No, Levi, you failed to explain. Your explanation is stupid.

If the media uses talking heads, it makes sense for the Bush administration to explain to those talking heads what their position is.

Well, yeah. What I’m saying is that that sort of behavior doesn’t exactly jive with being Bush-hating propagandists, which is one of the great lies about the media that the conservative movement has clung to for years.

And you are really quite dishonest. You quote McClelland on “permanent political campaign mindset” without acknowledging that that kind of political viewpoint predated the Bush administration. That you think no one remembers the Clinton administration because of your long term memory deficit just shows your vacuousness.

But that’s the kind of dishonesty we expect from you.

All politicians try to look good, to be sure. But it wasn’t this bad under Clinton. He at least accomplished some things. He left office popular, with a budget surplus, and without embroiling our armed forces in some never-ending, counter-productive war. Bush hasn’t done anything that hasn’t been an unmitigated disaster. Again, this is a guy whose administration kept detailed records of their efforts to feed a willing press corps reams of propaganda, but can’t remember how the Iraqi military was disbanded. What is that if not negligent incompetence? He was probably trying on flight-suits and practicing his ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech on that day. Because all he cares about is his legacy.

If the media uses talking heads, it makes sense for the Bush administration to explain to those talking heads what their position is.

And you are really quite dishonest. You quote McClelland on “permanent political campaign mindset” without acknowledging that that kind of political viewpoint predated the Bush administration. That you think no one remembers the Clinton administration because of your long term memory deficit just shows your vacuousness.

But that’s the kind of dishonesty we expect from you.

Levi, the reason no one cared about the Pentagon briefings was because there was no there there. It’s a non-story

I will explain. This is a story for a few reasons, the primary one being because it reflects how poorly a job our national media does. They’ll basically let anyone on the air, grant them some sort of independent-sounding title like ‘Military Expert’ or ‘Political Analyst’ and let them say anything, without so much as a hint of scrutiny, or without presenting an alternative viewpoint. How many ‘Military Experts’ did we see all over the news networks in the run up to the Iraq war versus ‘Anti-War Experts?’

This is important because a story like this, wherein the media is a willful accomplice to a Republican propaganda-dissemination campaign, entirely undercuts one of the fundamental tenets of the Republican party’s argument; that the liberals run the media. If the media really was a Bush-hating, Democrat-loving apparatus, why would they do this? Why would they allow themselves to be used as tools in the plans of the Bush administration?

Plainly, it’s because they’re not the biased entity that Republicans would have all of us believe them to be. What they care about is ratings, and so of course they’re going to support a war. People are going to watch more news if there’s a war going on, so why would they do anything to get in the way of the Bush administration? Instead, why wouldn’t they help Republicans to that end? Remember, MSNBC, often-cited as the most liberally biased network, canned Phil Donahue, who hosted their best ratings-getter, simply because he opposed the war. There’s thousands of other examples I could point to that demonstrates how wrong this common Republican myth is, most recently it was the Rev. Wright story, but this captures it perfectly.

Another thing this demonstrates is how politicized George Bush has made the government. When the DoD should have been planning for the occupation and re-building of the country they were about to invade, they were instead worried about public opinion, about how they looked. McClellan calls it the ‘permanent political campaign mindset.’ There are thousands of memos and communications now available to the public (thanks to the ACLU, by the way) that document in great detail and specificity how these ‘military analysts’ were influenced and shaped and rewarded by the DoD, but you ask some of the key players in the rebuilding of Iraq whose idea it was to de-Baathify, or to disband the military, and nobody seems to remember.

None of these fools are concerned with doing a good job leading the country, they worry about how it makes them look. That’s why George Bush is always yammering on about his legacy, and about how history will vindicate him. These are things we know about George Bush, as well as about our hapless media, but the military analysts story is one of the best examples. Non-story my ass.

The prime reason Monty had troubles in Sicily was because he took a good plan and scrapped it. The original plan was for Monty to travel up the east coast and on the east side of Aetna, while Patton traveled up the middle, and on the west side of Aetna, in a supporting role to prevent the Germans from concentrating against Monty. Monty scrapped that plan and forced Patton into a non-role of sitting on his ass in some western beaches. Pattaon,of course, didn’t take to that and understood that maneuver was more important than mere frontal attacks.
Monty was a great corps commander. It’s shame he was promoted over his ability.

Obama’s total reversal on the FISA bill.

Color.
Me.
Shocked.

You mean, a Democrat went back on his long-held principles and betrayed his base? Gedthufugouddahere…

Another thing Greenwald is covering that this blog and other Republican blogs aren’t; Obama’s total reversal on the FISA bill. You morons are jumping up and down over some meaningless campaign finance thing and don’t seem to be aware that he’s totally flipped on something much more important. Greenwald’s hammering him for it, Greenwald is raising money on his blog to run ads against Democrats, Greenwald is taking Kieth Olbermann to task for his blind faith and non-criticism of Obama… and where are the Republican bloggers to be found? Pissing their pants over flag pins, probably.