AND CROOKED POLITICS
by Jim Kaness

Listed below are just a few of the well documented historical examples of crooked politicians using fake news and dirty tricks in an attempt to gain or regain control. It can happen in any century and in any country!

DANIEL in Babylon (ca. 590 BC)
"The vice-regents and governors got together to find some old scandal or skeleton in Daniel's life that they could use against him, but they couldn't dig up anything. He was totally exemplary and trustworthy. They could find no evidence of negligence or misconduct. So they finally gave up and said, "We are never going to find anything against this Daniel unless we can cook up something religious."

[Bible, book of Daniel 6:4-5] Read further to learn how the trap they set for Daniel blew up in their faces!

ANDREW JACKSON election campaign (1828 AD)
"Jackson's advisors marvelled at the ferocity of the Adams attacks. "The floodgates of falsehood, slander and abuse have been hoisted and the most nauseating filth is poured, in torrents, on the head, of not ony Genl Jackson but all his prominent supporters..." and "Some Americans thought of the president-elect as a second Father of His Country. Others wanted him dead."

["American Lion - Andrew Jackson in the White House" by Jon Meacham, (c) 2008, ISBN 978-0-8129-7346-4, page 4]

ARIZONA TERRITORY (ca. 1880 AD)
"John C. Fremont, possibly the most incompetent administrator of public affairs on record in the united States, was Governor of Arizona Territory from 1878 to 1881. Fremont was a Republican, appointed by President Hayes. Internally, Arizona was a Democratic stronghold, her elective offices filled with men of that persuasion. Governor Fremont appears to have deemed an alliance with a local element essential to his personal ambitions. Wherefore there came into existence in Arizona a working combination of practical politicians and outlaw killers which, for wholesale infamy, has seldom been equaled." and "Fundamentally, it was the age-old system. Government offices were filled with unscrupulous tricksters. Under their protection desperadoes robbed, smuggled, rustled cattle, held up stages, and murdered all who opposed them."

["Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal" by Stuart N. Lake, (c) 1931, Special Edition September 1955, pages 233-234.]

WYOMING TERRITORY (1886-1887 AD)
"Many of the local newspapers were organs of the cattle industry --- and in the habit of obfuscating, misrepresenting, or exaggerating the facts --- so for a considerable time no one knew quite how bad the damage was. Journalists did not want to report the truth and thereby risk further hurting the already depressed cattle business, which the success of their papers largely depended on." [Page 231]

"... The charges were a fabrication, dreamed up by a reporter for the Cheyenne Daily Leader, Edward Touse. This newspaper was part of the Cheyenne cattle barons' "kept press" and a mouthpiece for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association ... [Touse's] complicity in this and later cover-ups, and his frequent fabrications, stand out as one of the worst press abuses of the era. He was perfectly willing to smear and libel victims and invent phony justifications for their murder." [Page 256]

["CATTLE KINGDOM The Hidden History of the Cowboy West" by Christopher Knowlton, (c) 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, ISBN 978-0-544-36996-2]

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939 AD)
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. The film is about a newly appointed United States Senator who fights against a corrupt political system, and was written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story "The Gentleman from Montana". The film was controversial when it was first released, but successful at the box office, and it made Stewart a major star." [Wikipedia]

This fictional film, made 80 years ago, could have been taken right out of 2019's news! False charges, fake print and radio news stories, forged documents, lies and collusion - all to prevent discovery of shady dealings by several Senators.