THEY JUST DON'T GET IT
Lately, I've seen many MSM (Main Stream Media) outlets citing polls that say Pres. Bush has bungled the war in Iraq, often in conjunction with a story about Cindy Sheehan saying "my son died for oil." This is also August, the slowest political news month of the year. I shouldn't expect more of the MSM, but this seems like their own little version of the Tet offensive, during a political holiday. Poor Ms. Sheehan got caught up in this plot to "Vietnamize" Iraq, and has become their leading weapon in it. I don't want to write about her, though. I want to expose the sneaky tactics used by the media, and the fallacy of their opposition to the war in Iraq.
In the liberal MSM's heyday (mid '60's to mid'70's), they brought an end to the Vietnam War, as well as Lyndon B. Johnson's re-election hopes and Richard. M. Nixon's presidency. Today, they are trying to do the same thing to Iraq and Pres. Bush. I cite both Ms. Sheehan and Dan Rather as instruments used to achieve this end. No one knows which person might be a key factor in the next "big story." By that, I mean that the MSM keep seeking people who can change public perception on any given issue, whether it is the war in Iraq or the fitness of the President.
Mr. Rather disgraced himself in the effort to abort George W. Bush's re-election as President. Ms. Sheehan has become the left's hope for ending the Iraq war, though the jury is still out on that, for now. This war is the one policy of the President's that the media can point out how many people died under directly, as opposed to, say, how many people will die from his stem cell funding regulations, or his supposed "raising" of arsenic levels in tap water (they are the same as under Pres. Clinton). Do you see a pattern here? Crazy-ass stories that "fit the pattern" the MSM want to project about Pres. Bush have some effect, but in reality are more like crap thrown against a wall to see what will stick.
Certainly, August was the best month to launch this campaign, with the lack of real news in Washington, and only the continued body count to report on. The media should "seasonally adjust" these poll numbers, as the government does with economic ones, to compensate for the traditional slump in Presidents' poll ratings during this month. Most Americans are either on vacation, or wishing they were. This gives them either an ambivalent attitude, or a negative one, outside of huge "world event" type situations, at least. The poll numbers are flexible, and often predictable; the media know it. This fits in with what I call their "Tet offensive" strategy. The MSM picked the time that all of their "enemies" (the Bush administration, Conservatives and average Republican politicians) thought that they would be off celebrating Summer (as the rest of us are trying to do) to launch the most tear jerking, heart-wrenching attack yet against the Bush administration, over a matter of international security, no less. I also use that term with the history of it in mind: THE U.S. WON THE TET OFFENSIVE IN VIETNAM, BUT WALTER CRONKITE REPORTED IT AS IF WE LOST. This is the legacy that today's liberal media are trying to emulate.
President George W. Bush's presidency will go down in history for many things, most of which relate to 9/11. He deposed the Taliban, giving millions of Afganis a less oppressive government; he took Osama Bin Laden out of action as the operational leader of Al Queda, as well as smashing its leadership's infrastructure. He started a true "war on terrorists" around the world, not just the lip service that his predecessor gave to that notion. Under his watch, the dictator and terrorist Saddam Hussein was brought to justice, and his brutal sons exterminated, giving 22 million Iraqis a chance for a better society (which I have no doubt they will make). He has inspired and fostered democratic movements in more countries than I can name here.
His greatest legacy may be his commitment to civil rights during this war, while being called "worse than Hitler" by some. His critics may scream this, but there is very little evidence of what they are screaming about. This administration has stayed within the letter of the law, and pursued violators of it well before the media exposed them, as in Abu Ghraib. The same goes on the domestic front. For all of the whining about invasions of civil liberties, there aren't more than a handful of actual substantiated violations, which, while not a good thing, are to be expected statistically, just as any violations at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib were.
History will show this to be the most restrained warfare ever waged, both on foreign fronts and domestically. Don't expect to hear this reported any time soon, though. One would be accused of being a "shill" for the President, at the very least.
OK, save it for the history books.
Right now, we are going through the "long, hard slough" of this battle in Iraq, and the MSM are giving oxygen to the terrorists with their focus on Ms. Sheehan's anti war sentiments, as well as their mindless anti-Bush bias. I don't know who I'd rather see stopped first, the left-wing MSM or the terrorists in Iraq. Stopping either one would greatly damage the other. Keep that in mind, when you watch, read, or listen to the news from most major news outlets. Remember, THEY JUST DON'T GET IT.
Crossposted at LOVE AMERICA FIRST!
