In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
I thought Chris Matthews opened Hardball last night with a strong argument about how the McClellan book is the final word on the fact that the Bush administration used propaganda to sell a war. Trickery and marketing was used to bring America into a war with Iraq. Not a discussion of the facts so Americans knew what we were asking our soldiers to fight and die for, but rather lies and manipulation were all that America received. He was angry. And I think happy to finally express his anger.
I also thought Chris Matthews looked like he agreed with Scott McClellan that the media didn't do its job.
But America's journalists have a weak chin and they really really disagreed with that - to the point of calling in to question all of McClellan's points, because if he thought the press wasn't doing their job - he's wrong. And what else was he wrong on?
David Gregory thinks it is a personal attack on him:
At first his argument seems to be that "hey I asked tough questions a few times. And if they aren't going to tell us the truth what can we do?" Well, how about some investigative journalists? Not that you have to do that Gregory, but shouldn't some people on NBC News be willing to do something besides ask questions and write down the answers?
And even if that is all you are doing perhaps America would have been better served if the media asked follow up questions, pointing out, you know the previous answer was a lie. When Bush says Saddam forced out the inspectors in early 2003 would it be so hard to say "umm... no he didn't?"
So Gregory wants to know where Congress was? Well they were mostly in lock step with the pResident. But what about Senators like Ted Kennedy who made speeches against the war (as numerous blogs have pointed out)? That didn't receive much attention Mr. Gregory - and that is the media's fault.
The whole argument of how the press did as much as it could to discuss the pros and cons of the war to be taking place on MSNBC is pathetic. It was MSNBC that fired Phil Donahue who hosted its top rated show because they were worried that he wasn't rah rah for the war. Officially Donahue was fired for low ratings (again he was their top rated show), but that isn't what happened.
The Surrender Of MSNBCAlthough Donahue didn't know it at the time, his fate was sealed a number of weeks ago after NBC News executives received the results of a study commissioned to provide guidance on the future of the news channel.Gregory seems to forget his bosses didn't want him or his fellow journalists to do their job.
That report--shared with me by an NBC news insider--gives an excruciatingly painful assessment of the channel and its programming. Some of recommendations, such as dropping the "America's News Channel," have already been implemented. But the harshest criticism was leveled at Donahue, whom the authors of the study described as "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace."
The study went on to claim that Donahue presented a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war......He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."As Donahue was being shown the door, Fox personality Sean Hannity was campaigning to get antiwar actor David Clennon fired from the CBS drama The Agency, and Martin Sheen, who plays fictional US President Josiah Bartlet on NBC's West Wing series, told the Los Angeles Times that network executives have "let it be known they're very uncomfortable with where I'm at" on Iraq. "The closer the impending war gets, the more the networks seem to be moving to appear 'patriotic'--which seems to mean not being outspoken, or even skeptical," says AllYourTV.com analyst Rick Ellis.Journalists looking for the truth wasn't what the "market" wanted.
- source: Donahue--War Casualty
The truth was bad for business.
And so America's media in its fear of the pathetic Bush administration and their own right wing talk show hosts willfully let itself be lied to. It willfully let itself be manipulated into a war that has cost over 4,000 American soldiers their lives, countless thousands of Iraqi lives, and destroyed our nation's standing, treasury, and economy.
Sorry that you are taking that personally Gregory.
- rob 9:00 AM - [PermaLink] -
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