I have noted with great interest and confusion, NPR's sudden fascination with the Scott McClellan story.
After a couple years of silence and inability to criticize this administration in any way, NPR is suddenly quite willing to hold McClellan up as a pinata, perhaps hoping others will liberate the delicious candy within. They have been leading each news segment with breathless descriptions of the "fallout from McClellan's book".
Perhaps that's just what they needed-someone else to do the heavy lifting and having of balls. Yesterday he was asked on morning edition "...how can you say you still respect the president after what you said in the book...". Perhaps that question would be better asked of NPR-how or why should I still respect you after years of silence and complicity, only now bothering to discuss failed policies, with someone else taking the heat...
Up yours NPR, how very far you have fallen-from a viable non-corporate news organization to your new capacity as yet another White House propaganda arm. I wonder how your direction will suddenly change should a Democrat suddenly occupy the White House...
Posted by Cory at May 30, 2008 02:52 AMWhy is anybody surprised? Scottie needs a new roof on his house, and he told ALL with W's approval no doubt.
Next, can we expect a tell all from Laura Bush who will finally admit to the murder of her old boyfriend in Midland, Texas and how her family covered it up?
Remember when all we once worried about was how many women our President was fucking at one time and if the First Lady wore underwear?
Posted by Waylon at May 30, 2008 04:24 AMThe MSM didn't work hard then as they are not working hard now.
CLINTON/BLOOMBERG 08
Great link on the run up to the invasion, Mary.
How do you guys find all this stuff?
Posted by euzoius at May 30, 2008 05:16 AM"Real reporting is about uncovering facts that the political elite try to conceal, not ones they willingly broadcast. It's about investigating and exposing -- not mindlessly amplifying -- the falsehoods and deceit of government claims. But our modern "journalists" (with some noble exceptions) don't do that not only because they can't do it, but also because they don't think it's their job. That's because, by definition, they're not journalists."
Well, there was a little incident that two investigative journalists from the Washington Post uncovered called Watergate. If not for these two journalists, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, Nixon would have never resigned in shame. Surely today's journalists remember Watergate, and the exposing of the lies, corruption, and deceit of the Government. I guess Bernstein and Woodward are not heros to these yahoos who believe its not there job to find the truth and then to report it.
Posted by Judith#1 at May 30, 2008 05:27 AMMSM's contempt is well earned.
Although the complicity of the MSM has been well documented and well known by a few, it is always nice to be proven right.
Posted by Judith#1 at May 30, 2008 05:34 AMMark my word, McClellan's book will be the first of others to come.
Posted by Judith#1 at May 30, 2008 05:43 AMI heard McCain might select Hilldawg as his VP. He is so happy with all the campaigning she has done for him the past 3 months that he wants to reward her effort.
Makes sense. I heard she was visiting Florida again soon to tell them not to vote for Obama.
Posted by Lolly Pop at May 30, 2008 05:47 AMLolly Pop, links please.
Posted by Judith#1 at May 30, 2008 05:51 AMWhat is it about the American psyche that makes self-reflection so difficult for so many? It's as though there are blinders on to admitting mistakes of any kind.
Is it thought to be a sign of weakness to admit a mistake, that we were wrong about something? Who, me? NEVER! The tendency is to project it outward and blame someone "out there". It's always "THEIR" fault.
Posted by Jakie4 at May 30, 2008 06:09 AMGeorge Soros sock puppet.
Posted by onar at May 30, 2008 06:15 AMjudith1-"first of others to come." actually, the lastest to come is more like it. DiIulio,O'Neill, Clarke, and a couple others have already written books with almost the exact same type description of the Bush White House.
Anyone with a memory that works back 7 years understands that many worldwide news and print organizations continually countered the Bush Lies with facts. But in the US, demonstrations worldwide against the war went largely unreported by the US Media, and mass rallies here in America were dismissed as a bunch of commie hippies. The Top of the Lung yelling by MSM and Cable Media now, having been called out by Scotty, is laughable. Their Corporate Owners did everything they could to aid and abet Bush's march to War on purpose and the blame lays at their feet just as much as it does jerks like Ari, Scotty and the rest of them. But not because the weren't doing their job....but because they were doing exactly the job they were told to do.
oh, and one other point. All these Corporate Media Owners, the ones Scotty said 'didn't do their job" when in fact, they were doing exactly that, will soon have another job to do. Sabotage an elected Democratic president and congress. Get your popcorn.
Posted by T2 at May 30, 2008 06:52 AM"Sabotage an elected Democratic president and congress. Get your popcorn."
T2, and they are doing their job well. Seems Obama is going to get hit with another 'minister' story. Couple that along with the Democrats slandering one another, and you would think we too are working for 'The Corporation.' Idiots and fools, I don't know which is worse.
G'morning Judith. That minister thing has got to be a joke. What a maroon that guy is....methinks he just wanted some publicity or something. He's not friend to Obama, that's for sure.
In other news of a religious bentSome Catholics are quite progressive, just not the top-tier.
Posted by Sharon at May 30, 2008 08:22 AMForget all the wage and race stuff, my hypothesis is that it's the uninsured who vote for Hillary...and they're increasing in number.
Posted by Sharon at May 30, 2008 09:01 AM"That minister thing has got to be a joke. What a maroon that guy is....methinks he just wanted some publicity or something. He's not friend to Obama, that's for sure."
Sharon I agree, but you know how the media works. If they want it to be a story, it will be.
I would assume that Hillary has the uninsured vote. Whether people remember the details is not important. What they do remember is that Hillary has been fighting this battle for years.
Fact is, these overpaid court jesters really don't KNOW what their job is. Journalistic integrity is an unknown quantity in the modern day marketing advertising and propaganda talking head business.
Posted by getaclue at May 30, 2008 10:08 AMHelen Thomas....she showed the MSM how they should have behaved.
Posted by allansfca at May 30, 2008 10:50 AMand the team at Knight-Rider. I forgot how persistant they were and how ignored. I miss quality journalism. The NYT and WP are not currently capable of empowering a Woodward/Berstein.
Posted by at May 30, 2008 10:59 AMAs the great Israeli journalist puts it, the job of journalists is not to write the first draft of history. "What journalism is really about – it's to monitor power and the centers of power."
Too bad the American media do not understand this. They think their job is to write the first draft of history as dictated to them by the likes of Scotty "I was deceiiiiiiiiiiiived!" McClellan.
Posted by Shirin at May 30, 2008 12:17 PMOooops - forgot to say who the great Israeli journalist is. Her name is Amira Hass. She has lived for the last ten years or so in Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank, and before that she lived in Israeli Occupied Gaza. She not only reports on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the people who live there, she lives there too.
Another great Israeli journalist (for somewhat different reasons) is Gideon Levy. They both work for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Posted by Shirin at May 30, 2008 12:25 PM