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Banned
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Are the GWOT and the "anti liberal media" noise machine, similar overreactions?
This was on "liberal CNN", two days ago:
Quote:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...itroom.02.html
Aired December 11, 2006 - 17:00 ET
...BLITZER: He went to Kenya, where he was treated as a rock star.
Barack Obama, he is, in fact, a potential presidential candidate. We will watch together with you, Jack. Thanks very much.
And, as Jack just noted, he is clearly a rising political star, and he's a favorite among many Democrats looking toward the next presidential election. And that means a lot of scrutiny for the Illinois senator, from his head, right down to his clothes.
Let's turn to our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield -- Jeff.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Wolf, the political community has gone predictably hysterical over Senator Barack Obama's presidential flirtation.
So, in the spirit of retched excess, let's take a look not at what he's saying, but at another crucially vital matter: what he is wearing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD (voice-over): <b>The senator was in New Hampshire over the weekend, sporting what's getting to be the classic Obama look. Call it business casual, a jacket, a collared shirt, but no tie.</b>
It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama's strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is.
If you want a striking contrast, check out Senator John Kerry as he campaigned back in 2004. He often appeared without a tie, but clad in a blazer, the kind of casual look you see at country clubs and lawn parties in the Hamptons and other toned (ph) locations.
When President Bush wanted in casual mode, he skipped the jacket entirely. Third-generation Skull and Bones at Yale? Don't be silly. Nobody here but us Texas ranchers.
You can think of Bush's apparel as a kind of homage to Ronald Reagan. He may have spent much of his life in Hollywood, but the brush-cutting ranch hand was the image his followers loved, just as the Kennedy sea ferry look provided a striking contrast with, say, Richard Nixon, who apparently couldn't even set out on a beach walk without that "I wish I had spent more time at the office" look.
But, <b>in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of "GQ" to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.</b>
And maybe that's not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now, it is one thing to have a <b>last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil,</b> why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or is that threads? -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Jeff Greenfield reporting for us -- Jeff, thank you very much. ....
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We witnessed the spectacle of the appointee to the office of Secretary of defense, admitting to a senate committee that "we were not winning the war in Iraq"...and meanwhile, folks who believe that CNN is "too liberal", and get their "news" from Fox, the NRO, LGF, and countless other "noise machine sites", suck up the "reporting" of this guy:
Quote:
http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/...ry_and_the.php
........What a terrible situation to be in, having to defend yourself because of your profession. I've always said that the hardest thing about embedding (besides leaving my family) is wearing the badge that says 'PRESS.' That hasn't changed. I hide the badge whenever I can get away with it.
This isn't the first time I encountered this sentiment from the troops. I experienced this attitude from the Marines while I was in western Iraq last year, and the soldiers in the Canadian Army in Afghanistan also expressed frustration with the media's presentation of the war.
Perhaps this tension between the media and the military is nothing new. But it appalls me none the less.
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I think that the reaction to the media is an overreaction, just as the military reaction to the 9/11 attacks was a gross overreaching.
Where might we be today, if we all got our news from the same news gathering and reporting outlets, if the "media is liberal" movement had not created it's radio talk network, internet blog network, and the reaction to 9/11 was an assessment that all of the hijackers had died in the attack, and there was nothing to the idea of a massive military buildup and the invasion of two countries, and the passage of repressive measures like the patriot acts, and the Gitmo and CIA prisons, and the end run around the FISA court?
What if the "media" is not especially liberal, there are no "sleeper cells" of terrorists in the US, and al-Qaeda was not an extraordinary threat to overreact to? Wouldn't this country be better off, more secure, more united, wealthier, with a much better reputation in the international community, than it enjoys now? |