Still Waiting

As we watch Dan Rather twist in the wind while the National Guard story transmogrifies into a tale of liberal bias and dirty tricks, let’s not forget that we are still awaiting some apologies for hoaxes and frauds that were happily and unabashedly served up for years at a time by a gullible press corpse.The Daily Howler gives us a little reminder today:

Did CBS run with crudely forged docs? Here at THE HOWLER, we can’t really say. But how comical are the outraged squeals about “liberal bias” which are all over cable? Those squeals are very comical. What does this current episode show? It shows this: If you broadcast a shaky tale about Bush, the world will land on your head in an instant. Does this show the corps’ “liberal bias?” We’d have to say that it does not.

Yes, a shaky tale about Bush has produced instant outrage. But what if you broadcast shaky tales about Democrats? Twelve years later, has anyone ever made the New York Times explain its Jeff Gerth Whitewater hoax—the hoax-like stories that gave the name to a decade of phony tales about Clinton? Has anyone ever made the press to explain all those bogus tales about Gore? And by the way—will anyone ever ask O’Neill why he keeps saying that John Kerry fled? At best, O’Neill’s kooky book is highly marginal; more reasonably judged, the book is a joke. But has anyone landed on O’Neill the way the press corps has beaned Kitty Kelley? Indeed, very few papers have even printed a formal review of O’Neill’s kooky book. Liberal bias? To all appearances, major papers are afraid to say how kooky this book really is.

Readers, treat yourselves to a dark, mordant chuckle! O’Neill has dissembled all over the land—and the wolves are screaming for Dan Rather’s head! But we’re supposed to see these troubling events as the latest proof of a liberal bias. Big orgs have produced a string of fake tales about Dems—but one shaky tale about Bush proves a point. Well-trained pundits swarm over cable. And they know what to yell: Liberal bias!

It an amazing thing to watch. From state troopers to lounge singers to homely office clerks to love story to swift boats, this country has been taken on a multi million dollar right wing funded fraud for over a decade and I still haven’t seen even one “journalist” apologize, retract or even acknowledge it.

Dan Rather will probably resign over this unless something new comes up very soon to back him up. But, if a reporter being duped by somebody with a political agenda is now grounds for resignation, let’s just say that there are going to be a whole lot of job openings in the “liberal” media coming very, very soon. Unless, of course, the standard only applies if it’s a hoax perpetrated against a Republican. In that case then we are talking about a completely different animal, aren’t we? And that animal doesn’t feature the word “liberal” in it’s description.

But, the words “chickenshit whores” do come to mind.