(Update on yesterday's story about neocons and personal accountability.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134858,00.html

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > SPECIAL REPORT W/ BRIT HUME

Friday, October 08, 2004

FRED BARNES: . . . Oil for Food scandal that was I think money wise, probably the biggest scandal in human history, has now become one of the biggest political scandals . . .

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: . . . And it is the biggest scandal in the history of the world . . .

- - "Special Report With Brit Hume"

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/05/08/afx3696239.html

US oil group Chevron Corp is expected to admit it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein for oil bought from Iraq as part of a UN programme, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing investigators.

The company is also facing a fine of between 25-30 mln usd as part of a settlement with US prosecutors, investigators, who declined to be named, told the newspaper.

The Wall Street Journal said the fine, which is still being negotiated, would be the largest paid in the US in connection with the oil-for-food scandal.

- - Forbes

http://chevron.com/news/archive/chevron_press/2001/2001-01-16.asp

CHEVRON PRESS RELEASE ARCHIVES

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 16, 2001 -- Condoleezza Rice, a Chevron Corp. director since 1991, resigned from the company's board, effective Jan. 15. Rice was named President-elect George W. Bush's national security adviser-designate.

"Condi is extraordinarily capable," said Chairman Dave O'Reilly. "Her leadership skills and breadth of experience in government, academia and business have been a tremendous asset to Chevron and will serve her well in the new administration."

For the past two years Rice chaired the board's Public Policy Committee.

- - Chevron Corp.

Can you imagine what Brit Hume and Rush Limbaugh would be saying today, if it had been Nancy Pelosi on the board of Chevron?

Not always. He drifts in and out of it.

Here's what happens when he drifts into concern trolling.

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/opinion/25edsall.html

The Struggle Within
By THOMAS B. EDSALL

Published: November 25, 2006

. . . Is American liberalism dead? . . . The answer . . . is yes.

For the Democratic Party to revive, major tenets of American liberalism, economic and sociocultural, will have to be discarded.

. . . When Democrats bend to the will of liberal interest groups, even in pursuit of laudable goals, the damage to the party’s credibility can be devastating.

. . . Nancy Pelosi and her closest advisers in the House are more likely to support such radioactive amendments than to serve as guard dogs protecting a slender Democratic majority.

. . . Only two members of the House leadership are intuitively attuned to such problems: Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic caucus, and Steny Hoyer, the majority leader . . .

a week later, he continued http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/opinion/02edsall.html

. . . Democrats contemplating retribution have a strong motive to tread cautiously: they just won by campaigning against the abuse of power.

There are lessons to be learned from the opposition.

After a decade of Republicans’ using Congressional power to put the squeeze on Democratic interest groups, Norquist warns that a reign of terror by Democrats “will boomerang against them. It’s exactly the use of power people don’t appreciate.” . . .

- - Thomas B. Edsall

Watch out for those laudable goals! They'll kill yah!

Keep your powder dry!

Don't spend your political capital, or you won't have any!

Tom Edsall revised and extended his remarks to Hugh Hewitt, and Tom Edsall said that the right's "campaign against the media has been more than a victory: it has turned the press into an unwilling, and often unknowing, ally of the right." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/10/06/DI2006100601061.html

washingtonpost.com > Live Discussions
BOOK WORLD
Thomas B. Edsall
Author, "Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power"
Tuesday, October 10, 2006; 3:00 PM
_______________________

Seattle, Wash: Why would you allow Hugh Hewitt to bait you into stupid questions about mainstream media bias and your personal loyalties? He and his ilk thrive on maintaining the illusion of a vast left-wing conspiracy in the news . . .

Thomas B. Edsall: . . . members of the press should acknowledge and discuss their leanings. If anything, that will make them better reporters. Transparency is the best policy for almost all circumstances.
_______________________

New York NY: I find your response to Seattle laughable . . . It's pretty clear to me that most of the WP reporters are center right - i.e. they cling to the establishment and the values that their current paygrade espouses.
Yes, they may be "socially liberal" but even that is questionable . . .
Thomas B. Edsall: I think you have a strong case to make in terms of the establishment leanings of reporters and editors. In the voting booth, however, they overwhelmingly support the Democratic establishment, not the Republican establishment.
_______________________

San Francisco, Calif: Mr. Edsall, I've been a fan since I read "The New Politics of Inequality". I agree with your answer to an earlier question that transparency is the best policy in reporting. Being human, reporters will inevitably have opinions about areas in which they've done lots of research, as you have. "Objectivity" was an honorable goal, but never realistic.
It seems to me that the builders of red-state America used the theory of objectivity in reporting to advance some of the less honest parts of their agenda. What's your take on that? Also, to what extent do you think those builders are interested in transparency with respect to their motives and their funding?
Thomas B. Edsall: The conservative movement has been very effective attacking the media (broadcast and print) for its liberal biases. The refusal of the media to disclose and discuss the ideological leanings of reporters and editors, and the broader claim of objectivity, has made the press overly anxious, and inclined to lean over backwards not to offend critics from the right. In many respects, the campaign against the media has been more than a victory: it has turned the press into an unwilling, and often unknowing, ally of the right.
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- - online discussion at washingtonpost.com, 10/10/2006