In the liberal MSM's heyday (mid '60's to mid'70's), they brought an end to the Vietnam War, as well as Lyndon B. Johnson's re-election hopes and Richard. M. Nixon's presidency. Today, they are trying to do the same thing to Iraq and Pres. Bush. I cite both Ms. Sheehan and Dan Rather as instruments used to achieve this end. No one knows which person might be a key factor in the next "big story." By that, I mean that the MSM keep seeking people who can change public perception on any given issue, whether it is the war in Iraq or the fitness of the President.
Mr. Rather disgraced himself in the effort to abort George W. Bush's re-election as President. Ms. Sheehan has become the left's hope for ending the Iraq war, though the jury is still out on that, for now. This war is the one policy of the President's that the media can point out how many people died under directly, as opposed to, say, how many people will die from his stem cell funding regulations, or his supposed "raising" of arsenic levels in tap water (they are the same as under Pres. Clinton). Do you see a pattern here? Crazy-ass stories that "fit the pattern" the MSM want to project about Pres. Bush have some effect, but in reality are more like crap thrown against a wall to see what will stick.
Certainly, August was the best month to launch this campaign, with the lack of real news in Washington, and only the continued body count to report on. The media should "seasonally adjust" these poll numbers, as the government does with economic ones, to compensate for the traditional slump in Presidents' poll ratings during this month. Most Americans are either on vacation, or wishing they were. This gives them either an ambivalent attitude, or a negative one, outside of huge "world event" type situations, at least. The poll numbers are flexible, and often predictable; the media know it. This fits in with what I call their "Tet offensive" strategy. The MSM picked the time that all of their "enemies" (the Bush administration, Conservatives and average Republican politicians) thought that they would be off celebrating Summer (as the rest of us are trying to do) to launch the most tear jerking, heart-wrenching attack yet against the Bush administration, over a matter of international security, no less. I also use that term with the history of it in mind: THE U.S. WON THE TET OFFENSIVE IN VIETNAM, BUT WALTER CRONKITE REPORTED IT AS IF WE LOST. This is the legacy that today's liberal media are trying to emulate.
President George W. Bush's presidency will go down in history for many things, most of which relate to 9/11. He deposed the Taliban, giving millions of Afganis a less oppressive government; he took Osama Bin Laden out of action as the operational leader of Al Queda, as well as smashing its leadership's infrastructure. He started a true "war on terrorists" around the world, not just the lip service that his predecessor gave to that notion. Under his watch, the dictator and terrorist Saddam Hussein was brought to justice, and his brutal sons exterminated, giving 22 million Iraqis a chance for a better society (which I have no doubt they will make). He has inspired and fostered democratic movements in more countries than I can name here.
His greatest legacy may be his commitment to civil rights during this war, while being called "worse than Hitler" by some. His critics may scream this, but there is very little evidence of what they are screaming about. This administration has stayed within the letter of the law, and pursued violators of it well before the media exposed them, as in Abu Ghraib. The same goes on the domestic front. For all of the whining about invasions of civil liberties, there aren't more than a handful of actual substantiated violations, which, while not a good thing, are to be expected statistically, just as any violations at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib were.
History will show this to be the most restrained warfare ever waged, both on foreign fronts and domestically. Don't expect to hear this reported any time soon, though. One would be accused of being a "shill" for the President, at the very least.
OK, save it for the history books.
Right now, we are going through the "long, hard slough" of this battle in Iraq, and the MSM are giving oxygen to the terrorists with their focus on Ms. Sheehan's anti war sentiments, as well as their mindless anti-Bush bias. I don't know who I'd rather see stopped first, the left-wing MSM or the terrorists in Iraq. Stopping either one would greatly damage the other. Keep that in mind, when you watch, read, or listen to the news from most major news outlets. Remember, THEY JUST DON'T GET IT.
Crossposted at LOVE AMERICA FIRST!
Comments
Life has that effect, and frankly, I'm lucky I lived long enough to get my act together. I know that dismal view of the world that allows people to rationalize their acting as badly as they assume everyone else is. Obviously, life is a work in progress. I like progressing, and meeting good people like yourself along the way is a real reward. Thanks for commenting.
Bad enough Sheehan and company are exploiting the honor and memory of Casey Sheehan. But to use the names of fallen soliders for their protest display of white crosses without the permission of the soldier's family is disgusting.
http://mikesamerica.blogspot.com/#112443880052076238
There's also the issue of the divisions in her own family regarding Casey. Is she the only one in the whole family who feels this way?
Good thought-provoking comments, sir!