I just had a very unpleasant experience. I watched Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd have the most fatuous discussion of gender and politics I’ve ever had the misfortune to witness. Don’t cry for poor Maureen being taken to task for her shallow interpretation of modern sex roles. She deserves every bit of disapprobation she gets.
I knew that Matthews was a masculine virtues obsessed sexist, what with his endless carping about how Hillary comes off as cold and humorless and how real men will lie to their wives and say they support her but won’t have the stomach to do the dirty deed when they get in the voting booth. I did not know that Maureen agreed with him.
Here was her adorable sign-off (approvingly quoting someone else) as Matthews drooled into his cuffs, making the point that women don’t necessarily vote for women:
“Take 11 men and you get a football team. Take 11 women and you get a riot.”
Dizzy broads. Next thing you know they’ll be driving and everything.
During an interview with conservative MSNBC host Tucker Carlson, Wright responded to Carlson’s question about offering a left-leaning channel by saying that progressives “don’t listen to a lot of radio and they don’t watch a lot of television” (Broadcasting & Cable, 11/13/05).
I don’t know where he gets his information, but I suspect he’s relying on some absurd stereotype. It’s also likely that his impression that “the left” isn’t relevant comes from the statistics that only 20% of the country identifies as liberal while everyone else is a moderate or a conservative. This is not true. That is branding, something a Network TV guy should know all about.
The Republicans have spent decades branding the word liberal (and now progressive) as bad and the word conservative as good. “Moderate” has become a default self-designation in situations where you don’t want to carry the baggage of the GOP’s demonization of the words liberal or progressive in public. (I’ve done it myself.) It is useless to use those words to designate anything of substance and I wish that people would even stop trying. Many people who think of themselves as moderate aren’t and many people who think of themselves as liberal, progressive or conservative are actually moderates. These are value laden terms that have little actual function anymore. They mean too many different things. The only useful designations at this point are from voting patterns and party ID — Democrat, Republican and Independent.
Considering the political divide as it really is, Bob Wright, the president of NBC News is saying that the 50% of the public who vote for the Democrats don’t watch television or listen to the radio. That’s ridiculous. The only logical explanation as to why “the left” doesn’t watch his news programs is because they are dominated by screaming Republican shills.
I’m such a ridiculous political junkie, I even watch FOXNews. But if I didn’t write this blog I wouldn’t bother. I don’t blame any Democratic voter for not tuning in — it’s like watching people from another planet most of the time.
This is why I’d like to call your attention to this diary over at Daily Kos by JustWinBaby that points out that Keith Olbermann’s show is now the highest rated show on MSNBC. If you don’t watch it already, give it a try. He’s found the sweet spot between The Daily Show’s fake news and the absurdity of the Real News. He tells the stories that need to be told — and he understands the difference between humor and Rovian character assassination.
If Robert Wright is in the business of making money instead of kissing the GOP establishment’s ass on behalf of GE, perhaps he will reevaluate his belief that “liberals don’t watch TV” and see that there is a rather large cadre among the 50 million Democratic voters who are dying to see their politics well represented — and the real stories of what’s happening in our political system — on television. Up until now all we’ve had is a choice of GOP fiction to choose from. Might as well watch the good looking actors instead of the ugly ones.
This little chat with Len Downie from the Post this morning is far less revealing than the “water-cooler” message board of yesterday, but it’s interesting in one respect. (Check out this excellent analysis of that embarrassing inside look at the WaPo social and professional hierarchy from Glen Greenwald.)
Downie does a great Scott McLellan impression by being robotically unresponsive, but nobody really asks the right question either. Woodward’s public statements were egregious but not because he was stating his personal opinion and breaking the Washington Post’s rules — they were egregious because of the opinions themselves. It’s clear that he’s on the side of the social climbing tut-tutters like that mincing fop Richard Cohen:
COHEN: I‘ve said for a long time—I‘ve agreed with Bob on this. I didn‘t know why Bob was feeling so strongly about it.
