Awesome New Column by Eric Alterman from the Center for American Progress

[Composed Thinker]

In addition to writing his column for The Nation, completing his weblog on msnbc.com, and other stuff, he's now doing a column for the Center for American Progress. Here's the first one:

Today's Column
Think Again

by Eric Alterman
Center for American Progress
October 23, 2003


Who's Driving This Train?"

Go down the Iraq laundry list; no WMD’s found, bogus intelligence claims, American GIs dying at the clip of at least one-a-day, a billion a week just for security, while Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden still roam the landscape. So what’d the press do last week when covering the war? Blame the Democrats, of course.

We don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression right off the bat here. This column will not be in the business of flacking for the Democrats, with whom we have many problems and differences, as will become evident in weeks ahead. What we hope to identify here is a dreaded media malady we seek to christen “Ontheonehandism.” This is how the So-Called Liberal Media (SCLM) demonstrates their alleged even-handedness by finding ways to criticize Democrats and liberals even when they’re right, no matter how trivial or wrong-headed the critique.

The backdrop this time was the Congressional vote on the Bush administration’s request for $87 billion to rebuild and secure Iraq. A month ago, the vote was a sure-thing. But as Bush's poll numbers continued to fall, and opposition across the country to the big bill rose, even Republicans became nervous about the White House plans for Iraq’s future.

But it was all of the Democrats’ fault. They didn’t hatch the war plan, didn’t plan it, and they didn’t launch it. They didn’t lie and they didn’t screw up the occupation, infuriate the rest of the world, or create a situation where U.S. taxpayers will need to fork over hundreds of billions for years on-end, without any currently credible plan to make the U.S. or the world any safer. Remember, they don’t have access to the levers of power in the House, Senate, or White House, so they can’t effectively fix the quagmire. And even conservative Republican Chuck Hagel <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61308-2003Oct21.html> is worried that Congress gave President Bush too much latitude in conducting foreign policy after the Sept. 11. Still, the pundits demand they refrain even from questioning who’s going to pay for it, how much, and where the money’s going...

http://www.centerforamericanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?cid={E9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03}&bin_id={C3C6585D-479D-4A81-AE4F-19754F049BFA}

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. i sure as hell hope that CAP covers/reveals the BBV issue before all else

[ewagner]

2. So let me get this straight

The New Republic now thinks that Democrats voting the will of their districts is wrong?

Then we are to believe that the only acceptable course of action is to support the administration regardless of the will of the people?

...uuuummmm....who are the real elitist in this scenario?

[teryang]

3. Sad, isn't it?

The taxpayers representative's aren't allowed any say over how their money is being spent for an illegal war and unsuccessful occupation.

The overwhelming majority of Americans were opposed to the bill. Nothing in the democratic bashing about how the prior authorization of 79 billion was to last until May 2004. Why is the vote happening now?