Today’s Warlord press conference was a bizarre affair. If you saw it surely you, too, have your own take.
How convenient then that his enablers in the media escape scrutiny yet again and pose as judges and jury on this once mighty socio-political edifice. Who cheer led the war in Iraq? Not just with the late David Bloom’s ‘Bloom Mobile’, etc.? Judy Miller for sure. But she didn’t put her stories on the front page by herself.
Who helped Dairy Queen patrons in Strawberry Point, Iowa believe they needed protection against ‘terrrists’? Kids at roller rinks in Salt Lake City? Who trumpeted Talking Points as ‘reporting’ and mocked skeptics as unpatriotic or worse, effeminate? Who was caught on tape metaphorically pulling Tom Delay’s zipper down?
Who fired Phil Donohue as inconvenient during the run up? Who refused to offer (or put on) skepticism (which they claimed to have all along) until the obvious handwriting on the wall in Fall 2006?
How refreshing if some of *them* could be held to account on national television. And then fired.
Comment says
“I longed for a sod of earth from some field I knew, something of Sligo to hold in my hand.”
~Yeats
What struck us about the Bush presser today was the sense that the past few years seemed to disappear into the ether. Save for a brief moment when Bush , in passing, alluded to Texan’s telling him ‘those guys back east’ (Wall St? Poor people?) caused the crisis and he was being too generous w/ those malefactors and he explained why he had to be pragmatic – then acting as if this all just happened and he, Dubs, was a passive victim who refuses to whine.
But mostly – Bush was in a good mood and he seemed far more adroit than normal. His personality seemed to be more like his Gov days than his weird “war President” style- confection of recent times.
In this he shares with Poppy the unnerving habit of splicing his personality into different tranches ie campaign mode)-nasty and demagogic” vs post-pres mode vs war pres mode vs mr. nickname frat guy vs. generous person vs. defensive wannabee rube vs etc etc
Some of this is always understandable, but the Bush’s take the split personality thing too far.
There is no Sligo for them – no true core.