WaPo writers Charles Babington and Michael Abramowitz should stop pretending they're reporting news if all they're going to do is write editorials. From the headline all the way down, that's what they're serving up this morning. They've got the sheep and the goats all separated out for us so we don't have to bother with sorting through an issue and deciding for ourselves. It goes like this: "Republicans bad, President Bush bad. Democrats good, newspapers that disclose classified information good." They've got the whole matter settled for us before we've even taken a second sip of our coffee. Only, I'm a Democrat who doesn't like newspapers disclosing classified information, and I'm hardly the only one. I also don't like newspaper reporters who editorialize under guise of presenting a news story. They accuse the president of playing politics while at the same time they're trying to ink up a win for their own team:
President Bush rallied Republicans with another attack on the media last night, in remarks that highlighted efforts at the White House and on Capitol Hill to gain momentum from recent disclosures about classified programs to fight terrorism.Senior administration officials say the president was outraged by articles in the New York Times and other newspapers about a surveillance program in which the U.S. government has tapped international banking records for information about terrorist financing. But his comments at a Republican fundraiser in a St. Louis suburb yesterday, combined with new moves by GOP congressional leaders, showed how both are working to fan public anger and reap gains from the controversy during a midterm election year in which polls show they are running against stiff headwinds.
Chuck, Mike, trust me: President Bush doesn't have to "fan" public anger about newspapers who think they're the final arbiters on matters of national security; it's already plenty hot. And it's not just the President and the public criticizing the actions of the NYT, but other newspapers as well.
(If needed, WaPo login/pswd=pokemon@pokemon.com/pokemon)
(Via Lucianne.)
Posted by floridacracker at June 29, 2006 09:20 AMSaw an interesting comment somewhere in my ambling this AM...
"The 4th estate is now the 5th column."
There's not much love for the way the MSM papers seem to believe they're above the law and treating us like unenlightened dumbasses they see us as.
Not a lot of love for the lack of judicial response either to the matter of disseminating goverment secret information in a time of war.
Well, I sent them condolences... I mean having the Washignton Post editors mistake your opinion piece for news and get it misclassified and placed in the wrong place in the paper; that's just awful.
Now, everyone will think that these reporters, WaPo editors, and really the entire staff can't tell what a "man on the street" with no formal journalistic training can obviously see regarding the classification of opinion vs news.
I just feel sorry for these two guys.
Posted by: Gekkobear at June 29, 2006 12:58 PMDonnah! A democrat? I never knew.....
Posted by: carl in Atlanta at June 29, 2006 07:41 PMThe day of my 18th birthday, my mom took me down to our beautiful Depression-era Classical Revival courthouse that has a tree out front that takes up half a block, and she got her girl a voter registration application. When I asked her what I was, she said, "Democrat," and she sort of smirked. I knew she'd just scored one off of Dad.
Posted by: Donnah at June 29, 2006 08:57 PMDonnah, I about fell off this chair. A democrat?
The same mom you had took me to that same courthouse when I was 18. The nice lady ask me if I wanted to register Rep. or Dem., and I ask what was the president (Nixon) mom told me, and I said that's what I'll be.
I don't recall mom smiling.
Donnah is just a grand egglette, in all her embryonic/Tony Snow glory.. and we, *we* are witnessing the event. Isn't life wonderful ?
Posted by: csason at June 30, 2006 09:23 AM