SoundBites June 2013
Concealing a Spy Who Hid Torture; Misremembering Thatcher; PBS’s Debate on Social Security
Bursting Benghazi’s Bubble–Only to Boost Bush
Benghazi isn’t the scandal that Obama’s critics make it out to be, the Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl writes. But the real point of his column is to protect the legacy of the Bush White House’s Iraq claims.
Breaking with Bush—Many Years Too Late
When someone says they “broke” with George W. Bush over the Iraq War, you might be inclined to think that they did that sometime before 2006 or so, which is about when Bush strategist-turned-TV pundit Matthew Dowd is saying he left.
George W. Bush Is a Swell Guy, Just Ask His Friends
The opening of the George W. Bush library is generating coverage about the state of the Bush legacy. But if the journalists who were far too generous in their coverage of Bush’s presidency are the same ones writing about how that presidency should be viewed now, he’s in safe hands.
Time’s Rethink on Drones
The new issue of Time has a pretty interesting piece on the debate over Obama’s drone program. One way to measure the shift in official opinion is to consider that a little more than a year ago, the magazine hardly seemed to think there was any debate at all.
Howard Fineman Looks Back on Iraq
Howard Fineman–formerly at Newsweek, now at Huffington Post–tries to come to terms with his Iraq War failures, seemingly with good intentions. But he falls short of addressing a record that shows a remarkable level of enthusiasm for the job of advocating for Bush’s “eyes-on-the-prize decisiveness.”
When It Comes to Drones, Trust the Churchgoing CIA Director
Last night, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews hosted a discussion on the Obama administration’s recently disclosed “white paper” justifying its policy of using drones to strike at U.S. citizens. Matthews ultimately deciding that the policy was defensible–on the grounds that the CIA director Leon Panetta goes to church.
Roger Ailes’ Fantasy World
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes recently renewed his contract, and he gave an interview to explain why. As one might expect, given the we-only-look-biased-because-the-other-guys-are-so-biased philosophy at Fox, he’s motivated by what he sees as the outrageously partisan media everywhere else (MediaBistro, 11/16/12): Ailes was also sparked by what he experienced at a Washington journalists’ dinner. […]
Friedman Asks: Why Did Iraq Do That to George W. Bush?
Some days it’s not easy to make it through a Tom Friedman column. Take today (11/14/12), for instance. I got all the way to the second sentence: Virtually every American president since Dwight Eisenhower has had a Middle Eastern country that brought him grief. In case you’re wondering, he really means every president: For George […]
The Race to Be First to Be Wrong at the Supreme Court
In corporate media there is always a race to be first to report a breaking story seconds before your competitors. It means nothing to the rest of the world–we’re talking a matter of seconds, much of the time–but it’s a point of pride in the news business to be first. Being right is more important, […]
Matthews Remembers Mission Accomplished (Some of It)
On Wednesday (5/2/12), MSNBC host Chris Matthews played a long clip from the Daily Show, where Jon Stewart mocked Republicans who are complaining about Barack Obama’s celebration of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Stewart naturally recalls George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” photo op stunt from 2003. Stewart points out that if Republicans are angry […]
Libya and Terrorist Signatures
Under the headline “Nations Hope Veil Lifts From Libya’s History of Terrorism,” John Burns writes in today’s New York Times (8/30/11): Television footage of the only man convicted in the Lockerbie bombing lying in bed, purportedly comatose with advanced prostate cancer at his Tripoli home, has provided a focal point for a question asked with […]
Hurricanes and Climate Change? Close That Door!
In case you were wondering whether Irene sparked any discussions of climate change, here’s a moment from the panel discussion on ABC‘s This Week (8/30/11): RON BROWNSTEIN (National Journal): Do we want to get into a global warming and a hurricanes discussion? DONNA BRAZILE (Democratic Strategist): No. BROWNSTEIN: I mean, I don’t know if we […]
Bill O’Reilly and the Imaginary Bush Tax Cut Windfall
Fox host Bill O’Reilly laughs off any calls for increasing government spending to help create jobs. Last week he derided Paul Krugman for demanding more stimulus spending. And this guy teaches economics at Princeton University? Unbelievable. People like Bill O’Reilly don’t pay any mind to the fancy pants Nobel Prize committee that gave Krugman one […]
Fox’s Eric Bolling Fans on Terror Facts—Twice
Glenn Beck’s temporary replacement in the 5 p.m. slot on Fox News, Eric Bolling, has started out with a bang. On the July 13 edition of his new show the Five, the host declared: “America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don’t remember any attacks on American soil during that period of time.” […]
Harvey Wasserman on Fukushima; Andrew Fieldhouse on Bush tax cuts
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin061011 Harvey Wasserman and Andrew Fieldhouse @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin061011.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: After a lull in reporting about the Japanese nuclear disaster comes news that officials there are admitting that radiation releases were much larger than previously claimed– not a surprise to critics who saw those early claims as part of a government/corporate/media […]
‘Waterboarding Worked’?
To hear some tell it, the intelligence clues that ultimately led to Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan were generated by the use of torture. But the evidence available so far does not bear this out. Torture advocates on the right are claiming vindication. On Fox News Channel’s O’Reilly Factor (5/2/11), Rep. Peter King (R.-N.Y.) […]
New NYT Columnist’s Bush-Boosting History
Frank Bruni has been named the new Sunday op-ed columnist at the New York Times. Bruni has been writing restaurant reviews for the past few years, but came to a lot of people’s attention as the reporter covering the 2000 campaign of George W. Bush. Bruni went on to write a book about that experience, […]
Newsweek, Like Time, Clutching at Straws to Cheer for Torture
The argument that the finding and killing of Osama bin Laden shows that George W. Bush’s torture policies were justified got another rehearsal in Newsweek fromYale professorStephen Carter (5/5/11): In the end, we were able to track bin Laden because he communicated only through two couriers believed to be brothers. And what was the source […]
Did the WaPo Hire Sean Hannity?
OK, this isn’t Sean Hannity‘s byline in the Post today, but it might as well be. The headline should stop you: In bin Laden Victory, Echoes of the Bush Years The piece–actually written by Scott Wilson and Anne Kornblut–lays out the argument: As President Obama celebrates the signature national-security success of his tenure, he has […]
