There is no better example of the power of the MSM to shape narrative than Dana Milbank's current article at the Washington Post, where he not only misquotes Obama but also writes in a snarky tone that is entirely inappropriate for a serious reporter.

There are times that I wish the MSM would just die the ignoble death it deserves. Work like Milbank's and others that have been cited here powerfully shape false narratives, which, having become a meme like flip-flopper, are nearly impossible to dispel even when they are clearly and demonstrably false.

I believe deeply in a free press, but surely that does not mean they are free to print lies. In addition to journalistic ethics there need to be other consequences for the lazy journalism that dominates the MSM these days.

We are at heart highly emotional creatures with predispositions to react favorably to false information that reinforces our preconceptions and prejudices. And political operatives and their lackeys in the MSM will continue to do what they have to to exploit those aspects of human nature to their advantage unless there are consequences.

Excellent post today Glenn. Although I'm anything but delighted to see the idiotic personality-based turn in the media, I'm very happy to see you taking them on. I saw Milbank's article in the Post yesterday and was absolutely disgusted by it. Judging by the 2500+ comments on it, I wasn't the only one.

The folks that write this garbage must be made of some other ethical cloth than folks like you and me. I literally could not live with myself if I had to make my living doing what they do. Is the money and access to power so good that it assuages any guilt they might feel for dumbing down the discourse on such important issues. And in the case of Couric, Milbank, and Fox news, how do they justify the distortions and outright lies they print and speak?

At some level these are people with only half a soul and virtually no moral compass.

Pundits are all about spin. That's what most of them are paid to do. And this little bit of unintentional honesty shows just how deep the spin runs. They are nothing but highly paid shills who should be shunned and ignored.

Very nice essay, Garrison. I think the issue about the Republicans flushing history down the toilet to reinvent themselves as the reformers that can clean up the very mess that they made needs amplification. We are a nation that deeply believes in second chances and the ability of the individual to reinvent him or herself repeatedly. While that may (or may not) be a good thing for individuals (a little forgiveness in light of real contrition is good IMO), it is dangerous in the extreme where nations, political parties and other institutions of power are concerned.

Why are we, as Americans, so congenitally afraid of studying and learning from history? Why did the nation, in the time of Ronald Reagan, willingly ignore the original reasons for regulation of many industries and just assume that all regulation was bad and that the free market would inevitably improve those industries? Why do we forget even the golden rule when dealing with other nations?

Only a nation with memory loss would willingly allow itself to be fooled by the current Republican ploy in the absence of any real evidence that they will do something different this time.

It gets harder and harder to live here every day. There must be some part of the world where the people are not so willfully ignorant and proud of it.

Nicely reported Glenn. Frankly, I simply do not trust our government to tell us or anyone else the truth about much of anything these days. And the fact the Fox News would lie and distort the truth is also (unfortunately) not really news at all. What I find most disturbing is the fact that so many formerly legitimate news organizations and individuals employed by those news organizations play along with this BS and have been so thoroughly coopted.

I think this is exemplified particularly well by the roll of Jim Angle in all this. A former Senior White House Correspondent for National Public Radio, Angle was once a respected journalist. Now he is part of the same uncritical mass that lies to us and fails to do the hard work of real journalism to help us stay informed about our government and important issues of the day. The same can be said for Cokie Roberts, Mara Liasson, and Juan Williams, all of whom have commercial gigs for major news corporations while continuing to work for NPR.

I'm old enough to remember when it was a point of pride that NPR correspondents were independent of the commercial media. Everyone knew they weren't paid very well, but that they could usually be counted upon to work to get the real story and keep us better informed than the commercial sources of information.

All of that is gone now. They have been either seduced or intimidated (or both) into making a pact with the commercial "news" providers and the quality of NPR's reporting has suffered dearly. Of course, there is also the fact that the Bush administration attempted to stage a right wing coup at NPR and Public Broadcasting via their high level appointments.

We are becoming some horrible hybrid of news media driven by purely commercial interests (do whatever you have to to get the maximum number of eyeballs to watch) and a media that is an unthinking propaganda arm of our government. Only the rise of the internet gives me any hope that we can succeed in returning to some semblance of honesty to the system.