Remember The Alamo (30 page)

"Damn it!" Phil burst out. "They're afraid to go against the
government line."

"Wait a minute," Billy said. "Here's one that says the authenticity of the video hasn't been determined yet. They say
they'll post it later if they can determine for sure that it hasn't
been doctored"

"Then where did the copy you downloaded come from?"
Dave asked.

Billy grinned. "The blogosphere, man. Nearly every political blog and Web site has it. When you google `Alamo video,'
you get almost half a million hits. Of course, not all of them
have anything to do with this video, but still ... it's all over the
Web. No way the government will be able to shut down all the
sites. And they sure as hell can't stop people from talking
about it."

"No, but they'll do everything they can to discredit the information," Mahone warned. "We've all seen how it works in this
country. Perception trumps truth, and the party in charge in
Washington now are the masters of making things appear to be
other than they really are. They invented spin-doctoring, and
God help us, they've had decades to perfect it."

Stark said, "But people can see this for themselves, with
their own eyes... "' His voice trailed off as Mahone shook his
head.

"Doesn't matter. Too many people will believe what the
government tells them, rather than what they can see for themselves. They just want to be taken care of from the cradle to
the grave, and that includes being told what to think."

"Not everybody is that way," Dave said, a note of hopeor was it desperation?-in his voice. "Remember, almost half
the country thinks like we do ""

"And we can hope that half will be enough to sway public
opinion overall," Mahone said. "But they'll have to overcome
not only what the government says, but also everything the
media does to reinforce those lies."

"At least we have a chance now," Phil said. "Not everybody
will think that we're crazy. If we can just hold out .. ."

This was a good development, Dave thought, but in the end
it might not change much.

Because everything was still dependent on them hanging onto control of the Alamo. Fifty-four men against an army ...
The odds weren't good.

About as good, in fact, as the odds of the truth winning out
against the organized might of a government determined to
crush it.

"By now I'm sure most of you have seen the video already,
and if you haven't, you can download it from our Web site.
You'd better do it quickly, though, if you haven't gotten it already, because I hear from our webmaster that the government
is putting pressure on our ISP to pull the plug on us, in the interests of what they call national security. National security,
my hind foot! The only interest the government has these days
is protecting this administration's grip on power, and the only
way they can do that is to keep the truth from getting out.

"But as long as I can stay on the air and on the Web, I'll
put the truth out there for you to see and judge for yourselves,
folks. That's my job here.

"Earlier in the program tonight, you heard from several
people who were actually at Alamo Plaza this afternoon. You
heard them describe how Mexican terrorists, members of the
extremist Reconquistar movement, were actually the ones who
opened fire. The people who had gathered there to protest this
asinine gesture of giving the Alamo back to Mexico were the
ones who risked their lives to protect innocent bystanders and
force the terrorists to run. Having accomplished that, they
withdrew into the Alamo to prevent our government from turning it over to the very same animals who were willing to
murder innocent people in an attempt to besmirch the honor
of Texas and America.

"Because make no mistake about it, my friends, these socalled Reconquistadores have close ties with the Mexican government. The politicians down there are using terrorists to
achieve their goal, which is to shame America and weaken us
that much more. How many times have we rolled over before
our enemies in the past forty or fifty years? How many times
has the leadership in this country, especially on the left,
demonstrated that they simply will not stand up to evil? Of
course, it's no longer fashionable, no longer politically correct,
to acknowledge that evil even exists. Our enemies aren't
evil ... they just have different opinions than we do, opinions
that should be honored and respected so that we won't lose any
of our precious standing in the international community. It
doesn't matter that what our enemies really want is for all of
us to die! We have to be tolerant above all else.

"Well, I'm tired of being tolerant, folks. I'm tired of the
United States being the savior of the world one day and the
scapegoat for all its troubles the next! I'm tired of being expected to take care of everybody else but not being allowed to
stand up for ourselves because it might offend someone. I'm
offended, my friends. I'm offended that thugs and criminals
think they can waltz into our country and take it over because
we're too spineless to tell them no. I'm offended that our government cares more about what some politicians in Mexico
City think than they do about what you and I think. I'm-

"What's that? Oh, dear Lord. Ladies and gentlemen, I've
just been told that our Web site has been taken down. Were we
able to get the content transferred to an overseas server? No?
It's gone?

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, folks, but our Web site has
been censored, shut down by the government because it told the truth about what happened in San Antonio and had the
video to prove it. And it's not the only one. I'm told that all the
Web sites with links to the video are being shut down, one by
one. But you can still get it off of sites that are located overseas,
so if you haven't seen it, don't stop searching for it. Find a copy,
download it, and take a look for yourselves. If you have a blog
or a Web site of your own, post it yourself. You'll be taking a
chance on the government coming afteryou next. I won't lie to
you about that. But this is something you can do to get the truth
out there. The government can't silence everybody.

