September 17 videoconference with Roger Stone

On September 17, IMS 390B talked with political political operative of incredible renown and repute, Roger Stone. Video of the conversation can be watched by clicking on the image to the right. Embed code for the video is available here.

In preparation for that session, the students read the following stories and watched the following videos:

The Dirty Trickster: Campaign tricks from the man who has done it all, Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker

Roger Stone, Political Animal, Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard

StoneZone TV: http://stonezone.com/article.php?id=132

StoneZone TV: http://stonezone.com/article.php?id=124

Roger Stone: Dirty tricks and the grand tradition of American politics, Reason.tv http://reason.tv/video/show/212.html

And please familiarize yourself with Stone's blog at http://stonezone.com/archive.php

Please write an approximately 1,000 word response paper about Roger Stone that explores his use of various forms of media to accomplish political goals. The questions you might ask yourself include: How has Stone discussed the use of new and alternative media forms to send political messages? Does he have a general modus operandi that adapts to new circumstances? Most of his stories of success are reported by himself. Is he convincing as a source? Why or why not? How does he use the media to create a persona? Is that persona effective or ineffective, and in what ways? Do his actions and machinations confirm or call into question the frame of someone such as Walter Benjamin? In short, write your informed impressions of someone like Stone, a major figure in political campaigns for nearly forty years.