Glenn: Fairness compels me to concede that Cockburn never worked for far-right, pro-war Republican politicians from Kansas -- and I doubt he considers Glenn Reynolds his "blog-father" and Michelle Malkin's minions his "friends" -- so his credentials as a war reporter are obviously suspect. That just goes without saying.

Given Glenn's extensive use of guilt by association, Patrick Cockburn is not believable. He is the son of notorious communist sympathizer Claud Cockburn and brother of notorious liberal writer Alexander Cockburn. Obviously then, he can be neither competent nor credible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Cockburn

The real problem here though is the smarmy snarkiness that is now the basis of most columns by Glenn. He didn't say Klein was lying, he said that Klein was repeating information from the administration and that is sufficient to deem Klein's information suspect if not outright lies passed on.

Ultimately this reduces most of Glenn's writing to, I'm right, because I say so. That's fine for the sycophants here, but the beginning of the end for real world credibility.

JD Johannes has a history as a propagandist. Cockburn has a history of factual reporting and independence.

Then it should have been easy to demonstrate someone as propagandist, rather than try to establish guilt by association. There's little difference between that and trying to prove points by saying "everybody knows...". Your opinion is only that, an opinion, not fact.

In a similar vein, his enemies efforts to tar him as 'wrong' about improvements in Anbar have been hysterically gleeful in part because he's unusually hard to nail.

Being able to make nasty insinuations without stating something concrete is not an admirable quality.

But even there, his decision to eviscerate Joe Klein on the Anbar article is an 'error' that proves the 'rule' he's been trying to establish. Glenn stuck to the issue of anonymous sourcing pretty carefully in that post, but I felt that his suspicion that the good news was untrue was hovering just below the surface of his words.

Which brings up the absurdity that Klein is being blamed for using anonymous sources. Any article by Waas, Hersch, or anyone else in Washington is primarily anonymous sources. Don't believe me, feel free to look for yourself. The next assumption that anything quoted that is anti-Bush is automatically true is equally absurd.

The worst part about all this is that blogging is a derivative media. Has Glenn ever done any real journalism? Of course not. To then sit back and critisize the process is no different than accusing prowar people of being chickenhawks for not participating directly.

The idea he's been promoting is that we should be able to assume that our highly regarded pundits work off of the truth when they write. Instead, it's now most reasonable to assume just the opposite. Nowadays, they trip us up on those rare occasions when they aren't full if it. His snark is separate, and separable, from this sad piece of truth.

Meanwhile you view an undeniable truth as being "tripped up". Zawahiri would be proud of you for echoing the Al Qaeda talking points from last week.

We praise Allah that three years after the Crusader invasion of Iraq, America, Britain and their allies have achieved nothing but losses, disasters and misfortunes. They have become embroiled in Iraq in an unenviable way, despite Bush and Blair's continuous lying.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/04/zawahiri_tape_transcript_to_th.php

As one of the few people here that has been in a coastal city directly hit by a hurricane I can safely say I have never seen a better poster child for incompetence, whining, and fecklessness, by a State, mayor, and citizens of a city, than New Orleans.

Most people can't appreciate the tsunami of money that follows a disaster like Katrina. Billions from the Government, billions more from insurance companies. There is no reason for New Orleans to be lying on it's back and crying for more. It's repulsive to others that have rebuilt and moved on.

Sure there is. The "Billions" don't do New Orleans any good when they're stacked up and rotting in the sun in Hope, Arkansas.

I didn't know the reference to Hope Ak. so I googled and presume you mean trailers. This is a good example of what I'm talking about. It's been nearly two years, the same people waiting for trailers have been in a hotel for a year or better, and they STILL have no clue what to do with themselves? That's just pathetic.

A question for you, Mr. Shooter. Do you live in NO or the gulf coast?

Family is in Pensacola, I was ground zero Hugo '89.