When progress is deemed a failure

[sirs]

...or in this case, a negative.  Damned if we do, and damned if we don't.  But there's no bias in the media     

"These first few weeks since the Iraq surge started, the number of deaths in Baghdad has plummeted by an astonishing 85 percent. But on the downside, some analysts worry this could ultimately embolden America to overstay its welcome and provoke greater bloodshed down the road." — Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan reporting from Baghdad on the April 1 CBS Evening News.

Has anyone yet seen any substantive stories from the mainscream media that's actually just focused on some of the positive aspects/developments that have occured?  Has anyone heard of the huge amount of intel we've been getting on terrorists and insurgents by citizens embolden to come forward now that we've actually demonstrated our resolve during this surge, and staying in these danger zones rather than immediately pulling back?  Anyone?

[BT]

You won't get it from the MSM but you will get it from bloggers, embebbed or otherwise.

[sirs]

Thank God for radio, the internet, and bloggers     

[BT]

DISINTERESTED JOURNALISM: John McCain heckled by CNN reporter.

Ah, professionalism.

UPDATE: Hard to argue: "Michael Ware's behavior here is flat out unprofessional. If CNN keeps him on staff after this incident, that says something, doesn't it?"

ANOTHER UPDATE: John Tabin: "Heckling at a press conference is very rude, and wouldn't be acceptable even from an opinion journalist (I wouldn't dream of laughing in Nancy Pelosi's face during a press conference). That said, isn't it better when guys like Ware let their biases hang out, rather than embedding them in reports that are ostensibly objective?"

Wouldn't it be better still if they just did an honest job of doing, you know, their jobs?

And if a blogger had done this, wouldn't the usual CJR types be tugging their beards and talking about the dangers of admitting unwashed, unprofessional blogger-types to press conferences? 'Cause bloggers can't be trusted to behave properly around the grownups the way professional journalists can. . . .

MORE: Reader Patrick Carroll emails:


We've seen things like this a few times in recent years. Take, for example, "The Khmer Rouge Canon 1975-1979: The Standard Total Academic View on Cambodia" (http://jim.com/canon.htm).

Basically, a consensus forms about what should be the standard view on an issue, after which all reporting supports the view, and all dissidence is treated to screaming anathema. I call this current doctrine, this current dogma, the "Standard Total Journalistic View of Iraq".

The STJVI is that we've lost. We're screwups. We deserve the world's hatred. Iraq cannot be saved. John McCain's failure to toe the line got him the screaming anathema.

This is going to get worse, you know.


Hmm. There's a developing standard view on journalists and the war, too.

Lots of links to follow

[Mucho]

Why not? We have had 4 years of failure deemed as progress by you retards.

[BT]

Why not? We have had 4 years of failure deemed as progress by you retards.

Glad to see one of the libs best and brightest is back posting again.

[sirs]

DISINTERESTED JOURNALISM: John McCain heckled by CNN reporter.

UPDATE: Hard to argue: "Michael Ware's behavior here is flat out unprofessional. If CNN keeps him on staff after this incident, that says something, doesn't it?"

ANOTHER UPDATE: John Tabin: "Heckling at a press conference is very rude, and wouldn't be acceptable even from an opinion journalist (I wouldn't dream of laughing in Nancy Pelosi's face during a press conference). That said, isn't it better when guys like Ware let their biases hang out, rather than embedding them in reports that are ostensibly objective?"

And if a blogger had done this, wouldn't the usual CJR types be tugging their beards and talking about the dangers of admitting unwashed, unprofessional blogger-types to press conferences? 'Cause bloggers can't be trusted to behave properly around the grownups the way professional journalists can. . . .

CNN's response

[Religious Dick]

http://web.mac.com/cynthiadelmar/iWeb/MickWare/News/A3E3E0C4-D255-47FC-8821-606048513522.html

[Universe Prince]

Wouldn't it be better still if they just did an honest job of doing, you know, their jobs?

And if a blogger had done this, wouldn't the usual CJR types be tugging their beards and talking about the dangers of admitting unwashed, unprofessional blogger-types to press conferences?

That seems highly ironic given that Ware actually did not heckle McCain. Maybe this is an example of why bloggers have such a hard time gaining respect in the mainstream news community?

[The_Professor]

Why not? We have had 4 years of failure deemed as progress by you retards.

Why this ignoramous is allowed here is beyond me! Gee ,what an ass! If you cannot contribute in a worthy manner, as Delenn said "Be somewhere else!"

