Fake But True

We used to call the Minneapolis Start Tribune the “Red-Star Tribune” in honor of it’s Pravda like adherence to the Communist line of thought, but the world has changed since Reagan destroyed the Evil Empire. With the rise of “Red State / Blue State”, the “Red-Star” could be confusing. Maybe the “Blue Flame” since it is certainly on the side of Blue, it’s anger is constantly flaming. For example, http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5409054.html “Newsweek, It doesn’t Deserve the Diatribes”.

The old saying “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” comes to mind pretty rapidly when a Republican says anything critical of the press. It is definitely different with a Democrat … there was a lot of press hand-wringing about “are we being too critical” during the Clinton serial affairs. In 2002 after the Republicans won seats in Congress in an off year, old Billy C chided the press on “not being critical enough post-911”. They fell all over themselves with recrimination and got on the “Bash Bush” theme with haste.

One wonders if there isn’t some “central casting” somewhere that gives liberals their ideas. The piece picks up the wacko; “Bush was wrong about WMD, so what is the big deal about Newsweek being wrong” comparison. Let’s see … the UN, UK, both houses of Congress, including Hillary, Kerry, Edwards, McCain, … every paper in the US (how many times did we read of concerns about Saddam using chemical weapons against our troops in ’91), etc were “wrong”. Of course there is the uncomfortable fact that Saddam actually USED chemical weapons against the Kurds.

The fact is, we never FOUND chemical weapons (in quantity … we did find some, plus shells to use them, and suits for protection during their use). If it wasn’t for the DNA stain on the blue dress, liberals would still be chortling that there was never any PROOF that Clinton walked the halls of power with his pants around his knees. I sometimes suspect that there is nothing that makes a liberal more happy than a bad guy that “gets away with it”. Saddam of course didn’t EXACTLY “get away with it”, but their level of glee that he managed to escape getting caught with incontrovertible evidence of WMD seems to be one of their only remaining sources of joy. Well, I guess that and Abu Grab.

So what is the difference between going to war with a known killer that has used WMD in the past, claims he still has it, everyone believes he has it, and with intelligence that he plans to use it on our nation, and writing a piece in a weekly rag claiming some new horrible atrocity committed by the troops of your own nation when you have very little evidence that it is true? I don’t know, the two seem VERY similar don’t they? I mean think of all the potential downside of Newsweek NOT publishing that piece? What if they hadn’t published it and it WERE true? Maybe there would be less anti-American sentiment around the world? I suppose when you are Newsweek, or a lefty, one just can’t pass up an opportunity to increase anti-American sentiment.

The Star Trib couldn’t even leave Dan Rather’s sorry memos lie in their grave. No, it seems that the lefties are hard on the “fake but correct” standard of journalism these days. If you are a lefty and you can make up a plausible story (or even an IMplausible one that is bad for Bush), fake some evidence, and print it, you should “stand your ground”. Anyone that tries to question such tactics is “Nixonian”. The wagons seem to be circled and the lines drawn. The good point is that unless you are completely blind, what side the media is on is pretty clear.