Steinem, McCain, and Operation Mockingbird

When I learned that Gloria Steinem had dissed John McCain on Friday - that she actually made light of his time as a war prisoner - my first reaction was to think: "Finally! The CIA is working to unite the Republican Party!"

Here's my imagined scenario. The CIA, realizing that Republican in-squabbling about McCain is just no good for this country, devised an operation to tap into the "wagon-circling" instincts of Republicans when one of their number is bashed by a liberal. The folks at Langley re-activated a longtime agent from Operation Mockingbird, the old media-manipulation squad that came to light during the 1970's-era Church Committee Investigations. The agent would say something so outrageous that the media would report the comments as a hit on McCain, and thereby would spark the desired reaction. That reactivated agent would be Steinem, who frequently has been named as having worked for Mockingbird.

As my scenario continues: The CIA scripted Steinem's comments that she delivered while appearing in Texas in support of Hillary Clinton, resulting in this report from the AP:

“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience.
McCain was, in fact, a prisoner of war for around five-and-a-half years, during which time he was tortured repeatedly. Referring to his time in captivity, Steinem said with bewilderment, “I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so.”

If the Steinem commentary went over as planned, conservatives once again would righteously unite against the baseless liberal attacks on McCain.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized I was merely thinking wishfully. After all, someone needs to grab Republicans by the collective scruffs of their necks, and tell them to stand beside their candidate. But in reality, Mockingbird has gone the way of LSD experiments and other such hijinks. Yes, it's OK to waterboard an enemy; but it no longer is legal to use paid agents to manipulate the media and public opinion.

So here we are, with an episode that has only a sonorous connection to Mockingbird. Steinem's comments were cheap, cheap, cheap.