"What's that? They're here now? As you know if you've
been listening since the beginning, this is a special live broadcast, going out to all the stations on our network, all around
the world. I'm told that officials from the FCC, as well as
Homeland Security agents, are here now at our studio.
They've come to take me off the air, my friends, and I don't
know when I'll be back. The last thing I want to tell you, and
the thing I want you to never forget, is that if this country is to
survive, you have to tell the truth.

"Because in these dark days, the government won't.

"Good ni

"It's like trying to plug a hundred leaks in a dam at once. It
can't be done. They just spread and multiply."

The president glared at the director of Homeland Security
and said, "I don't care how difficult it is. I want it done. By tomorrow morning, I want that video off the Internet, I want the
talk-radio stations shut down, and I want the plug pulled on all
those blogs and Web sites. Is that too much to ask?"

"You're damn right it is." The new voice came from the
doorway of the Oval Office, where the midnight oil was burning tonight. The vice president strode into the room and continued. "You've done too much already. You can't shut down media outlets just because you don't like what they're saying.
You might as well just suspend the Constitution, declare martial law for the whole country, and set yourself up as a little tinpot dictator."

The director of Homeland Security swallowed hard. He had
never heard anyone speak to the president like that, not even
her husband.

The president sat there for a long moment, glowering at the
veep and breathing hard. She had never liked the sanctimonious little bastard. He was a moderate, and she had no use for
moderates except to appeal to swing voters. His presence on
the ticket had been calculated to assure the center of the electorate that she wouldn't sweep into office and make huge
changes right away. He had done that ... but he had never
quite understood that once she was in office, he was supposed
to shut up and butt out and let her run things, the way she was
destined to do.

Reining in her anger, she said, "It's a matter of national
security-"

"Bullshit. What does suppressing a video have to do with
national security?"

"It's a fake!" The president rose to her feet. "My enemies
phonied it up to embarrass me. You know that. It ... it's part
of the conspiracy against me! You know that some people have
never been able to stand the idea that I was elected. They'll
stop at nothing to ruin my presidency "

"I'd say you've made a pretty good start on that all by yourself," the vice president said.

The director of Homeland Security slipped out of the Oval
Office, easing the door shut behind him. Let them fight it out.
As long as he was out of the line of fire....

"I want your resignation on my desk in the morning," the
president said, her voice icy with hatred and disdain.

The vice president shrugged. "Fine. But with it you'll lose every bit of credibility you have left. Even your most
dependable elements of support inside the media are starting
to question their decision to go along with you. Sure, you're
just going after the right-wing fringe now ... but what if you
decide that somebody else is a threat to you? Who are you
going to try to shut down next? You fire me, and everybody
will know that you care more about your image than you do
about the truth. We both know that's actually the way it is, of
course, but you've got 50.4 percent of the voters fooled. At
least, you did in the last election."

"You little prick." She looked like she wanted to come over
the desk and scratch his eyes out. "That tape's a fake!"

The vice president shook his head. "I've spoken to the director of the FBI. They've got the original tape, and every test
they've run on it indicates that it hasn't been tampered with. I
asked them to send a copy over to the CIA boys at Langley,
too, and they agree. The tape's genuine. It shows what really
happened in San Antonio today.... Actually, it's yesterday
now. Midnight was a while ago. That means you and the Mexicans are the ones who are really lying about it."

"You ... you went behind my back-"

"Somebody had to. You were about to run amok and ruin
everything."

"But what else can I do except shut it all down?" she practically wailed. "It makes me look bad!"

"Tell everybody that the tape's a phony."

"But you said it's not" She felt herself floundering now,
control slipping away from her. She hated that worse than anything. She had to be in charge.

"Go on TV and say it's a phony. Accuse the right wing of
doctoring it, or fabricating it entirely, I don't care. Hell, lying
you can get away with. Look how many presidents have
proven that. But you can't go after the media. They're on your
side. You've got to have them."

She slumped back into her chair. He was right, of course ...
damn him. She didn't like taking advice from anyone, since that
implied she wasn't smarter than everyone else, but sometimes
she supposed there was no other choice.

"You have the bully pulpit," the vice president said in a soft
voice. "Use it. Convince the country that you're right and the
other side is wrong. Stick to your guns on your decision to let
the Mexican army come in and deal with this. Ask the United
Nations to pass an emergency resolution supporting Mexico's
claim" He smiled. "That way, when it all goes wrong, it won't
be your fault."

"What do you mean, when it all goes wrong? Those idiots
in the Alamo can't hold out for very long against an army!"

The vice president chuckled, but there was no humor in the
sound. "I'm from New England," he said, "but even I know that
a fellow named Santa Anna once felt the same way."