But no matter what, it‘s a silly case—it‘s a silly case about nothing much and it‘s doing a lot of damage. I mean, you now have to worry about getting subpoenaed for doing routine reporting, you have to worry about your sources worrying that they‘re going to be revealed. It‘s done nobody any good.
The prosecutor didn‘t bring an indictment relating to the original underlying crime. It‘s an indictment about a cover-up. I mean, it‘s the Martha Stewart thing all over again. It‘s not the crime itself, it‘s not admitting to the crime or the alleged crime or whatever it is…
think in this case—I mean, maybe then I‘m as ignorant as the next guy, but I read that original Novak column and I said so. I didn‘t think a big deal about it. So she was a CIA operative. It didn‘t jump out at me that there was a possible violation of the law.
I think there were a lot of people in Washington, clearly there were a lot of people in Washington and at the White House who were saying, “Hey, if you really want to know why Wilson went to Africa, it was because his wife sent him.”
It seems to me routine dirty politics. It is what Washington does all the time.
Pittsburgh used to do steel; Washington does character assassination.
I’m surprised he didn’t pull out a snuff box and take a big ‘ol snort right there on TV. Not since Leona Helmsley have we seen such bored contempt for bourgeois notions like open government and honest political discourse. (Cohen agrees with his soul mate Karl Rove on that,by the way, who testified before the grand jury that “discrediting” Wilson with a full on character assassination was SOP.)
If politicians and the press want to know why they get no respect from the people, this is why. They openly defend dirty politics, pooh-pooh our outrage against it, and then expect us to look up to them.
Bob Woodward and Richard Cohen think that Fitzgerald is some sort of obsessed Javert chasing down the poor journalists and their sources over a little loaf of DC’s staff of life — the politics of personal destruction. To the rest of us, it’s clear that the law is the only institution left capable of sorting out the truth now that the press and the politicians are so cozy that it literally takes a threat of jail to get journalists to report important stories about our most powerful leaders.
Bob Woodward very likely knew on the day that Novak revealed that Wilson’s wife was CIA that this was a coordinated leak, not idle gossip. He most certainly knew that it was a coordinated leak when he found out that Libby and Rove had both “idly gossipped” about this to other reporters. Yet in his media appearances he made it quite clear that he believes that it was a trivial matter. I think we must take him at his word.
The elite press corps see the Nixonian dirty politics that have completely distorted our political discourse over the last 30 years as social currency. Swift-boating and McCain’s black daughter and Linda Trip’s tapes and Al Gore’s suits are entertainment to them and the dissemination of this entertainment buys them access for what they think are their “serious” stories. We are told to just “get over” partisan impeachments, stolen elections and even lying about nuclear weapons.
Richard Cohen and his ilk believed that dirty politics are what Washington “does” the way that Hollywood makes movies or Detroit makes cars while the rest of us rubes maintained the strange belief that Washington is supposed to serve the people. That’s the heart of this crisis in journalism. The elite press corps have completely missed the biggest political story of the last quarter century because they were having so much fun laughing and cavorting with their Republican sources that they failed to see that a powerful, criminal political machine was built upon the “trivial” acts of character assassination they found so amusing.
Update: I just realized I got a little nod in Howard Kurtz’s column this morning on this point. I guess I won’t be getting any invitations to the Christmas party at the Bradlee’s. (Just the thought of that ever even being considered makes me chuckle.)
Interestingly, on Sunday, Nov. 6, Woodward was in Toronto, giving a speech to major donors to the UJA. Before the gala dinner at the Royal York Hotel, he spoke to half a dozen reporters, including myself. Here’s my treeware column about it.
But I left stuff out.
You see, I had come loaded for bear, wondering why Woodward had been minimizing the Plame investigation in the previous week. So, while we were waiting for Woodward, who was more than half an hour late, I asked the other reporters if they had prepared ”a line of attack.” None of them had. It was a Sunday, a slow news day, there was no real news hook, and these were fairly young general assignment journos not particularly immersed in these matters. None of them protested against my wanting to dominate the non-news news conference.
So I pounced, firing off three questions at the top, asking about Libby and Plame and the scandal. Among the questions was, knowing what he knows now, would anything have changed in his book about the run-up to the Iraq invasion, Plan of Attack? He replied:
None of the facts that I know of I would change.
