Glenn Greenwald: Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media

[babylonsister]

OUCH!


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/?last_story=/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/19/cohen/

Glenn Greenwald
Tuesday June 19, 2007 07:50 EST
Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media

(updated below - updated again)

Richard Cohen's Washington Post column this morning is a true tour de force in explaining the function of our Beltway media stars. Cohen's column -- which grieves over the grave and tragic injustice brought down upon Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- should be immediately laminated and placed into the Smithsonian History Museum as an exhibit which, standing alone, will explain so much about what happened to our country over the last six years. It is really that good.

One could write media criticisms for the next several years and not come close to capturing the essence of our Beltway media the way Cohen did in this single paragraph:

With the sentencing of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald has apparently finished his work, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, to make a mountain out of a molehill. At the urging of the liberal press (especially the New York Times), he was appointed to look into a run-of-the-mill leak and wound up prosecuting not the leaker -- Richard Armitage of the State Department -- but Libby, convicted in the end of lying. This is not an entirely trivial matter since government officials should not lie to grand juries, but neither should they be called to account for practicing the dark art of politics. As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

That really is the central belief of our Beltway press, captured so brilliantly by Cohen in this perfect nutshell. When it comes to the behavior of our highest and most powerful government officials, our Beltway media preaches, "it is often best to keep the lights off." If that isn't the perfect motto for our bold, intrepid, hard-nosed political press, then nothing is.

That is the motto that should be inscribed at the top of Fred Hiatt's Editorial Page in pretty calligraphy. And let us acknowledge what a truly superb job they have been doing in keeping the lights off.

Eric Boehlert (h/t Attaturk) previously documented just a few of Cohen's heroic light-blocking efforts over the years ("The case for war is a good one," pronounced Cohen in February of 2003), and my personal favorite is here, where Cohen mocked Howard Dean as a "fool or a Frenchman" for daring irreverently to question the obviously conclusive case made by the Serious Colin Powell about Iraq's massive WMD stockpiles. As is true for so many of our Beltway elite, the fact that war opponents turned out to be so right, and our serious Beltway geniuses so wrong, has increased the contempt for those who were right; hence, in defending the pro-war Libby, Cohen hurls one insult after the next at war opponents and blames the Libby injustice on "them."

more...

[Captain Hilts]

1. Does Cohen know the CIA requested the special prosecutor? I guess not. nt

[senseandsensibility]

2. k and r

Thanks for posting this. :hi:

[babylonsister]

4. No, thank YOU for reading it!

:hi: :thumbsup:

[Missy Vixen]

3. That's going to leave a mark!

K&R!

BTW, Mr. Cohen might want to try some amorous activity with the lights on. Just sayin'.

Julie

[Olney Blue]

5. I nearly choked on my coffee reading Cohen's article this morning.

WTF? I couldn't believe we were living in the same country!

[Senator]

6. These Are The People Stopping Impeachment

They are the ones generating the GroupThink.

We buy into it -- with "lights off" -- at our (continuing) peril.

---

[leftofthedial]

7. how do these clowns keep their jobs?

oh, yeah. They're doing *EXACTLY* what they're paid to do.

I hate what this fucking country has become.

[Jacobin]

8. WaPo is chock full of neocon whack jobs these days

its sad that the paper has descended to such depths.

My 'favorite' was when the WaPo was going to contribute a bunch of money to some Pentagon war parade to celebrate "IraqNam" in its early phases and was shamed out of doing it by numerous letters to the editor.

[loudsue]

10. The neocons DID hold a parade, and only 60 people showed up.

They had chairs for thousands, the "no-shows" making the "shows" look all the more foolish. I wish I had a picture saved of the whole ordeal.

:kick:

[Hamlette]

9. here's a pretty funny thread on the column at Sadlyno.com

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/6247.html#more-6247

Cohen said: As with sex or real estate, it is often best to keep the lights off.

My fav posts:

The lights off??! Then I cannot read the instructions, or see the colour-coded arrows, and eventually the Frau Doktorin loses patience.

A few strategically-placed spotlights are good, at the very least. Candles stopped being romantic after I found out the hard way about the flammability of beards.

Yes, of course I’m talking about real estate.

Reminder, kids: don’t get in the elevator with the nice Mr. Cohen if you think the power might go out. Take the stairs
response

Oh, come on. He’s only after your huge tracts of land.

it is going to be funny when the onion announces they’ve been publishing “blogs for Bush” all along. the joke will be on us.

i really really really hope that this is the case. i really do. please?

as for richard cohen, the same applies, but i think it will be the AEI that announces he’s a bot they programmed to be a “liberal” in 93. and that, my friends, isn’t funny at all.

K&R