February 06, 2007
Coming Clean
Isn't it cathartic? (h/t Instapundit)
On Friday night's edition of Inside Washington airing locally on Washington PBS station WETA, the first topic was whether the media's been unfair to President Bush, given his abysmal approval ratings. NPR reporter Nina Totenberg said Bush received a "free ride" for years, so now the worm has turned and the coverage is fierce. Then the host turned to Newsweek's Evan Thomas, who was frank in his assessment of the media's role:Gordon Peterson: "What do you think, Evan? Are the mainstream media bashing the president unfairly?"
Evan Thomas: "Well, our job is to bash the president, that's what we do almost --"
Peterson: "But unfairly?"
Thomas: "Mmmm -- I think when he rebuffed, I think when he just kissed off the Iraq Study Group, the Baker-Hamilton Commission, there was a sense then that he was decoupling himself from public opinion and Congress and the mainstream media, going his own way. At that moment he lost whatever support he had."
The message in that is very simple: the president must never "decouple" himself from the "mainstream media," because they are the key players in maintaining public opinion.
Honesty is such a lonely word.
I voted for Bush, and considering who he was running against would do so again. But that being said, I think him to be one of the worst presidents we have had. He certainly has gone a long way to dividing the Republican party.
Start with the war on terror. What is that anyway? That is like declaring war on the atomic bomb. He should have taken the public energy generated by 911 and channeled it to a war on a definite, inclusive front. Lets say Arab, Muslims. That way he would not have to restrict our freedom (you can't get on a plane without breaking multiple constitutional rules). We would then have a common enemy. But this would have required isolating a group of people and for some reason our politicos can not do that.
Then immigration, enought said, he has done nothing.
The only good thing is the economy. But a president can only control this in a negative sense and has no power to generate a better economic situation. FDR caused much of the depression, but people do not understand that.
So basically Bush sucks, but so do all our politicians.
Posted by: David Caskey at February 6, 2007 09:34 AMI think that President Bush is absolutely horrible at communicating his message. He is an atrocious orator, doesn't ad lib well, his communication skills are close to nil.
And I still think he is 1000 times more honorable than the Ministry of Media and their leftist lemmings.
I think there is absolutely no honor in the profession of journalism at virtually EVERY major media outlet in this country. I believe they are beneath contempt.
I believe they lie, cheat, intentionally mislead, tell half-truths...when there is ANY truth at all to their stories, distort, hide facts, wilfully and maliciously attack anyone who doesn't buy into their warmed over World Populist movement, make idols out of leftist brutes, and denigrate, debase and destroy morale for our military.
I believe they are Americans in property rights only...and in their hearts they routinely root for our enemies.
There is nothing "progressive" about them...they are among the worst offenders for being closed minded, openly biased against certain races, colors, religions and creeds as well as jingoistic and dogmatic.
I believe they are among the worst offenders in lack of support for free speech, rushing to judgment against certain alleged criminal charges, and especially against certain individual and corporate defendants.
In fact, I believe they are nearly OPPOSITE of the faux "mask" they wear...and in what they daily dress themselves up as and hold themselves out as...they are more nearly in behavior and thought...the exact REPLICA...of the villains they paint.
Do they treat EVERY Republican, conservative...non-leftist...unfairly?
Is this a rhetorical question?
Of course they do. That's their modus operandi. Unfair is what they do. Dishonest is what they are. Dishonorable is who they are. Despicable is what they have become.
Posted by: cfbleachers at February 6, 2007 03:32 PMI just deleted the overwhelming majority of comments on this post for being way off-topic.
Folks, don't feed the trolls. Trolls, if you must post at all, post comments relative to the subject at hand, or you will have your comments deleted and your IP banned without warning.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at February 6, 2007 09:25 PM