The indictment against Scooter Libby has to do with things he told the Grand Jury and the FBI in an investigation that took place really after all of the decision to go to war had been finalized, and I think after I had finished my book.
Not quite, since the book wasn’t published until 2004, some ten months after Woodward and his unnamed administration offical had that conversation about Plame, and nine months before the scandal broke.
Still Woodward continued:
How would I have known that Scooter Libby allegedly lied to the FBI? There’s nothing in that if it was possible to know, you know, it doesn’t change anything.
I guess that, strictly speaking, that’s accurate — but there’s no doubt that Woodward knew that the White House was spinning like mad about members of the Bush administration not being ”knowingly” involved.
Anyway, Woodward bristled at my questions, and actually accused me of ”conducting an interrogation.” He pointedly asked the others if they had any questions. I politely backed off, only to return later to ask about how he felt about the recent blog attack regarding his brushing aside of the Plame case. He said he paid no attention to blogs. He cut off the Q&A and made a super-patronizing comment about us being happy little reporters. (No, I did not like him.)
He made these comments on November 6th. He says in his “statement” to the Wapo yesterday:
The interviews were mostly confidential background interviews for my 2004 book “Plan of Attack” about the leadup to the Iraq war, ongoing reporting for The Washington Post and research for a book on Bush’s second term to be published in 2006. The testimony was given under an agreement with Fitzgerald that he would only ask about specific matters directly relating to his investigation.
[…]
I was first contacted by Fitzgerald’s office on Nov. 3 after one of these officials went to Fitzgerald to discuss an interview with me in mid-June 2003 during which the person told me Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst.
You can understand why Woodward was so testy. He was three days into the realization that his reputation was about to be flushed down the toilet.
And he was being dishonest about the timeline. He knew very well he’d been interviewing the players for his book.
I continue to find it amusing that these journalists get so testy when they find themselves on the receiving end of hard questions. You’d think they, of all people, would know what to expect and know how to handle it. Of course, the WoodMill types are above all that. They just tell the stories their confidential sources give them. If their sources are wrong, what has that to dow with them?
Did fear of being sent to jail keep Woodward from coming forward? If so, this may be an instance of Patrick Fitzgerald’s aggressive approach to journalists backfiring on him in the worst possible way. If subpoenaed, Woodward, given his historic commitment to protecting sources, would almost certainly have refused to testify before the grand jury without a waiver of confidentiality from his source, whom he reports repeatedly refused to give him one. (The source continues to deny Woodward permission to name him publicly.) Which means that Woodward, had he come forward, may well have found himself imprisoned like Judith Miller.
I’d be extremely sympathetic to Bob’s fear of jail time, intrepid reporter that he is, except for this
If the judge would permit it, I would go serve some of her jail time, because I think the principle is that important, and it should be underscored. It’s not a casual idea that we have confidential sources. It is absolutely vital. And I’ll bet there are all kinds of reporters out there, if we could divvy up this four-month jail sentence — I suspect the judge would not permit that, but if he would, I’ll be first in line. It’s that important to our business.
It just breaks my heart that top reporters need to fear jail time for protecting powerful white house officials from being held accountable for their actions. I can hardly hold back the tears. The only thing I can think of for them to do is stop agreeing to listen to the White House’s lies under confidentiality agreements and force them to go on the record with their smears and character assassination. I know that’s a bold step in a new direction but it would alleviate all this fear and trepidation journalists like WoodMill feel when they are forced to “protect” the most powerful peopple on the planet from public disapproval and legal accountability for their actions.
Here’s a good rule of thumb. Don’t shield powerful government officials who use the press for sleazy partisan activity they know the public would disapprove of. Oh, and write the real story, not the sleazy partisan smear job your valued “sources” are feeding you for the privilege of future access. It will pay off in the long run. You’ll find yourself facing subpoenas and jail time far less often.
