Sinister, insincere cowboy boots
Women's Issues Watch
Thanks to Melissa for this article, in which we see that women are paying attention to the damage that Bush is doing to women's causes in this country. We also see that conservatives are just shocked that colleges are forced to spend equal amounts of money on men and women's sports. They are so outraged by this that they had to form a commission to propose dismantling Title IX. Pretty amazing what they will spend their time on. As you read the article, you'll know that you have hit the part where the Bushies are lying when you reach the name "Clair Buchan". Ms. Buchan has proven to be even more of a prevaricator than Mr. Fleischer. I'm reminded of the quote "Feminism is the startling idea that women are people."
Also follow the link in the article to The Truth About George. I thought it would be a milquetoast-ian statement of women's issues or some mild critique of Bush. But man, they are really swinging for the fences at that site. Here is the quote at the top of the home page: "When the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush president, five biased justices overruled the people of the United States and trampled on our principles of democracy. Now, an illegitimate president runs rampant, turning this country upside down." All right!
Iraq Watch
Robert Scheer in his article "Bush pushes the big lie to the brink" addresses some of the main falsehoods in our rush to war, and also mentions the diplomat who resigned last week in the face of the evil of this government.
History Watch
More excellent Howler today as Bob Somerby delves into the work of the character assassins who covered Al Gore in the last election. Today's topic is how Gore sometimes wearing cowboy boots was spun into some kind of sinister character flaw. It may seem here that Somerby is being petty and trivial with this analysis, but when you think about the pack mentality of the journalists involved, and how none of them, at the time or apparently at any time afterward, were able to do what Somerby does, with his Lexus-Nexus searches and his quotes from the past, it is amazing that any of them have jobs in what is supposed to be a country guarded by our press. None of them work. None of them bother to check. Each of them follow a lying character assassin right down into the pit. And they know they can get away with it because no one, apart from a very few, ever check on them.
Linked from today's Howler (though the link is broken) is another amazing sartorial story by Somerby from the 2000 election. The culprit this time it is Brian Williams, who was so upset by Gore's polo shirts that he just can't stop mentioning them time and time again. No mention of how the idiot Bush would likely ruin our economy and our foreign policy and start what looks like three wars (now that we are starting to jack around with North Korea) in less than three years. Nope, for the monomaniacal Mr. Williams the important issue was Gore's polo shirts. Read this bit of life in the Bizarro world.
Somerby's work is important in that it not only lets us enjoy our bitter indignation towards the press that has betrayed us so consistently, but it also shows us their playbook. These same tactics will be dragged out against every serious Democratic challenger for 2004, and you have to know the knives are being sharpened in editorial rooms all around the country. As today's Media Whores Online shows, they are still going on and on about John Kerry's "roots" at the Boston Globe, for example.
Talking Points Memo Watch
Josh Marshall is a little too hawkish on the Iraq situation for my taste. But he is also very clear-headed about most other subjects and has the historical chops to back himself up. In the last week he has put together four excellent pieces on his blog. Treat yourself to: the first, where he reminds us that we've managed to screw things up with both the Turks and the Kurds, to our lasting discredit, and that eventually the Bush administration will run out of others to blame for their incompetence. the second, which features quotes from former NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski explaining how the US has managed to isolate itself to a degree not seen since WWII. the third, where he delves into the relationship between career civil servants and political appointees in our government, and how the Bush administration's goal (as usual) is to get rid of the voices of reason and experience and replace them with ideologues. This is an extremely important aspect of how our government is run and how policy is implemented which is all but ignored by the media. The career civil servants among us will appreciate this story. And finally the fourth , where he describes how the North Koreans really really want our attention, and will keep provoking us until they get it. With our current set of foreign policy "experts" running the show, you can be sure that this situation will probably be bungled into yet another war.
Hats off to Josh Marshall for an extraordinary week.
Thanks to Melissa for this article, in which we see that women are paying attention to the damage that Bush is doing to women's causes in this country. We also see that conservatives are just shocked that colleges are forced to spend equal amounts of money on men and women's sports. They are so outraged by this that they had to form a commission to propose dismantling Title IX. Pretty amazing what they will spend their time on. As you read the article, you'll know that you have hit the part where the Bushies are lying when you reach the name "Clair Buchan". Ms. Buchan has proven to be even more of a prevaricator than Mr. Fleischer. I'm reminded of the quote "Feminism is the startling idea that women are people."
Also follow the link in the article to The Truth About George. I thought it would be a milquetoast-ian statement of women's issues or some mild critique of Bush. But man, they are really swinging for the fences at that site. Here is the quote at the top of the home page: "When the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush president, five biased justices overruled the people of the United States and trampled on our principles of democracy. Now, an illegitimate president runs rampant, turning this country upside down." All right!
Iraq Watch
Robert Scheer in his article "Bush pushes the big lie to the brink" addresses some of the main falsehoods in our rush to war, and also mentions the diplomat who resigned last week in the face of the evil of this government.
History Watch
More excellent Howler today as Bob Somerby delves into the work of the character assassins who covered Al Gore in the last election. Today's topic is how Gore sometimes wearing cowboy boots was spun into some kind of sinister character flaw. It may seem here that Somerby is being petty and trivial with this analysis, but when you think about the pack mentality of the journalists involved, and how none of them, at the time or apparently at any time afterward, were able to do what Somerby does, with his Lexus-Nexus searches and his quotes from the past, it is amazing that any of them have jobs in what is supposed to be a country guarded by our press. None of them work. None of them bother to check. Each of them follow a lying character assassin right down into the pit. And they know they can get away with it because no one, apart from a very few, ever check on them.
Linked from today's Howler (though the link is broken) is another amazing sartorial story by Somerby from the 2000 election. The culprit this time it is Brian Williams, who was so upset by Gore's polo shirts that he just can't stop mentioning them time and time again. No mention of how the idiot Bush would likely ruin our economy and our foreign policy and start what looks like three wars (now that we are starting to jack around with North Korea) in less than three years. Nope, for the monomaniacal Mr. Williams the important issue was Gore's polo shirts. Read this bit of life in the Bizarro world.
Somerby's work is important in that it not only lets us enjoy our bitter indignation towards the press that has betrayed us so consistently, but it also shows us their playbook. These same tactics will be dragged out against every serious Democratic challenger for 2004, and you have to know the knives are being sharpened in editorial rooms all around the country. As today's Media Whores Online shows, they are still going on and on about John Kerry's "roots" at the Boston Globe, for example.
Talking Points Memo Watch
Josh Marshall is a little too hawkish on the Iraq situation for my taste. But he is also very clear-headed about most other subjects and has the historical chops to back himself up. In the last week he has put together four excellent pieces on his blog. Treat yourself to: the first, where he reminds us that we've managed to screw things up with both the Turks and the Kurds, to our lasting discredit, and that eventually the Bush administration will run out of others to blame for their incompetence. the second, which features quotes from former NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski explaining how the US has managed to isolate itself to a degree not seen since WWII. the third, where he delves into the relationship between career civil servants and political appointees in our government, and how the Bush administration's goal (as usual) is to get rid of the voices of reason and experience and replace them with ideologues. This is an extremely important aspect of how our government is run and how policy is implemented which is all but ignored by the media. The career civil servants among us will appreciate this story. And finally the fourth , where he describes how the North Koreans really really want our attention, and will keep provoking us until they get it. With our current set of foreign policy "experts" running the show, you can be sure that this situation will probably be bungled into yet another war.
Hats off to Josh Marshall for an extraordinary week.
posted by ProfessorPlum | 10:00 AM
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