Monday, March 27, 2006

What Report? Oh That Report

Faced with declining poll numbers and a public that has grown suspicious the administration has decided to attack the messenger, or the media, which is always a crowd pleasing activities among the red staters.

While some might think that the more than 2,000 Americans deaths since the start of hostilities in Iraq is important, apparently a bigger issue with whether the media is accurately reporting what's going on in Iraq or are just a bunch of negative nellies.

But leave it to the press to do a poor job of defending themselves. In the Sunday's Washington Post Ombudsman column (unbelievably titled The Post and the Whole Picture in Iraq), and a Monday column (A Turning Point In Iraq) by Post media critic Howard Kurtz, the issue of whether the media was being too tough on the administration was reviewed.

There were laundry lists of examples but after thorough review, well very little was decided. It's just too bad there isn't a neutral party to review of the situation in Iraq to tell us if things are better or worse off than people believe.

Oh wait, there is such a report! Last week Keith Olbermann on Countdown reviewed a U.S. State Department report titled Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which Olbermann pointed out had been released at a news conference earlier this month, with Secretary of State Rice herself delivering the opening remarks, the 23 pages on Iraq stating unequivocally that even a highly selective inventory of the terrorist attacks in that country during the last year could barely begin to catalog all the violence.

Quote, 'Bombings, executions, killings, kidnappings, shootings, and intimidation were a daily occurrence throughout all regions and sectors of society. A illustrative list of those attacks, even a highly selective one, could scarcely reflect the broad dimension of the violence,' the report also stating that the attacks were being waged by any number of people, not just insurgents, for any number of reasons.

So basically things are horrible over in Iraq and if the State Department is to be believed, perhaps even worse than the picture the media is painting.

So why is the media reporting on a study that shows that their reporting probably skewed? Who knows. Perhaps they don't want the public to know how bad it really is over there.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Crybaby Conservatives

Not satisfied with control of all three branches of government, talk radio, and business, conservatives' complaints have lead them into a featured role on the mainstream media.

Apparently some in the media haven't' been following the GOP script over the past few year and have ventured into digging into stories and reporting facts as opposed to a what's presented on the All-Spin Zone, also know as Fox News.

Unlike the 2000 Presidential election when, like good little boys, as the American Prospect recently wrote, "the MSM deputized itself judge, jury, and executioner for [Al] Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, spinning each day's events to portray the stolid, capable vice president as a wild exaggerator, ideological chameleon, and total, unforgivable bore.

Lately, like a Rip Van Winkle who awoke from a conservative spell, the media have been rising off their knees and questioning the administration. Knowing this day would come, conservatives have been complaining for years about lack of representation in the MSM, hoping they could infiltrate and overtake this habit of looking for the truth.

So in effort to balance well-reported, thoughtful work (which, if anything supports conservatives more than liberals) the Post knuckled under and opened its website to a Republican operative and not surprisingly he immediately act like as a traditional conservative, complaining about how conservatives are treated well and how they don't get enough respect.

Unknowingly, Red America gave an inside glimpse of itself and its supporters when it attempted to criticize a Toronto Star story on sociology study that explained that said Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.

Well, duh! Just look at George Bush. He loses the 2000 election but like a spoiled baby he gets his way and the White House. And just as a spoiled baby grows up to be a spoiled brat, Bush now demands he get his way, whether or not it's good for the country.

Perhaps the country could hire the SuperNanny to straighten out Baby Bush, but instead just as parents can only look forward to when their spoiled brat leaves home, America will be left to count the days until the Crybaby in Chief leaves office.

Update - It's worse than it sounds! Joe Conason of Salon and the Howard Kurtz of the Post give the full story.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Don't You Dare Do to Us What We Did to You

Apparently conservatives have come up with a plan to rally conservatives around the failed "p"residency of George Bush. Basically it involves criticizing Democrats for considering "censuring" Bush.

While there is a little talk of impeachment, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feinfold is pushing a motion to censure Bush over wiretapping. As the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz pointed out "most Democrats believe Bush probably did break the law in approving warrantless eavesdropping" but the resolution "is scary to most senators with D."

Why? Because Republicans can use their TV and radio talk shows (Ok, they aren't owned by the GOP but they might as well be) to stir up their voters by claiming things like censure motions and impeachment are political ploys and only hurt the country. Brian Jones, a Republican spokesman said "This is raw partisan politics."

Right, and like the Clinton investigations weren't? Apparently investigations into a person's private life are not partisan politics but an examination of whether a president acted illegally is partisan politics.

If that seems confusing it would be simpler to understand the the GOP position is basically it's always OK to investigate Democrats and never OK to investigate Republicans.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

So Now Book Smarts Are OK?

After a presidential campaign spent criticizing Sen. John Kerry and Democrats for sophisticated and nuance responses to issues, all of sudden with the uproar over the ports deal, administration apologists have discovered the need for sophisticated, or "book smarts."

On Hardball Wednesday night, conservative columnist Kate O'Beirne said the problem with the Dubai port deal was that those investigating the deal were actually hindered by their sophisticated understanding of how ports operate, i.e. they were too smart to deal with the issue.

At the end of the day, and after a thorough investigation, perhaps the port deal is a good one. After all one has to think that if Bush's political underlings weren't involved, perhaps the deal was actually determined on its merits.

And former President Bill Clinton is working with Dubai on how to promote the deal so one has to think that if people using the often maligned book smarts are in favor of the deal then there must be something to it.

Or maybe not, but we may not know yet. Democrats, who for years have tried to govern and run for elections based on book smarts rather than on emotion have gotten beaten at the ballot box, might be excused for raising questions based on the appearance of a deal.

Conservatives, on the other hand made their living belittling book smarts and science on many issues and so for them to all of sudden use book smarts as the answer is hypocritical. But it's not a surprise as few have said the governing conservatives have principles.

In an excellent column describing the differences the between the current White House resident and the last President, Newsweek's Howard Fineman pointed out that the Administration will take 45 days to review and explain the deal but Bush probably won't be able to explain it to the public.

Especially not now that the Washington Post is reporting an investigation into a second Dubai firm set to take over precision components used in aircraft and tanks.

As Fineman put it Suddenly, it's a complicated, gray world out there: the kind that a Bill Clinton would feel at home in, and could explain.

You know, someone with book smarts.