National Public Radio watchdog Mytwords describes his horror (NPR Check, 1/11/09) at listening while “NPR struggles mightily to convince listeners that there is some grand, noble ‘legacy’ that will exist when the Bush administration leaves the White House”:
Today was a shameless homage to George W. Bush as the “normal, regular guy.” Yeah, Bush is such a likable guy! Linda Wertheimer’s slavish [Weekend Edition Sunday] send-up of Bush is notable for its lack of any serious, critical voices; instead Wertheimer turns to a friend of Bush, and an administration insider, and a charmed reporter clucking about George:
- “Dan Bartlett works in Austin now, but he was a close White House aide for seven years.”
- “Cox Newspapers‘ Ken Herman, who has covered Bush for years, says the president prefers a quiet life.”
- “Don Evans, secretary of commerce in the president’s first term and a friend of 40 years, says that act [quitting abusing alcohol] demonstrated the president’s commitment to his family and to the Bush family’s belief in public service.”
Mytwords concludes that “even if Bush were a likable character, it doesn’t matter a whit. Likability is an utterly worthless measure of a leader’s behavior as characters like Stalin, Idi Amin and Milosevic among others have proven.”
Please remember this when the shills at NPR and PBS plead for your donation in perpetual pledge mode.
Jim Lehrer ain’t hurting … I tell ya what.