Washington Post Hits ROCK BOTTOM

[jackstraw45]

February 6, 2003 - Lead Editorial:

Irrefutable

Thursday, February 6, 2003; Page A36

AFTER SECRETARY OF STATE Colin L. Powell's presentation to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, it is hard to imagine how anyone could doubt that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.
(cut)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A32515-2003Feb5¬Found=true
_____

Lead editorial from July 16, 2003:

Wait for the Facts

Wednesday, July 16, 2003; Page A22

A COUPLE OF questions have crystallized about the Bush administration's handling of intelligence information on Iraq.

(cut)

And so far there is no hard evidence that President Bush or his top aides knowingly falsified the case for war.

(cut)

Yet that does not mean the decision for war was based on false information. The Africa nugget, after all, formed a small part of the president's argument -- and like other questionable parts of the administration's case, it was widely disputed before the war. The heart of the argument -- that Iraq had repeatedly defied disarmament orders from the United Nations-- was endorsed in December by all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council, and remains indisputable.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62128-2003Jul15.html
_______

Finally, this UNBELIEVABLE editorial from Sunday:

Mr. Gore's Blurred View

Sunday, August 10, 2003; Page B06


THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL race seems to be carrying the Democratic Party in a dangerous direction on the issues of the Iraq war and national security -- dangerous for the nation and risky for the party too. Some of the candidates are more off course than others. If they listen to former vice president Al Gore, who took it upon himself last week to suggest a theme of attack for the nine candidates, they will all go off the cliff.

(cut)
This notion -- that we were all somehow bamboozled into war -- is part of Mr. Gore's larger conviction that Mr. Bush has put one over on the nation, and not just with regard to Iraq.

You can see why he might want to think so. Mr. Gore believes, for example, that the Patriot Act represents "a broad and extreme invasion of our privacy rights in the name of terrorism." But then how to explain that 98 senators -- including all four Democratic senators now running for president -- voted for it? The president's economic and environmental policies represent an "ideologically narrow agenda" serving only "powerful and wealthy groups and individuals who manage to work their way into the inner circle."

But then why do so many other people support those policies? Mr. Gore has an umbrella explanation, albeit one that many Americans might find a tad insulting: "The administration has developed a highly effective propaganda machine to embed in the public mind mythologies. . . . "

(cut)

Sen. Joe Lieberman has found plenty to criticize in the Bush administration foreign policy without abandoning his longstanding support of American strength and democracy promotion. It's an honorable position, and one that doesn't depend on portraying everyone else as poor saps duped by wizardly Bush propaganda.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39381-2003Aug9.html


I guess the TRUTH HURTS the Post.

Anyone know of a good deal on the NY Times?

[jackstraw45]

1. Also....

Today's paper was a DISGRACE.

2/3rds of the first 9 pages were about the California recall - mostly articles pumping the Terminator and one article about the Democrats being confused.

At least 3 major stories about the Bush "election" campaign and one page 3 story titled: "Tax Cuts Will Do the Job, President says."

To the right of that, the Politics column with NO democratic coverage - instead, a blurb about the Busch beer company supporting Bush instead of Gephardt - Gee, what a shock - big corporate America, getting FAT the past few years on the back of taxpayers, would support *? What a SHOCK! :eyes:

All in all, not a SINGLE story or WORD about the Democratic candidates for president or ANY counter story to ANY of the Bush stories.

This Recall Mania is going to severely hurt the Dem candidates who need to start developing their national message come fall.

[diplomats]

5. At least the recall will be over by Oct. 7

but it s hard to compete for attention with all the Swarzenegger hoopla. BTW, that last editorial you posted truly is laughable. No such thing as propoganda from the Rovian WH? Was the writer of the piece born yesterday?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Wash Post...

might as well be the Moonie Times!!! It's a right wing rag sheet!!!!

[blm]

3. Washington Post has long been spook central.

Except they are of the BFEE variety, not the good guys who are on to the Bush loyalists.

[CBHagman]

24. Refresh my memory. Is BFEE...

...Bush Family Evil Empire?

[wtmusic]

4. The Post is just the Post

And it's showing signs of desperation.

