Another Fine Day For America's "Journalists"

In another sad commentary on the state of our mainstream media, reporters covering Sen. Obama's visit to Jerusalem yesterday were interrupted by frantic messages from their editors back in the U.S. that right wing blogger Matt Drudge had described a "mob scene" at the Wailing Wall. Of course, nothing of the sort happened.

Too many of these mainstream press morons are letting Drudge be their assignment editor and guru. Enough. Do your own checking, think for yourselves, and make yourselves worthy of the first amendment.

This Comes As No Surprise

A study by two independent journalism organizations has documented repeated instances where the Bush Assministration made hundreds of false statements - - 935 to be exact - - concerning Iraq as a threat to our national security from September 11, 2001 to the 2003 invasion. The study indicates that the Assministration wanted to build public opinion for an attack on Iraq, and used false information in the process. The study also notes that the major media organizations propagated the false information without any independent checking or verification of the claims being made.

Then there's this little nugget in Newsweek. Was Dumbya's invasion of Iraq based more on the Bush family's well known hatred and fear of Saddam Hussein, and a lot less on national security? Again, comes as no surprise.

The Great Smear Mystery

In 2000, Sen. "Walnuts" McCain was running in the Rethugs' South Carolina primary for the presidential nomination. His only opposition was none other than George "Dumbya" Bush. An anonymous smear campaign was launched against McCain, which alleged that his wife was a drug abuser and his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was an illegitimate African-American baby that McCain fathered. McCain lost the primary.

As Glenn Greenwald points out, the mainstream media has always avoided probing the source of the smears, although it was obvious that the only beneficiary was Dumbya, who was the kind of guy the dopes in the media "wanted to have a beer with." The media never followed the trail of the smear back to its origin in likeable Dumbya's campaign, which was being run by Rove. To this day, they act mystified as to where the smear could have come from. Now, eight years later, during this primary season, they're trying to make amends with some rather fawning press for Walnuts. The more things change, etc.

Our Broken MSM, Cont'd.

Everywhere, from the esteemed pundits appearing on the op-ed pages of the WaPo and NY Times, to the TV gab fests, there is abundant evidence of the outright laziness and cynicism of the mainstream media. For example, Glenn Greenwald takes apart the WaPo "national political reporter" Shailagh Murray for her idiotic non-response to questioners on the Scootin' Scooter affair. She seems bored with the fact that there's so much "flap" about the convicted felon, ignoring the evidence of a continuing obstruction of justice by Dumbya himself. It's all "YAAWN" to Ms. Murray, who condescendingly implies that the "department store managers and orthodontists" shouldn't concern themselves with the government being hijacked and corrupted. Let the Shailagh Murrays of the press inform the unwashed masses: "Nothing to see here, move along."

The Myth of Conservative America

A fascinating report by Media Matters for America argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, America is not fundamentally conservative but rather is progressive across a wide range of issues -- and getting more progressive all the time. Utilizing data from nonpartisan sources, the report demonstrates how, from issues such as the economy, security, role of government, health care, the environment and more, the public holds progressive positions and supports progressive solutions. This has been a steady trend over the last 3 decades, the report shows.

What makes this all the more interesting is the trend over the past decade, at least, of conservative media expansion and consolidation (the Murdoch empire, the Clear Channel and Sinclair radio empires, ABC/Disney, etc.), not to mention the "MSM" with its Glenn Becks, *ucker Carlsons, Mark Halperins, Tweetys, etc., trivializing politics with their focus on John Edwards' haircuts, Al Gore's weight, Barack Obama's middle name, and Hillary Clinton's "bitchiness." It gives one reason to hope.

Recycling Bin

The Daily Howler's report on one of the new books out on Hillary Clinton is right on target. The disreputable team of Van Natta and Gerth have individually indulged in political porn about the Clintons before, and there's nothing new here but the same questionable information and innuendo. The mainstream media will no doubt recycle it endlessly (any bets that Tweety Matthews will be cackling about it tonight?). Strange how with all of the oddballs among the Rethug candidates that the MSM keeps obsessing on the Clintons. Must be that they don't like Presidents who play with the truth. . .oh wait, then they'd be after Chimpy, too. Never mind.

UPDATE: As expected, Tweety was rolling around getting himself dirty in the new books on Hillary. You can tell when he's "excited" because the drool starts flowing.