One of the main McClellan charges is against the media, ie they didn't do a good enough job of harassing him, er, Ari Fleischer, in the run-up to the Iraq war regards the intel. The fact checker at the WaPo agrees (ht Macsmind).
Pardon me, but huh?
If one accepts the premise the media was complicit by not asking the administration enough tough questions beforehand then it seems one must also question why they didn't ask Bill Clinton enough tough questions years earlier, like when he said this. Or when CNN reported this. Or when ABC reported this. Watch that Sheila MacVicar video again and just marvel at where we are now.
This isn't rocket science, folks. The media didn't ask questions because they'd already answered most of them back when Clinton was scaring everyone about the evil menace known as the Butcher of Baghdad. To suddenly say that because we didn't find WMDs this very same man was somehow not worthy of removal anyway seems rather perplexing.
In effect and without saying it, McClellan seems to be saying the media should have been challenging itself. Thing is, the media was only reporting what they were being told in 1999 and 2000 when the above reports aired.
MORE 5/30/08
This is all very interesting. Katie Couric has now weighed in on her pre-war reportorial guilt and others are pointing fingers at the corporate suits for hushing any criticism of Bush's "propaganda" campaign regarding a hated figure America already knew a whole lot about before 9/11.
Obviously the premise is that the war was a complete and total failure--a worthless endeavor even though we got rid of Saddam and his minions and their support for terrorism in the region. Matter of fact, since 9/11 we've seen the departure of quite a few notorious figures--Arafat, Saddam, the Taliban, Mughniyeh, and a host of top AQ figures. Yet somehow it's been a total failure and we need change, change we can believe in. Go figure.
MORE 5/30/08
Powerline continues to point out the stark difference between MSM coverage of Feith's book and McClellan's. Meanwhile, we have the media hyenas all debating whether they were tough enough in covering the run-up. Hell, they're dropping the ball right now covering the epilogue.
2 comments:
Amazing all the shifting of blame going on in the so-called 4th Estate. Say what you will about Mr. Bush . . . he at least takes responsibility for his decisions. It is something that liberals have a very hard time doing, which in and of itself speaks volumes about their character.
Wonder where Hillary Clinton is on this issue? Haven't heard much.
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