There are a lot of ways to reduce the costs of presenting the news. One way on cable news channels is to broadcast a political speech and call it news – even “breaking news”. NECN (New England Cable News) has just finished broadcasting a speech by Massachusetts Governor in Absentia Mitt Romney in defense of his Lt. Governor Kerry Healey. She was embarrassed in a debate last night and Mitt decided to come to her rescue (no need to comment on a female candidate for Governor needing help from her alpha male mentor). And NECN carried it as news when it was clearly a political bag job.
Press
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat
In a solid piece of reporting, Mark Mazzetti writes in today’s online NY Times: “A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.
The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.
An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,†cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.
The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,†said one American intelligence official…”
No further comment.
The Bankrupt Healey Campaign
Kerry Healey has opened her campaign for Governor of Massachusetts in predictable fashion. Her two main issues are crime and taxes. The soft on crime issue is a copy of President Bush’s “be scared, be very, very scared†campaign strategy that seems finally to be running out of steam. Will Healey have more success at scaring people into voting for a woman with –as her opponent Deval Patrick says – a theoretical understanding of crime? We shall see, but it seems unlikely. As for taxes, the tired idea of suggesting tax reductions in a period when we cannot educate our children, medicate our sick, or police our streets will resonate among those with no real commitment to their communities. It is of course impossible to know whether the people of Massachusetts will fall for this but hopefully they will at least recognize that the choice is not only about taxes but also for the social services that our taxes provide and that the Bush presidency and Congress have been hell-bent to kill. It will also be worth watching the press to see if broad comments like “soft on crimeâ€Â and “no more taxes” will be tested beyond simply passing them on to the readers. I have no expectations for TV/cable news but the print press has an opportunity to do better.
George Allen and William Loeb, Brothers-in-Arms
The George Allen flap in Virginia regarding his over-the-top response to an innocent press question about his Jewish roots was a priceless example of a closet anti-Semite running for cover. This son of a Washington Redskins’ football coach with no apparent accomplishments other than inheriting his father’s name and paranoia is part Jewish and wears cowboy boots but he is no Kinky Friedman. It is reminiscent of a story about William Loeb, long-time publisher of the Manchester (NH) Union Leader. Loeb was a fairly nasty piece of work who never found a right wing nut he didn’t love. When “accused†of being a Jew he went apoplectic and – twice – published his Episcopal baptism certificate on the front page of his newspaper. Of course a difference between that and Senator Allen’s pique over a similar “accusation†is that while Allen was similarly incensed, it was – alas – true. Allen has now embraced his heritage and our hearts are warmed.
Back to the Shack, Same Game
So, Senators McCain, Warner and Graham – in a totally predictable outcome – caved to the folk who apparently believe that torture is producing valuable intelligence – such as the confession we got the Syrians to beat out of an innocent Canadian. The press behaves as expected in these situations – they take the Republican “disagreement†at face value and run back-patting stories when everyone supposedly compromises and gives the administration and the CIA what they want and what they knew they would get in the end. The story here is in the details and the details tell us that Bush et alia will do whatever they want by interpreting the legislation in whatever way they wish.
Matt Taibbi on American Media
“What a joke American journalism is. Our entire Army is on its knees before a few thousand gun-toting religious fanatics in the Arabian desert, and here’s our government, taking food out of the mouths of foster kids and single moms to go binge-shopping with our tax money in the Sharper Image catalog of the industrial world. And what’s on TV? Fucking Suri Cruise? Are you kidding me?â€
Taibbi describes much that is wrong with the way we purchase advanced weapons systems, the way we eliminate social programs in favor of government handouts to the military-industrial complex (remember Eisenhower’s warning?) and the way the American press can be counted on to miss the story. Taibbi’s piece in Rolling Stone is a great read.