They've always had a conservative agenda and to see them putting such an obvious skew is IMO a good sign.

[jackstraw45]

6. Awesome EJ Dionne editorial

He's not a full-time Post employee but he's the BEST thing at the Post. Calls it like it is....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46937-2003Aug11.html
___

Having Dished It Out . . .

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, August 12, 2003; Page A13

Isn't the hatred shown our president just awful, especially when we face such serious challenges to our national security?
One major politician called the administration's policies an "abject national embarrassment."

A former national security official said the president "has squandered American credibility and undermined our preeminence around the world." Another highly respected foreign policy expert said the administration "has not been able to distinguish between professorial concepts and foreign policy." A key House leader insisted that "the president does not have the divine right of a king." He accused the administration of providing the public with "the spin, the whole spin, and nothing but the spin." An important senator called the president "a jerk," and a House member said: "He still looks like a small man in a big office and an illegitimate president."

Terrible, terrible stuff.

(cut)

The first quotation about the administration being a "national embarrassment" came from Dick Cheney....

(cut)

[Kolesar]

7. Please consider this take on Wa Po--they have been pursuing the "lies"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=162291

What you cited was an editorial. We usually expect the worst from their (and others!) opinion pieces. Fortunately, the reporters are doing real work. (Yes, it all seems so bizarre).

edit:fix formatting

[jackstraw45]

10. Believe me, I know the difference...

And yes, Pincus and Milibank has gotten some articles across and Pincus had a big article on Sunday. But considering how much we at DU have researched this, there should be MORE articles and follow up research to the questions raised. But there is no second day follow-up - just more photo-ops of Bush at the ranch and stories about Arnold.

The editorial sway of the "Independent" paper is clear and many people in this town flip straight to the editorial pages before reading the actual "news."

And today's news coverage WAS pathetic. Hopefully it's just the August-summer factor but I felt like I was reading the Washington Times.

Just venting some frustration that has been building with this paper for some time.

[Kolesar]

19. understood, keep swinging slugger n/t

[madrchsod]

8. i deleted wp from

my bookmarks along time ago. they get thier instructions from karl. the joe blurb-straight from last weeks rnc e-mail where they praised joe in almost the same words. you certainy don`t need a weatherman to tell you which way the wp blows...

[pansypoo53219]

9. i am quite sure

that they will be capible of debasing themselves further.

[HFishbine]

11. Lame arguments

Instead of facing the facts head on (does the Patriot Act trample constitutional rights? Do the president's policies represent narrow interests?) the Post diverts attention from those questions by simply asking, but why are they so popular?

They might well have written in the 1930's, "If facism is so bad, if rounding up Jews is so wrong, why is the Nazi movement so popular?"

Lame, lame, lame. A fifth grader would get an "F" for this kind of effort.

[Neecy]

12. Very lame

And the Post fails to tell us just WHO finds these policies "popular". Let's see...perhaps the WP itself, who stands to gain quite a bit from the recent media deregulation? The same WP who owns Newsweek and several television stations? The same WP who had to divest itself from its local DC television station under the old rules?

Almost all of our 'journalism' now is nothing more than a HUGE conflict of interest.

[jackstraw45]

14. Is there ANY independent PRINT media left?

Is there any daily non-free paper out there that isn't owned by the big boys of media consolidation?

[wtmusic]

13. Good point

and a much safer perspective as far as not offending one's readership.

[ILeft]

28. If marijuana is so bad, why is it so popular? If Islamic...

...fundamentalism is so bad, why is it so popular?

Not very deep thinking from the WP. More likely, the WP is part of the "highly effective propaganda machine."

[Jacobin]

15. WP is an arm of the PNAC cabal

They have gone to the Dark Side and are government promoters (as long as its a kick ass kill arabs in the M.E. government).

They are history and are not worth using as toilet paper.

R.I.P. Washington Post.

They have completely and utterly forfeited their role as a government watchdog. They are not a newspaper. They are a propaganda machine for the junta.

Don't waste your time reading their drivel.

[jackstraw45]

17. PNAC

I find it interesting that there has been no mention of the extraordinary influence of the PNAC in the mainstream "news."

The influence is as clear as day yet it is being kept under wraps by the mainstream media.

