Letters to the Editor
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Paul Dirks
I think ondelette might be referring to the Tonkin Gulf metaphorically.
The outcome of the incident was the passage by Congress of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution), which granted Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for escalating American involvement in the Vietnam Conflict.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident
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ondelette
Isn't the Strait of Hormuz somewhere near the Tonkin Gulf?
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but my first response to this story today was to wonder if Cheney has a way to mess with military navigation satellites so that US (or last year, British) ships invade Iranian waters while believing, according to their satellite navigation data, that they are in international waters.
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100 years of solipicism
Greenwald criticizes reporters, saying "Go read Time or The New Republic or The Politico or The Washington Post and see if you can find any examples of straight factual reporting about the remaining candidates, their positions, anything substantive.." Then he admiringly points to an interview with McCain which challenges McCain to explain his 100 years in Iraq statement.
The question and response told me about as much about what will "factually" happen in Iraq as an ET exclusive on Britney's breakdown. Yeah, so McCain thinks the pattern is Korea or Bosnia. So what. Obama wants to invade Pakistan and Clinton would nuke it. I hope all of this dreck is just bagels and coffee for the press corps. I'd rather if all the candidates had to compete on Survivor and we could vote all but one off the island. It would be more reasonable.
That said, I agree with Greenwald 100% and for 100 years.
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Isn't the Strait of Hormuz somewhere near the Tonkin Gulf?
Methinks the correct answer is, just about as close to the Tonkin Gulf as to the Reichstag.
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@Thrasher
There's an amazing phenomenon which for brevity I'll refer to as self-reflection. It actually endows people with the ability to be aware of their own personal preferences and zones of comfort, yet to discard them in the interest of objectivity when the situation requires it.
It doesn't necessarily come naturally to many people but it is pretty much a requirement for reporters, much as math ability and organizational skills are important for accountants.
That reporters fail this basic test IS noteworthy.
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Eric the Redass...
from a lightweight, know-nothing website called Classical Values is making a lame attempt to knock down Glenn Greenwald.
>
http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2008/01/unraveling_unhinged.html#comments
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Now you notice?
The media made Dodd and Biden disappear effectively over the past year by refusing to cover all Democrats equally. Instead, they focussed on their chosen few of Hillary, Obama, and Edwards, led by Tweety starting November 7, 2006, election night. I even heard Tweety the night of the Iowa caucus ask about Edwards, in so many words, "Why is this guy running for President? What are his qualifications?" It would be funny if it were not true. Meanwhile Dodd is gone and so is his agenda to restore the Constitution. It should be criminal.
From Wikipedia, I see Edwards announced first in December 2006, followed by Biden then Dodd in January 2007. If we had real political reporters, not pundits, the media narrative would have started in this order, adding the other candidates as they announced. With more or less equal coverage until voters actually voted. Instead we got the incessesant drumbeat for Hillary, Obama, and Edwards. And guess who, as a result, polled highest and collected the most money? Which then reinforced the media insistence on covering their favorites?
More revealing, perhaps, is that the media have had no problem covering 4-6 Republican candidates more or less equally for the past year. Well, until they got their crush back for McCain in the past few weeks.
I'm surprised it took you this long, Glenn, to notice that the media has made Democratic candidates disappear.
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IF YOU'RE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE, VOTE FOR EDWARDS!!!
The only way that the MSM is going to pay attention to Edwards is if he starts winning elections. So, if you're from New Hampshire, get to the polls tomorrow and VOTE for Edwards!
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Debasing The Democratic Process
Glenn, this post is right on target. The effect of this behaviour is to cheapen electoral politics, avoid substantive discussion on issues, and debase the democratic process. It's deja vu all over again, making the point made by Al Gore in his book THE ASSAULT ON REASON.
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yes I know.
the sense in which the Strait of Hormuz are near the Gulf of Tonkin. I'd also note that both are perilously close to Havana harbor.
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Breaking....
Glenn Greenwald Endorses Edwards!
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News as Entertainment
"Inventing exciting dramatic narratives and predicting outcomes just isn't the role of a political reporter, even thought it's what most of them to do to the exclusion of all else."
Now that news departments are dominated and often run by the media corporations' entertainment divisions, news has become nothing more than a reality show. Reporters have abandoned their historical and civic roots and now do nothing more than shill for their entertainment overlords. Unfortunately, that means they are fulfilling their current job descriptions.
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fun with polls
Hamsher; FireDogLake
It's always great when Fox News calls for civility. After excluding Ron Paul (who is, per some polls, in a statistical tie for third in the GOP New Hampshire primary) from the debate last night, Fox's official pollster [emphasis mine] Frank Luntz's feathers were ruffled because a Paul supporter got into his focus group and taped the proceedings.
The man claims that Luntz was slamming Paul to focus group members, and according to Melissa Bailey of the New Haven Independent, threatened to publish the video on his web site:
Luntz charged the man with breaking the rules by recording the proceedings.
“I’m not part of the media. I have a Web site,” said the Paul supporter, who slipped away before the Independent could ask his name.
“You have a Web site,” echoed Luntz.
“Yeah, that’s not the media!” said the man. Others chimed in — “The Internet doesn’t count.”
Luntz charged the participant with subverting the poll. “Don’t you think you have a responsibility” to answer honestly to the questions? Luntz asked - or tried to, before he got cut off by raging Paulites.