[sirs]

Why not? We have had 4 years of failure deemed as progress by you retards.

Why this ignoramous is allowed here is beyond me! Gee ,what an ass! If you cannot contribute in a worthy manner, as Delenn said "Be somewhere else!"

You know Professor, I remember a scene on the old Jonny Carson show.  George Gobell, was the last guest following Bob Hope & Dean Martin.  George had such a great line after Johnny had welcomed him on the show.  George was politiely acknowledging how the last guest is basically the least important, by way of referencing something along the lines of, "You know Johnny, did you ever think life was a tuxedo, and you're (referencing himself) just a pair of brown shoes?"  Well, the stuff that those brown shoes step in can provide more substance than any of knute's dribble he posts here. 

I apologise for my non-substantive addition, to this thread

[Plane]

Why not? We have had 4 years of failure deemed as progress by you retards.

Why this ignoramus is allowed here is beyond me! Gee ,what an ass! If you cannot contribute in a worthy manner, as Delenn said "Be somewhere else!"

You know Professor, I remember a scene on the old Johnny Carson show.  George Gobell, was the last guest following Bob Hope & Dean Martin.  George had such a great line after Johnny had welcomed him on the show.  George was politely acknowledging how the last guest is basically the least important, by way of referencing something along the lines of, "You know Johnny, did you ever think life was a tuxedo, and you're (referencing himself) was just a pair of brown shoes?"  Well, the stuff that those brown shoes step in can provide more substance than any of knute's dribble he posts here. 

I apologize for my non-substantive addition, to this thread

The internet as a technological marvel continues to give all interested observers a bad case of awe.

But its content is basically no more sophisticated than the communication of the cavemen of Lascaux.

This question of how much civility we should extend to one another is one that we frequently return to.

We have lost some very good members that I really miss  , due to the corrosive effect of intemperate posts.

I miss the ones that were banned as much as the ones who left in disgust.

As far as I can , I would like to encourage both tolerance and temperance , challenging everyone to set their own standard a notch higher than the standard they demand of others.

[The_Professor]

and you can be a peacemaker too much so that you end up losing your saltiness. Stand up!

[sirs]

The Bad News Is the Good News Is Right
President Bush has done a good job in the war against al Qaeda, Reuters reports. Seriously:

Bush's administration has crippled al Qaeda's ability to carry out major attacks on U.S. . . .

Even as al Qaeda tries to rebuild operations in Pakistan, experts including current and former intelligence officials believe the group would have a hard time staging another September 11 because of U.S. success at killing or capturing senior members whose skills and experience have not been replaced.

But of course you know this is really bad news. The dispatch is titled "Bush Success vs. al Qaeda Breeds Long-Term Worries," and the text we omitted from the lead paragraph reads, ". . .  but at a political and economic cost that could leave the country more vulnerable in years to come, experts say."

One of those "experts" is Michael Scheuer, who was last seen describing the Holocaust Museum as part of a Jewish conspiracy to control America:

"Look at al Qaeda's plans," said Michael Scheuer, who once led the CIA team devoted to finding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "They're very simply defined in two phrases: spread out America's forces and bleed the United States to bankruptcy. I'd argue America has been under attack successfully every day since 9/11 from that perspective.

"If you're looking at it from the cave, or wherever al Qaeda is hiding at the moment, you have to be pretty happy with the way the world is moving," he said.

Our favorite, though, is the closing quote in the piece:

IntelCenter chief executive Ben Venzke said the chance of an al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil has grown based on the militant network's increasing references to the American homeland in public messages.

"Our leading thinking is that we are closer now to an attempt at a major attack in the United States than at any point since 9/11," Venzke said.

There is no denying Venzke is right. If an al Qaeda attack is in the future, then it is closer now than at any point since 9/11. Venzke has stumbled onto something profound: the linear and sequential nature of time.

There are other disturbing implications as well. If you survived 9/11--and this is true no matter who you are--you are more than five years closer to death now than you were then. Reuters should look into this aspect of the story. No doubt they can find some experts to explain that it's President Bush's fault.


Article

[Plane]

Even as al Qaeda tries to rebuild operations in Pakistan, experts including current and former intelligence officials believe the group would have a hard time staging another September 11 because of U.S. success at killing or capturing senior members whose skills and experience have not been replaced."

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I agree with this statement, this seems to be the origional goal , but we ave passed it with no fanfare because the new goalpoasts were erected before the old one was passed.