[WilliamPitt]

16. There is one - just one - reason to read the Post

Walter Pincus.

You'd think the editors might read him, too.

[Paragon]

18. Pardon the interruption, but...

...you gotta love Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon. The Siskel & Ebert (RIP, Gene) of sports.

The rest of it is toilet paper.

[dennis4868]

20. The editorials are written by Rove but....

the Post has been good at going after Bush on the Iraqi lies....not great but good....which is more than I can say for alot of the other media outlets.

[jackstraw45]

21. Washington is such a pathetic sports town though..

It's funny watching the writers get all excited about the Wizards and Redskins every year.

Kornheiser is funny but I find most of Wilbon's columns to be off target.

[Paragon]

23. There is comedy inherent in all sports radio/TV/writing...

...it's all speculation and jock-sniffing, anyway. Tony and Mike know that and have fun with it.

Try living here in Cincinnati and watching our sports teams -- now THAT's comedy.

[tom_paine]

22. Ohh, I think it can go MUCH lower

Remember, these are THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

You think the Post will look more like Soviet Pravda or the Post of 1973, by the time the Mad Reign of George P. Caligula rolls around in the '20s and '30s?

I know what I think.

[CBHagman]

25. Did you write a letter to the Post?

There were a few responses to the editorial in the paper the other day. You should line up all the goofball editorials and respond. They need to print letter unmasking their fatuous stance.

[jackstraw45]

27. Yes

I urge everyone to do the same.

Letters Via E-Mail

Send e-mail letters to [e-mail]. Do not send attachments; they will not be read.

Letters Via Regular Mail

Letters should sent to:

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20071

___

Michael Getler is the ombudsman for The Washington Post. Before taking on this position in November 2000, he served as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune from 1996 until 2000. He can be reached at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail], or c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20071.

[RichM]

26. Here's the most loathesome part in the smearing of Gore's speech, IMO-

"...And because of these "false impressions," the nation didn't conduct a proper debate about the war. But there was extensive debate going back many years; last fall and winter the nation debated little else..."

These shameless scum are calling what happened last fall a "debate," meaning -- a genuine national dialogue. It was actually anything but that. It was a time when anyone daring to oppose the march to war was labelled a traitor, sneered at, & vilified -- with the help of the Post itself. For the Post now to paint this ugly time as one of "extensive national debate" is nothing less than standing the truth on its head.

First they help ram the country into war with their sneering filthy propaganda -- then they claim, 10 months later, that we all enjoyed a high-minded genuine national discussion. Sinking to lower depths than this would be difficult.

[Mandate My Ass]

29. Shamelessness all the way through this tripe

I loved this lead in to the editorial:

"If you allow someone like Saddam Hussein to get nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, how many people is he going to kill with such weapons? He's already demonstrated a willingness to use these weapons. He poison-gassed his own people. He used poison gas and other weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors. This man has no compunction about killing lots and lots of people."

-- Al Gore, Dec. 16, 1998

The Post fails to point out this statement was not made as an endorsement for a military invasion and pre-emptive war. This technique, when used in a journalistically responsible way, is quite powerful but is never used against the Bush administration. If they ever want to start pointing out inconsistencies in statements made by the administration, they could easily fill a whole edition with them.

[jackstraw45]

30. Also, this was in 1998

when the Clinton administration was criticized for striking at Iraq's weapons program with missiles which probably destroyed their weapons capabilities.

a 5 year old comment - way to dig THAT up Wash. Post.

:eyes:

[Brian Sweat]

31. I hope they didn't hurt their heads.

[LuCifer]

32. Man, that makes me almost appreciate the Scum Satanel!

And for those of you who aren't familiar with the South FL Sun Sentinel, it's a consistent right wing mullet-wrapper AT BEST. Out of the 4 major papers down here (the others being the Havami Herald, Boca News and Palm Beach Post--which is actually not TOO bad...sometimes), the SS was the ONLY one that had the BALLS to endorse KKKing George Uno back in 1992. Even the usually rightwing Herald knew better!!! Twits.

Lu Cifer

[David__77]

33. Flock of warmongers...

Washington Post is the establishment, bipartisan paper of record for the war crowd.