Chris Hitchens and AP: what gives?

[wtmusic]

There is something distinctly encouraging about Hitchens' review of F911, and AP's recent criticism of Clinton's book:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2102723

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=499&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_en_ot/clinton_book_review_1&printer=1

They're both probably right: Hitchens' to the extent that Michael will try to milk more out of his facts than he should; AP that Clinton's book is too long (how can a 950-page auto NOT be too long?).

But it's the tone that's important: Hitchen's vein-popping review, no shorty in its own right, is so full of bloated angry adjectives that it nullifies any valid criticism. Hitchens just doesn't want Moore to be right. AP, which comes down hard on Clinton's book, has yet to recover from this laughable "attack" on John Kerry (he "swills white wine" and spends $33 on soft-shell crabs, they feverishly report):

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040620/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=694&ncid=1963&sid=96378798

Why encouraging? Desperation doesn't really look good on anyone, but especially on these two icons of current affairs. Their agenda is showing...

[Dogmudgeon]

1. There's also "catering" to the hard left

For instance, the story about Clinton starts with the case of Ricky Ray Rector, the brain-damaged cop killer who Clinton refused to pardon; Rector died in the Arkansas death chamber during the '92 campaign. But for all the times I've seen that story trotted out to evoke progressive tears, I've never heard why Rector was brain-damaged.

It turns out that rather than face capture, poor old Ricky Ray shot himself in the head. He intended to kill himself, but failed in the attempt.

Not that I support the death penalty -- I don't, and the case is a negative mark toward Clinton -- but it's funny that the story is always used to evoke hatred of Clinton from the left, and they never explain that Rector was not a poor victim of God's blind watchmaking skills meeting state vengeance.

It's the journalistic form of the Right's craven obsession with cheap irony, like "Reverse Discrimination," Trent Lott calling Bill Clinton a war monger, and the idea that Gay marriage is a form of bigotry against "Christians".

--bkl