I urge everyone who can to tune into Hardball today. John Murtha is one of Tweety’s favorite manly pin-ups. He’ll be slavering all over the fact that Murtha has called for immediate withdrawal. (Count how many times he says “stand-up guy.”)
In all seriousness, this may be a turning point. Murtha has said the unthinkable: “It is evident that continued military action is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region.” Yep. We’ve made a mess alright. But our continued presence is making things worse — for everybody.
And the Republicans are predictably lashing out wildly with shrill accusations of “surrender.” They are getting very nervous. This isn’t 2002 and the codpiece isn’t riding an 80% approval rating. The GOP still haven’t yet absorbed the fact that his manufactured popularity was always a mile wide and an eighth of an inch thick.
Their patented jingo schtick is suddenly as starkly out of fashion as The Macarena. Woodwardian Bushism is revealed to be nothing more than a fad that people are now vaguely embarrassed to have embraced in public.
What a shame about all the death and destruction. Thanks Bob.
Update: Uh oh. That hot manly flyboy, JJ McCain, is on. Tweety is squirmy — McCain is defending the administration on Iraq. It’s so hard to love a man when he’s full of shit.
It appears that Sally Quinn is more than just a society martinet. She’s DC’s Doyenne of Doom:
On the evening of Nov. 14, Quinn took her message to the grass roots, addressing approximately 70 folks at a meeting of the Citizens Association of Georgetown. Speaking from the pulpit of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Quinn said that she had gathered enough information to “scare you a lot.”
[…]
Your N95 Mask: The Building Block of Emergency Prep. At her talk, Quinn held this particle-filtering device to her mouth and said that she’s “never without it.” She also stuffs one into the briefcase of her husband, former Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, who she says “grouses” about the precaution.
Pick a Room and Stock It. You need water and food to last a week, a battery-powered radio and flashlight, planned emergency routes, contact numbers for the family, the antibiotics Cipro and doxycycline, a first-aid kit, and plastic sheeting and duct tape. Quinn herself keeps all these things in her home’s laundry room, because it’s “easy to seal off.” Also, her food supply is heavy on the beans, “because they’re nutritious.”
Watch That Gas Gauge. If Quinn’s Georgetown neighbors have spotted her frequently at the gas station recently, it’s not necessarily because she’s doing a lot of traveling. The Postie always keeps her tank full in case catastrophe strikes. In practice, that means that when the needle on her Mercedes-Benz station wagon drops by a fourth, it’s back to the filling station. “Three-quarters is pretty much the rule,” she says.
Two Words: Peanut Butter. Along with a supply of water, Quinn keeps a “large jar” of peanut butter in her car, primarily for the protein. Even a small amount of this staple, says Quinn, will sustain the terrorism victim for quite some time.
Keep the Kayak in the Garage. In a 2003 Post piece, Quinn advocated the use of inflatable kayaks as an evacuation mode for those who live near water. The mass hysteria following Hurricane Katrina, though, has apparently soured Quinn on riparian retreat. “Somebody would stick you up with a gun,” said Quinn of an evacuee headed to the river with a portable craft.
Don’t Bother Putting Masks on Your Dog. At the Georgetown speech, an audience member suggested placing masks on pets to keep them from spreading contagions. Quinn responded that she’d tried putting an N95 on Sparky, her now-deceased Shih Tzu, but it didn’t work.
Don’t Trust Public Officials. In a wide-ranging critique of local and federal preparations for terrorist attacks, Quinn made the following contentions:
•Police and fire officials in the District don’t want to warn residents about the hazards posed by chlorine tankers on D.C. railroad tracks out of fear of causing hysteria.
•Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson’s contention that the nation is prepared for a biological or chemical weapons attack is “the biggest lie.”
•Federal emergency authorities “not only lie, they don’t tell the truth.”
My oh my. Somebody’s speaking a little bit out of turn on that lying business. I have it on good authoirity that all the best administrations lie to the little people for their own good. (Oh, and if Barney and Spot have trouble with their gas masks you can always wrap your pashmina over their little faces and rush them to the heli-pad. Paris and Nikki say it works like a charm.)
I’m a bit surprised that Sally didn’t share with her little Georgetown ladies club the single greatest terrorist precautionary device all the better people have — advance notice.
