Finally. There seems to be some momentum behind questioning the compliance of the Mainstream Media in parroting the messaging of the hard-line neo-cons.

Jon Stewart, interviewing former Time magazine writer Matthew Cooper on the Daily Show, effectively underlined how clueless - how enamored of having "high-level access" these reporters are.

Dan Froomkin, in the Washington Post, does a nice breakdown on Tim Russert. Addressing Russert's "informal policy" of keeping his conversations with administration officials off the record.

And still, as public opinion shows that over 60% of us disapprove of the President's handling of the war, and a majority believe that we should be setting a timetable for withdrawal, we have Asshats on the Right making asinine, fear-mongering, and just patently ridiculous statements that all come down to one idea:

If you don't agree with us, you're an immoral traitor, who can expect your family to die from terrorism.

Glenn Greenwald has been doing a nice retrospective on David Halberstam in Salon. He quotes from a 2004 piece in Vanity Fair (which I'll quote, once removed):

Who is a patriot today-someone who immediately puts a small American flag in his lapel, but sacrifices nothing in his own lifestyle, or someone without a pin, but who favors a dollar-a-gallon gas tax, because in the long run that will make us less dependent on a volatile, essentially hostile part of the world? Maybe they're both patriots, for who will ever know?

The truth is that the nature of patriotism changed dramatically in the years after World War II. Because we had the atomic weapon, America seemed invulnerable to foreign occupation. Its wars were now less about survival than about something abstract like collective security (Korea), or something which was quite possibly politically dubious (Vietnam). The path for the ascending governing class was now paved with easily attainable deferments.

The new post-A-bomb definition of patriotism was suddenly very different. The children of those who had volunteered immediately for World War II found no compelling reason to sign on for these new wars. Others could go in their place. This was true across the board politically, left and right. . . .

I cannot imagine this happening at another time: an assault on Kerry and his war record being orchestrated by men and women who did not go, who did not pay that terrible price physically and psychically. But this is clearly a different and more careless America. Reality is ever more fragile these days, placed as it is in the hands of the ever more skillful reality managers of both political parties.

Increasingly well financed, they excel at creating a reality that's better and more comforting than the old kind. How else could a president who did not fly in combat during a war when he had the chance choose to imitate a fighter pilot by landing on a carrier in full flight regalia to pose under a triumphant banner reading, mission accomplished? . . .

So much for sunshine and lollipops.

Several links stolen from original old-skool blogmaster B.A.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 1:19 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.