A reader recently submitted this suggestion to Andrew Sullivan's site, The Daily Dish: As far as anti-war arguments go, why hasn't anyone simply stated that they're trying to protect the soldiers from President Bush, rather than the insurgents? Just saying we should end the war provides far too many opportunities…
Paul Rieckhoff, who has already served in Iraq, describes the crushing burden of the newly instituted 15-month tours of U.S. soldiers of Iraq: The current force level in Iraq is unsustainable, and is breaking the back of our armed forces. Like so many other choices made by the Bush Administration during…
The US House and Senate Democrats have passed supplemental funding bills for Iraq and Afghanistan which, for the first time, put conditions of oversight upon such funding, which past Republican Congresses had merely rubberstamped, with added pork. President Bush has cried “Wolf!” His attack upon the bill first relied upon…
I was recently provided with a copy of Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sells Wars, Spend Election’s, and Destroy Democracy, by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney. Written in 2005, this book is a great way to get an historical perspective on the state of journalism in America. “How bad have things gotten?” you might ask.
Our media system has become so dysfunctional that it repeatedly shows its willingness to stenographically report the Bush administration’s spin as truth “while rejecting expressions of reality as manifestations of partisanship that must be balanced with more spin.” (Page 4) The authors write that the media is a “lumbering and lazy media” that is ideally suited to the whims of “Karl Rove and the thousands of other paid liars.”
Our media system is so bad that American political discourse has become “meaningless.” There is no better way to exemplify the bankruptcy of the media system than the March 2003 press conference at which George Bush was not challenged by anyone in the Washington press corps with regard to the preemptive war he was about to launch. The members of the press “asked him not a single probing question about the flimsy case that had been made for war, nor its likely costs, nor about anything akin to an exit strategy.”
The authors argue that our elite reporters no longer show passion for truth, but rather passion only for access to those who wield power. Reporters for major media outlets have become …
I wondered whether this link was pushing the boundary of good taste, so I checked with Jason and Grumpypilgrim and got their quick OK's. Now you know where to complain. If you've been wondering what really spurs the neocons on, click here. If you like it, I'll take the credit.