More Jive from McCain and the Mainstream Media
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It’s like an exclusive mutual admiration society between John McCain and the mainstream media. This weeks’ stream-of-unconsciousness entry comes from a McCain interview on CNN last Friday where he stated that, if elected, Osama bin Forgotten may face Nuremberg-like justice. McCain doesn’t think he’ll have a hard time gaining worldwide support for that. I think he’s drinking some kind of government-issued Kool-Aid. The Bush administration has squandered so much good will since 9-11 that I find worldwide support for anything we do as a nation difficult to believe. Does anyone even talk about bin Laden anymore?
Of course, Wolf Blitzer failed to remind Senator McCain that the United States has to find bin Laden and arrest him first. That’s something we’ve been unable to do for seven years. At this point, I think you’d have to question whether our government even wants to find bin Laden. For the record, the bin Laden topic was the headline used to grab readers, but it actually occupied only a couple of paragraphs before the subject was changed to moving the location of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and McCain’s well-known position on winning (at all costs, of course) the Iraq war.
Mr. Blitzer failed to ask McCain the hard questions after the topic of bin Laden was raised. Are there really still ongoing efforts to find him? Has there been any progress in locating bin Laden? Is there any kind of strategy being employed? Does the military have any idea where he might be? What is your plan, Senator McCain, to find bin Laden? Here’s a thought: The present administration has no plan and neither does McCain. Failure to pursue this issue has again confirmed that the mainstream media is too wrapped up building McCain’s justice-crusading, straight-talk express image. Nobody wants to find bin Laden because there are too many questions surrounding and too many holes in the government’s official 9-11 story.
In another wartime sham, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan telling the people it was being done to bring bin Laden to justice. Nobody questioned George Bush on that one (yes, not even me). There was an overflow of support for Bush’s intention to apprehend bin Laden from all political persuasions both from within the United States and from around the globe. It was a golden opportunity. Yet, a mere six months after the terrorist attacks when he was asked if any progress was being made, George W. Bush flippantly stated to the media that he doesn’t spend much time thinking about bin Laden because he’s not that important. I think putting this in perspective is critical: Within six months of the 9-11 attacks, the most deadly terrorist event in our history and the only one that has ever happened here, Osama bin Laden went from being Public Enemy No. 1 (you will recall Bush vowing to get him dead or alive) to being “not that important.” That’s when I woke up from my shock-induced patriotic trance and started seeing the Bush administration for what it is.
Nearly eight years later, many (including myself) mistrust anyone who wants to continue Bush’s ill-advised policies and McCain has put himself squarely in that camp. It is apparent that there is a mainstream media blackout on reality. The conversation about bin Laden was absurd. Even more absurd is that a supposedly seasoned journalist like Wolf Blitzer would just let it slide by. It is difficult to take McCain seriously since he offered nothing more than a suggestion for prosecuting bin Laden and absolutely no plan for apprehending him. You can’t have one without the other.
I’ve recently been accused of speaking with venom about certain issues. I freely admit to that. This is, after all, America and every citizen is allowed that under the Constitution regardless of political affiliation. I have a ‘Question Authority’ bumper sticker on my car. I’ve tried to find the origin of the phrase, but can’t seem to pin it down. Some attribute it to Timothy Leary. Others credit Mother Jones. Regardless of who coined it, it’s underlying message of ‘think for yourself’ is good advice. It’s also what our forefathers intended. Not so long ago, questioning authority was the role of the media. However, with the advent of media ‘corporatization’ (for lack of a better word), the role of the media has switched to image building. So much for yet another critical cog in the wheel of checks and balances on our government (and those who aspire to run it).
Comment by Larry on 30 July 2008:
If it’s “like an exclusive mutual mutual admiration society between John McCain and the mainstream media” can you explain this to me.
July 22, 2008
The Washington Times reports the results of a Rasmussen Poll on citizen perceptions regarding the fairness of media coverage of the presidential campaign:
“…a new Rasmussen Reports survey showed nearly 60 percent of voters say Mr. Obama gets better treatment from journalists. Nearly half of voters - 49 percent - said reporters would help Mr. Obama, compared with 14 percent who said Mr. McCain benefited from friendly coverage.
“The Rasmussen survey suggested the perceived trend is intensifying, with those seeing a pro-Obama slant jumping 5 percentage points from last month while views regarding Mr. McCain stayed the same.”
And why is an ultra-liberal using Bill O’Reilly’s word, “Kool-Aid”? Isn’t that coined by a right wing conservative? Tut, tut, tut.
As far as the crux of your post, other than Bush bashing again, you are pretty much correct. No one knows where ol’ Bin is. Most presume he is dead.
