I was rather unipressed with this interview... "awsome" 'like ".

This sounds like teen valley talk. I really cannot take anyone seriously as a reporter if they cannot use proper English.

If this is what we ahve to look forward to in America. We are in deep do do.As far as military leaders and the executive branch contolling miltary PR this is nothing new. Have you ever tried to discuss politics with someone in the military. They give up their rights to any personal political opinion when serving in the military.

Lucky for us that we have a "free" press to contrast the Propaganda Lies of this administration. It is rather amusing to listen to their upbeat reports on how well we are doing in Iraq, then read that Sunnie represenatives are pulling out of the government.

Bush has had the worse press secretaries in the history of this nation. Rather fits well with his presidency

Is that the public dosen't understand the difference between reporting and opinion peices? These guys, O'Reily and lots of others never come out and say they are doing opinion peices, but they are. If anyone ever calls them on it the can claim it is obvious, but most people do not see the destinction.

...on CNN, I think. If anyone Tivoed it, it's worth watching just for the look on Gordon Brown's face, as he hangs on for dear life while our pre-teen Chimperor does his donut for the press corps.

It's godawful embarrassing, but really I don't think we should judge these things until Gen. Petraeus delivers his report in September.

The CA budget is now on hold as the conservative Republicans in the CA Senate has rebelled aganist Arnold and refuse to sign on to the budget, and are about to go on summer vacation and leave the state wihtout money to spend. Seems as if Arnold needs some PR help again.

My vote in the humor balloting goes to Arne's evaluation (on the previous thread) of the relative merits of the Hoover and the Bobbit-model Ginzu knife as tools of emancipation. Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee, and not a single innocent harmed in the process.

Shooter, we're all bemoaning the overt participation by the military in "dog-and-pony shows" for the press in Iraq, designed to leave the flawed impression that Iraq is going well.

Nobody, anywhere, has said that Iraq is going "well". That acceptance by one and all is what makes the "sturm and drang" by you folks so laughable. The two guys from Brookings allowed that progress MIGHT, underline MIGHT, actually be possible, and that has sent the Greenwalds of the world into a tizzy.

As for the "overt participation by the military in dog and pony shows for the press" what would you expect? That reporters get shoved out the door of the green zone with a notepad and white flag? Maybe the beheading of Daniel Pearl didn't register with you? Perhaps you thought that the military would do a "Michael Moore" on itself?

As a supporter of the war, Shooter, you of all people should be interested in the unvarnished truth. But instead, you and your dead-end 30%ers would rather flatly ignore the continuing assessments of our military leaders as they describe the lack of political process and other enormous hurdles to Iraq success, and focus instead on this made-for-TV movie filmed in Iraq.

Heh. One editorial does not a movie make. Apparently you folks have that particular movie running in your heads and can't handle the possibility of a happy ending.

Consider this about the military's press relations. Your side of the aisle has portrayed the military as a force for evil, by closet homicidal maniacs, but you mean that in a good way. It's really Bush's fault that America and it's military are compared to nazis by a Senator, murderers by a member of the House, torturers by the press, and genocidal beasts by the Lancet. Do you think the military should just stand by, and let that be it's characterization without comment or contention? Please. When attacked politically, one has to respond politically.

Ironically it is that realization that is bringing about the potential for something positive in Iraq. Isn't that better than just clearing out and leaving the ME to the "killing sands" like leaving Vietnam preceded the "killing fields"? I should hope so, but the fear of progress demonstrated here leads to no other conclusion but that bad news is all you will accept.

And you even sound proud of your ability to focus on what is clearly bullshit, and claim it as truth, as if this were the winning move in a game among children. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.-- paulpsd7

LOL. you mean like kicking the game board over when you're losing? Yes that is pathetic.

"...it's amazing that he's able to keep up his spirits the way he is.”

No more amazing than your average chump who prays or “talks to God” and feels better afterward. Lets face it, folks. Our president is confident and indomitable because he is a) as delusional as they come, and b) he personally has very little to lose. That his condition was not addressed in time to dismiss him from a career in government is symptomatic of the popularity and power of religious delusions in this country. We can expect more of this insanity with the next president who cites Jesus as his favorite philosopher and God as his “higher father.” Only a lunatic would consult an imaginary friend before going to war instead of consulting a former president who happens to be his father. (Can you imagine the inner turmoil of the elder Bush, who not only knows firsthand the costs of war but never gave the impression that the arrival of Armageddon was something he’d be happy to expedite.) We were screwed from day one with this guy at the helm.

“He is a happy warrior.”

Again, only an imbecile or fellow lunatic can look at this president, knowing his true history, and describe him as a warrior and not be joking. Bush is, and always was, nothing more than a talentless cheerleader who deserved to be stuck on the sidelines but was picked up and carried on the shoulders of wealth and privilege onto the field. The image of Dubya leading a cheer at Andover is so indelible precisely because that is all he is doing now, and all he is capable of doing. He not only never learned that empowering his dangerous mediocrity and stunning ignorance has dire consequences for himself or others, but his religious faith casts all of his actions in the light of inevitability, divinity, and righteousness. Even if the evidence of his failure is staring him right in the face––whether from the front page of those goshdarned newspapers or in the tears of a war widow––he sees Jesus’ magic in everything and simply thinks “The sooner we get this battle between Satan and Jesus out of the way, the better. Bring it on!”