Excerpts from my Dad and I emailing today.
To: Dad:
Remember how yesterday I mentioned that India's response to "please help us in Iraq" was "we'll think about it"? Well, they thought about it. And the answer is "NO."
What was your phrase last night. "it's your mess, YOU clean it up!" Oh, and TIME magazine has jumped on the "Bush Lied" bandwagon. While I appreciate that, I am beginning to have darker cynical thoughts.
I think big media knew all the time that the war was premised on bullshit, but their logic was not so much, "war is good for business," as it was "and if it goes wrong, so is the ensuing investigation and impeachment hearings."
It's all about the nielsens....
To which my father responded, in amuch saner voice,
I think you are absolutely right that the major media knew, or at very least strongly suspected that the Bush case for bullshit. I do not think their pathetic behavior can be explained so simply as "war is a good story". Frankly, I think they were all intimidated. They didn't want to seem unpatriotic or be branded as liberal whiners.
To Dad:
I don't know. I go overboard with media criticism sometimes. I do believe that either way media profits.
One thing that was suggested among the people actively opposing the FCC consolidation plot was that the media was giving the administration a pass on the war for looking the other way on deregulation, a quid pro quo of sorts (as you may recall, word of the then-upcoming FCC vote wasn't on the CBCNBCCBSCNNETC, Inc family of networks until a few days before the vote, at which time it was practically a done deal).
CBCNBCCBSCNNETC, Inc will profit either way. If impeachment ever did go down with this one, you can be sure you'll see the same dramatic graphics and shallow talking heads.
I don't know if I'm correct or paranoid or wacky or not, but I can certainly see it happening. Which I suppose is better than the administration getting away with it.
(On the other hand, sometimes you have to love the disgusting lurid media, especially in cases like this vicious New york Post Headline, NEIL BUSH ADMITS ASIAN FLINGS . Quote of the day "Where are the family values," goes to Sharon Bush herself, as she gave the story to the Post's gossip columnist.)
To: Dad:
Remember how yesterday I mentioned that India's response to "please help us in Iraq" was "we'll think about it"? Well, they thought about it. And the answer is "NO."
What was your phrase last night. "it's your mess, YOU clean it up!" Oh, and TIME magazine has jumped on the "Bush Lied" bandwagon. While I appreciate that, I am beginning to have darker cynical thoughts.
I think big media knew all the time that the war was premised on bullshit, but their logic was not so much, "war is good for business," as it was "and if it goes wrong, so is the ensuing investigation and impeachment hearings."
It's all about the nielsens....
To which my father responded, in amuch saner voice,
I think you are absolutely right that the major media knew, or at very least strongly suspected that the Bush case for bullshit. I do not think their pathetic behavior can be explained so simply as "war is a good story". Frankly, I think they were all intimidated. They didn't want to seem unpatriotic or be branded as liberal whiners.
To Dad:
I don't know. I go overboard with media criticism sometimes. I do believe that either way media profits.
One thing that was suggested among the people actively opposing the FCC consolidation plot was that the media was giving the administration a pass on the war for looking the other way on deregulation, a quid pro quo of sorts (as you may recall, word of the then-upcoming FCC vote wasn't on the CBCNBCCBSCNNETC, Inc family of networks until a few days before the vote, at which time it was practically a done deal).
CBCNBCCBSCNNETC, Inc will profit either way. If impeachment ever did go down with this one, you can be sure you'll see the same dramatic graphics and shallow talking heads.
I don't know if I'm correct or paranoid or wacky or not, but I can certainly see it happening. Which I suppose is better than the administration getting away with it.
(On the other hand, sometimes you have to love the disgusting lurid media, especially in cases like this vicious New york Post Headline, NEIL BUSH ADMITS ASIAN FLINGS . Quote of the day "Where are the family values," goes to Sharon Bush herself, as she gave the story to the Post's gossip columnist.)
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