In an article posted by MSNBC on June 13, 2008, entitled “Deep Tracks” and posted under terrorism, an interview was done with
a “Western military analyst”.
He was asked earlier that month about reports of Osama Bin Laden being spotted on the slopes of K2, the world?s second highest mountain on the Pakistan-China border, or in the Khost Province of Afghanistan. His response was stunning in both its honesty and its frustration.
“We don’t have a clue where he is or even may be,? the Western analyst said. ?We have had no credible intelligence on OBL since 2001. All the rest is rumor and rubbish either whipped up by the media or churned out in the power corridors of western capitals.”
U.S. officials say the last time a U.S. operative saw Osama Bin Laden was in the famous Predator video shot in August 2000 where he was seen walking with a security contingent near his compound at Tarnak Farms in eastern Afghanistan.
Officials knew Osama Bin Laden was at the battle for Tora Bora when an NSA operative overheard him giving orders on a frequency not normally monitored and not recorded. There were some initial concerns about the identification but the agency later learned from other sources and materials that indeed that had been him.
It is also believed Bin Laden was wounded in the Tora Bora battle and some speculate he has died henceforth. A tape released around Christmas 2001, and thus after the Tora Bora battle, was later determined through time references in the tape to have been made about November 17, 2001.
You made a couple statements in your post questioning the resolve and concerns of our President and his comments. You said, “In another wartime sham, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan telling the people it was being done to bring bin Laden to justice.”
And then you followed it up with, “Yet, a mere six months after the terrorist attacks when he was asked if any progress was being made, George W. Bush flippantly stated to the media that he doesn?t spend much time thinking about bin Laden because he?s not that important.”
Let me fill you in and possible give you a little insight as to why he doesn’t consider Bin Laden as important as he once did. According to the same aritcle by MSNBC the U.S. believes that Bin Laden is more of a titular, inspirational leader, with Zawahiri as CEO and the leading philosopher. There has been some tension, the U.S. believes, between their Saudi and Egyptian underlings. The Egyptians are in charge, but virtually every counter-terrorism official the U.S. talks to notes that North Africans, particularly Libyans, are rising within what they call al-Qaida Central.
Bin Laden makes no clear decisions and no planning, even if he were alive. Zawahiri is the known and clear cut leader of al-Qaida and hence, the number one target now.
I hope this helps you clear up your misunderstandings. And Deb, by all means, speak how your heart tells you. I don’t believe any considerate, magnaninous or benevolent person would truely object. After all, that’s what President Bush and the likes of Senator McCain has given us — the right to speak our minds.
Comment by Deb Della Piana on 30 July 2008:
Hi Larry, thanks for the response. As far as the Rasmussen poll is concerned, I see the exact opposite and I read many newspapers each week, not just my local paper. I do not see the media take John McCain to task on many issues and I do see a tendency to cover up his gaffes, of which there have been many. At present, I am working on an article for a local paper outlining the many issues with media coverage on this issue. I have a three week deadline. After that obligation is met, I will be happy to share it with you by editing it for Hypocrisy and sharing my back-up files.
As for bin Laden being a “titular” or “spiritual” leader, that’s all well and good from a military or tactical perspective. However, 3,000+ people lost their lives here because of that “spiritual” leader and the idea posed by our president was to bring him to justice. It wasn’t just about defeating terrorism. It seems that he has forgotten that, but they haven’t. I can tell you that because I have friends who lost family that day.
As for Kool-Aid being Bill O’Reilly’s? I’ve been using that term for years. I don’t listen to O’Reilly, or as we like to call him here in my household, O’Lielly, to any great degree. My friends and I (yes, all liberals, I’m afraid) started using the ‘Kool-Aid’ term after the Jim Jones affair.
I appreciate your trying to straighten me out, and I respect your belief in the Bush administration, but I do not share that belief. I do not trust one thing that this administration tells me. Unless you have a direct line and are in “insider” and know more than I do, I’ve heard the rationale about bin Laden before. Honestly, I love America and I care about its position in the world and its loss of respect around the globe, and this administration has brought this country down. If so many lies had not been told over the past eight years, I may be inclined to believe what I hear from our government. However, I do not.
Do I think things will be cured the minute Bush leaves office? Hell, no. There’s quite a mess here. I don’t envy the next President, no matter what side of the aisle he comes from.
As for the likes of Bush and McCain being responsible for allowing me to speak my mind? Let’s not even go there. That was done by much greater men many years ago. George Bush and his administration have been like a Constitutional wrecking crew since 9-11. We’re only weaker when our rights are compromised. Unlike many on this site, I’m sure, I see the first priority as being elimination of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
Deb Della Pianas last blog post..Michael Savage just got personal