Letters to the Editor
mikeinohio
Published Letters: 9 Editor's Choice: 1
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2008 Will Hinge On The Media Issue
[Read the article: Drudge and the Politico -- poisonously joined at the hip]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You used to comment regularly on the political impact of ongoing events in Washington, and particularly on the legal and constitutional ramifications thereof. Since your move to Salon your posts are more often than not merely a lengthy diatribe about how awful the media is.
Glenn, I have greatly enjoyed your writing from the very beginning. Your move to Salon is what precipitated my signing on to become a Premium Member here, after many months of lurking on this site.
While I agree that the subject matter has shifted somewhat since your move here, I think it is a change which is necessary. I believe the behavior of the mainstream media will be the primary determining factor in the fortunes of Democrats, particularly as we approach 2008. I think back to the early stages of the 2004 campaign. I was really just beginning to be exposed to blogs and the political side of the internet. I watched a wide variety of cable news programs, listened to NPR, watched C-Span occasionally and read a range of publications. This was all in an effort to understand the issues, policies and politics in order to discuss them intelligently with those I came in contact with. And what I began to find, in my daily travels through the various media, was that most of what was being reported, particularly as concerned John Kerry, was false. I had stumbled on what others had already discovered. The mainstream media spun "facts" out of whole cloth and succeeded in getting George Bush re-elected. And this wasn't a new-found occurrence. They had done the same thing to Al Gore in 2000.
But we now have, with you and others, some gatekeepers for the mainstream media. It will be one of the highest and most honorable purposes in the coming months. I, for one, am thrilled that you are on board in this capacity. Keep on with the mission. It will be a service to our country.
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C'mon, Ol' John was just misunderstood
[Read the article: It's like "straight talk," only different]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In a radio interview Monday, McCain said that "there are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today."
Well, you know, he's right. He could take a walk in any Baghdad neighborhood right now. Never mind that by the end of the walk his head and his body would likely end up in separate places, but yes, he could take that walk.
And in a CNN appearance Tuesday, McCain told Wolf Blitzer that he "ought to catch up on things." Even outside the Green Zone, McCain said, Iraq is safe enough that Gen. David Petraeus "goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee."
You see, what he means is that the Humvee itself is not armed. It is just an inanimate object. Now the people on the Humvee could be armed. And all the other Humvees around the General could have armed personnel on them. But the Humvee itself would not be armed.
So once again it's just a case of the liberal media twisting St. John's blessed words in order to spread lies about this glorious war he has so fondly embraced. Bill Bennett sees right through it, I'm sure.
Straight Talk McCain, what an oxymoron.
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At some point there has to be a line drawn in the sand
[Read the article: He's sorry now]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The situation with Imus is, in many ways, similar to the argument about making people accountable in the Bush Administration. At some point you have to be accountable for the things that you say and do. That is just the way the world is supposed to, and has to, work. Is he the worst of the worst in the talk-show cesspool? No, he certainly is not. Are there a lot of good things that he does and continues to do? There certainly are. But this point cannot be overstated. When you say things over and over and over in a public venue, you cannot just pull a McCain and say, "Hey, sometimes I misspeak". In the real world you have to bear the responsibility and ramifications for what you say.
Sorry Mr. Imus. You don't get any sympathy or leeway from me. Take your lumps like an adult.
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The Great Big Lie
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Right-wing blogs are excitingly promoting a post by JD Johannes, who has been embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq and writes about all of the Great and Glorious Victories we are Winning over Al Qaeda. Johannes is one of those who has been trying to claim for quite some time that -- as he put it in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute a year ago -- "an unconscionable amount of what we in the press have been feeding the American public regarding the war in Iraq is fashioned by the propaganda arms of our enemies."
We hear things like this over and over and over, trumpeted by many on the right and also, at times, by some mainstream sources. My question is, with all these Great and Glorious Victories in Iraq, when will they be able to point to actual, tangible, measurable improvements in any area of day to day life in Iraq. If we are winning all these victories, why can't they point out representative examples of major breakthroughs? And I'm not talking about just painting schools. Why aren't these people going over there, covering and videotaping all these successes and bringing them back for all the mainstream media to air? Why isn't Fox News playing hour after hour of video showing all these wonderful events?
Could it be, my right wing friends, due to the fact that these "victories" are only in their own tortured minds?