Keep misunderestimating President George W. Bush as The Washington Post did this morning on its front page when it trashed Bush’s 9/11 speech to the nation.
Curious, I wandered over to Wapo’s front page “news” (subscription required) for 9/12 to see what they had to say. Kudlow was right: it was not a straightforward news report, it was analysis veneered with a thin layer of events, and larded with snarky asides. Here is one such passage:
The president’s painstakingly choreographed day was intended by the White House to recapture — at least for a moment — the sense of shared purpose that prevailed in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
But Bush faced a tall order. Although he urged Americans last night to “put aside our differences,” Democrats have been attacking the administration over Iraq and Bush’s national security record, hoping these issues will help them reclaim one or both chambers of Congress in November. Polls suggest the public does not accept Bush’s contention that the war in Iraq is a “central front” in the campaign against terrorists.
Last night, Democrats said Bush politicized the Sept. 11 anniversary. “The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen, but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had ‘nothing’ to do with 9/11,” said Sen Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Bush has sought to shift public opinion in the past two weeks with speeches aimed at explaining the nature and goals of radical Islamists and putting the war in Iraq in a broader — and, he hopes, more popular — context.
And as Kudlow reports, while the MSM continues on this road (the one to oblivion, not the one paved with good intentions), in the real world — the one where people put their money where their mouth is — things are looking good for the Republicans. Tradesports.com is showing gains for the Republicans in the November elections:
The Senate GOP ‘06 contract is up to 84 from 78 just a few days ago. And most important, the House GOP contract is up to an unbelievable 46 today, compared to 38 just a few days ago. Especially for the House race, this is big news.
Kudlow also chortled over the strong gains in the stock market today, following the events of the 9/11 memorial and speech. Traders love tax cutters, despite the foils and curses of the economically illiterate MSM.
| Dow | 11,498.09 | +101.25 | ||
| Nasdaq | 2,215.82 | +42.57 | ||
| S&P 500 | 1,313.11 | +13.57 | ||
| NYSE | 8,348.32 | +86.15 |
The learning curve for journalists seems to be infinite. Somehow I don’t think they’ll ever get over the fact that Woodward and Bernstein are your father’s journalists, and Vietnam is so 20th century that as a meme it’s road kill — very flat, not much left of it. Certainly not enough to dine out on anymore.
Along with their Dem pals, the MSM continues to wander the halls, hoping that things will change. But “things” have changed; it’s the Dems and the MSM who are stuck in a time warp where doom and gloom cloud the atmosphere with threats of scarcity and chaos.
Blinders and wishful thinking don’t make for a sane foreign policy or for prosperity at home, guys. Bad science, bad economic theory, and ignorance of history lead you to the dustbin. Oh, well — you’ll have lots of company as the unions jump in with you. Perhaps being wrong — dead wrong — is less painful when you have lots of company.
6 comments:
Their learning curve has flat lined.
The only consolation is that the media is even worse in Europe - far worse.
The BBC makes CBSABCNBCCNNNYTWaPoNPRPBS look like FoxNews by comparison.
(OK, to you Danes, I am not talking about J-P)....
:-)
The BBC isn't merely worse, but actively working against the west. They're swapping staff with Al Jazeera and it's becoming apparent that many of their own key staff in the news department are either muslim, or are so far up their own ar*es as to believe that brown is white and dark is light. They simply can't be trusted anymore. At least your newsies are doing what they do because they believe, however wrongly, that they're doing the right thing...
This will change. There are hints that Blair is going to cut the BBC loose soon; if not he, then the next PM definitely will. It's served its purpose, but it seems likely that Labour will loose the next election, and the idea of the tories having control over the BBC's charter makes labour very scared. Either way, the corporation is going to be in serious trouble soon.
I thought that President Bush's speech was profoundly well-crafted, stirring, incisive, and to the damned point. (He and his speechwriter[s] should be proud.)
While the "loyal opposition" merely acts like that old sluggish, mud-dwelling fish, the carp. Which is all they seem able to do.
Never a counter proposal of any historical/linguistic/intellectual/polemical depth or one showing the slightest shred national pride or even the simplest understanding of the global threat from Imperialistic Islam. Political pimps of the lightest weight.
For all of his faults, Bush, at least, is fighting for our survival, while his opponents are merely battling for their own.
Internal debate and competition are good for a country and when America's left still use a 40 year old play book and are anti-everything, you are left with a weaker country. Their hate for the right and Bush blinds them from realizing World War III is upon us or addressing other international and domestic issues. The polls have it right as folks are disapproving of Republican majority. The only problem is that they fail to tell you that the leftist Democrats have even worse ratings. Its going to be really interesting in November in America.
Talking about politicians basing action on 40 year old playbooks, from armscontrol.org:
"An August 2005 CRS report identified Saudi Arabia as receiving nearly $55 billion in arms imports from 1997 to 2004, ranking it as the top arms importer for that period among developing world countries. This total far surpassed the second-highest tally of $13 billion for China."
New war, new enemies.
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