Patterico's Pontifications

11/6/2006

L.A. Times Struggles Valiantly to Neutralize Good News for GOP — Part One: The Saddam Verdict

Filed under: Dog Trainer,Politics — Patterico @ 7:04 pm



On this last day before the election, the L.A. Times is hard at work trying to put a negative spin on any news that might be positive for Republicans.

For example, the paper’s front page today portrays the Saddam Hussein verdict as bad news for Iraq.

The article omits any historical perspective of the verdict’s importance. Saddam is one of the few genocidal mass murderers that the world has brought to justice in the last 100 years. Does the paper discuss that angle?

No.

Rather, the article focuses on the alleged shortcomings of the trial — and one the possible sectarian strife caused by differing views of the verdict, as shown by the article’s lede:

The trial of Saddam Hussein that ended Sunday with a guilty verdict and death sentence for the former Iraqi leader, once viewed as a means of reconciliation and justice, instead seemed to fuel the sectarian division that grips the country.

It’s hard to imagine that Saddam’s verdict is going to have much effect on sectarian division in Iraq. Have they been holding back until now? The big picture is that a genocidal dictator has been brought to justice, in one of the few times in recent history.

When Mussolini died, did the L.A. Times worry first and foremost about whether the trains would still run on time in Italy?

Next: Part Two — the editors put a negative spin on lower fuel prices.

5 Responses to “L.A. Times Struggles Valiantly to Neutralize Good News for GOP — Part One: The Saddam Verdict”

  1. The Los Angeles Times is hard at work on spinning ; read their headlines; read their conspiracy theory stories–the paper is a disgrace to the city.

    Mike Myers (ec19ef)

  2. […] P.S. Another attempt by the paper to sour the public on good news for the GOP is discussed immediately below. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » L.A. Times Struggles Valiantly to Neutralize Good News for GOP — Part Two: Lower Fuel Prices (421107)

  3. Is saying that OBL should get as much due process as saddam a GOP line or a dem line?

    actus (10527e)

  4. before i even clicked on it, i grinned at the unwittingly self-revelatory “neutralize good news for gop” which revealed its author as shamelessly spinning the saddam verdict himself for partisan advantage, in other words, to maximize good news for gop. i have no tangible evidence that this verdict was timed to create good news for gop, any more than i could show that all the recent gay outings were timed to benefit dem. it’s a shame that everything has to be viewed through a partisan lens /adjusts halo.
    i agree with the guilty verdict. i’m not gonna observe a moment of silence when they hang him, although i wonder if he might be more useful alive.
    the sectarian violence seems to be getting worse. it’s thirty corpses in the river monday, forty corpses in the alley tuesday, wednesday is tuesday+10 on the soccer field. it’s not unreasonable to expect a spike from sunnis feeling aggrieved at the impending execution of their former leader. our people on the ground there wouldn’t have imposed round-the-clock curfews on some neighborhoods if they didn’t agree.
    the trial certainly had some irregularities, all of which were newsworthy. it’s unreasonable to expect an article about the conviction and death sentence to bury these from view.
    was saddam really genocidal? he gassed a village full of kurds, but i’m not aware that he was out to exterminate every single kurd and shiite in iraq.
    i know you’re desperate for good news a day before the election, you wanted more than a dead cat bounce out of this and the times is the most familiar target, but i can assure you that nothing the times could possibly print will be of any help in electing republicans tomorrow. the voters are angry, and i am optimistic that they will shift control of both houses of congress from the scary party to the merely laughable one.

    assistant devil's advocate (e3ff2a)

  5. The MSM stopped doing news decades ago, they do propaganda. It’s not about facts, it’s about their narrative. The NYT and LA Times are just the worst examples. But both have been bleeding paid circulation in recent years, more and more people are catching on that they are useless for news.

    Saddam’s conviction is automatically appealed, the appeals court may well hold off announcing their decision (if it upholds his conviction) because of the other charges against him, and the fact that once the appeals court announces his conviction is upheld, his execution will have to take place within 30 days. But this is all up to the Iraqis themseleves, which is as it should be.

    larry (336e87)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0746 secs.