Via The Daou Report, I learned that courageous investigative journalist and Bush-fluffer Stephen Hayes is trying to obtain access to documents in Harmony, a database of purported Saddam-era documents from Iraq that was developed by the Pentagon. The documents have some very intriguing titles as they appear to be evidence of efforts by Saddam to hide wmd before the Bush invasion. Here are a few, according the intrepid Mr. Hayes:
Possible al Qaeda Terror Members in Iraq Money Transfers from Iraq to Afghanistan Iraqi Intel report on Kurdish Activities: Mention of Kurdish Report on al Qaeda–reference to al Qaeda presence in Salman Pak Locations of Weapons/Ammunition Storage (with map) Iraqi Effort to Cooperate with Saudi Opposition Groups and Individuals Formulas and information about Iraq’s Chemical Weapons Agents Denial and Deception of WMD and Killing of POWs Fedayeen Saddam Responds to IIS regarding rumors of citizens aiding Afghanistan Document from Uday Hussein regarding Taliban activity Chemical Gear for Fedayeen Saddam Memo from the IIS to Hide Information from a U.N. Inspection team (1997) Chemical Agent Purchase Orders (Dec. 2001) Correspondence between various Iraq organizations giving instructions to hide chemicals and equipment Cleaning chemical suits and how to hide chemicals Secret Meeting with Taliban Group Member and Iraqi Government (Nov. 2000)
Now, I know, folks, you think this is just moonbat nonsense. We’d have heard of this stuff by now if there was any there there and even Hayes admits that “most” of the documents retrieved in Iraq were forgeries. And I’ll bet some of you are even thinking, “Don’t let Hayes pollute the discourse any more than it’s already been by reprinting this trash.”
But I agree with Hayes for once, especially since most of these docs, he says, are unclassified. Let’s see them, all of them. Let’s see the originals. All the originals.
Now I’m not saying we will find copies of the Niger forgeries among these documents – I frankly doubt it. Nor am I saying that the Harmony database is evidence of a conspiracy to forge massive documentation to “prove” the Bush case for war, documentation which was never, or only partly, deployed. Or that Harmony was simply an organized campaign of disinformation. Or that the name of the collection supports that kind of interpretation as it sounds like one of those spy jokes: documents in “harmony” with the “case for war.”
But I wouldn’t dream of distrusting my Pentagon that much. I’d just like to see exactly what’s in Harmony. And if it turns out they are a collection of Pentagon forgeries – or more likely, simply category titles with no or little reliable or interesting documentation collected under them, I expect Stephen to tell us in the Weekly Standard loudly and clearly. And long before the next election.
Good luck, Stephen. Keep us posted. Oh, and if you come to New York, I’d love to take you on a tour of Times Square. We can play the shell game. You can make a fortune if you guess right!
UPDATE: Stephen Hayes has now been correctly credited with the information about Harmony.
It’s a sad day when Jonah Goldberg’s shallow little musings are in Robert Sheer’s space on the LA Times op-ed page. His first column features the word “moonbats” and compares FDR to Bush explaining that great presidents lie to us for our own good. He even tells us that we didn’t know WWII was a “good war” until the Holocaust and Hollywood showed us this was true. History, you see, will show that George W. Bush, like FDR, will be remembered as a great president even though he lied because of his bold action in the middle east.
Apparently, he remains blind to the fact that Iraq threatened no one at the time we invaded — and that post world war II, the main legal argument against Germany was that it engaged in a war of aggression. (Germans could have disagreed, of course, arguing that they were only following the “Hitler Pre-emption Doctrine.” We would not have found that persuasive.)
I think it’s rather sad that these doughy little boys dream so of being a Greater Generation that they have to pretend that Iraq, or even the threat of Islamic terrorism, is on the scale of WWII. If FDR lied about WWII, at least we knew at the time that the German and Japanese threat to Europe and China was real — they were invading all over the place; the argument was always about whether it was real to the US until Pearl Harbor. In those days “the national interest” was a fetish for the right. Today, not so much.
