by Kagro X
Froomkin, WaPo:
It seems almost inconceivable: The White House actually invites the press corps to hold it accountable -- but when the time comes, and a key benchmark is missed, the press is silent. And yet that's exactly what has happened. Back in January, when President Bush announced that in spite of the public opinion against the war in Iraq he was going to send in more troops, he repeatedly insisted that what was different this time was that the Iraqis were finally serious about stepping up. ...
"You're going to have to -- you're going to have some opportunities to judge very quickly," one senior administration official said at an official background briefing on January 10, a few hours before Bush's prime-time announcement. "The Iraqis are going to have three brigades within Baghdad within a little more than a month. They have committed to trying to get one brigade in, I think, by the first of February, and two more by the 15th," the official said. "So people are going to be able to see pretty quickly that the Iraqis are or are not stepping up. And that provides the ability to judge." ...
But at a Pentagon press conference yesterday, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Peter Pace acknowledged that only two of those three Iraqi brigades are there: "You've got two of the Iraqi brigades in -- that were going to plussed up in Baghdad in Baghdad now. The third one is moving this month," Pace said. Other press reports suggest that even those two brigades are not anywhere near full strength. And action in Baghdad seems thus far to be almost entirely led by Americans, in stark contrast to what was promised.
Why do so many Americans, across the political spectrum, oppose this escalation?
Some oppose it because they opposed the war from the beginning. Others oppose it only now, because they know the "administration" is lying to them, and cannot be trusted to deliver anything, anywhere as promised, and they're damn well tired of it.
And yet...
Invite the press to follow you around, as Gary Hart famously did, to see if you're having an affair, and they'll pull an all-night stakeout to hold you accountable.
Invite the press to hold you accountable for your four-year-old abomination of a war and the possible deaths of hundreds if not thousands more American troops, then give them specific benchmarks with which to do it, and you get... crickets.
Sound familiar?
Clinton's zipper? "Yes, please!"
Domestic spying? Torture? Intentional destruction of America's intelligence community? "No thanks, moonbats."
Tell us again why Serious and Important People trust your product, and aren't defecting in record numbers to online sources?
I guess the other way of reading it is that some time ago we reached the point where a colossal failure of the Bush Presidency is simply not news.
Posted by: emptypockets | February 16, 2007 at 19:15
In a way that a sick tragedy involving Anna Nicole Smith is not?
Posted by: Kagro X | February 16, 2007 at 21:45
It is not news to me, emptypockets.
Still, Kagro X, you shouldn't bring that poor diseased manipulated lady Anna Nicole into this.
I think that a mention of Britney or Lindsay for your purposes is ok though.
Posted by: Jodi | February 17, 2007 at 00:47
Excuse me.
"deceased" not "diseased."
Posted by: Jodi | February 17, 2007 at 00:50
I'd say Anna Nicole is exactly the apt parallel of the moment.
Posted by: Beel | February 17, 2007 at 09:54
Why do you talk to me, you clown?
Posted by: Kagro X | February 17, 2007 at 15:12
diseased is correct! Alcoholism and chemical dependency are in fact diseases.
Posted by: Montana blogger | February 18, 2007 at 10:50
The people know Bush is lying. And they also know the press won't tell them the truth.
Here's what they believe: those unphotographed boxes covered with American flags are telling the truth. That is what is really happening...and WE THE PEOPLE want it to stop.
We're angry at Bush & his cronies for creating and sustaining this carnage; and we're dubious of the Democrats...will they have the guts and ability to stop it?!
Posted by: Publicus | February 18, 2007 at 17:16
Apparently it doesn't matter whether you are a Republican who voted Saturday for the resolution, or a Democrat who voted for it both times in the Senate, both Norm Coleman and Amy Kloubuchar are getting a piece of everyone's minds at scheduled town meetings. They are getting raw anger over the failure to have debate. These Greater Minnesota Counties where meetings were scheduled over the weekend, are the small rural ones, the ones that largely contribute to the 2500 strong national guard outfit currently in Iraq. It is guard families and small townsfolk and farmers who are mad as hell. The folk are showing up with E-Mail from Iraq and reading it raw -- and then when they comment, it gets more raw. Given my checking, these are all Republican rural counties, this is not the mad students of draftable age during the 60's. I really don't know that the National Press is capable of reporting small town America, but what I am seeing reported, it is going code Red.
Posted by: Sara | February 19, 2007 at 00:18