The current meme being advanced by everyone’s favorite fair and balanced news channel is that all this great stuff is happening in Iraq and that the liberal media–i.e., any network other than Fox–is refusing to talk about it. There’s lots of evidence of this campaign over on crooksandliars, and it’s interesting to see clips of Fox’s unbelievable spin snuggled up so close to additional clips of reality. I think the fact is that American journalism has swung back to the place it once was, where the conventional wisdom is that war is a very grave thing. Additionally the media has been battered and abused by both Bush press secretaries, has been blamed for everything from Plamegate to Katrina, and is now being blamed for the lack of public support for this nonsensical war. As a result it refuses to serve as a state run limb of the Bush body politic. Americans don’t need reasons to hate war anymore. They benefit from a media that’s fighting for its lunch in a cafeteria full of bloggers and other non-traditional journalists. A mainstream media in that position will push harder for the truth, and right now that “truth” is that the war is not going well and still has no justification. Josh goes further than that; he not only hates the war but believes pretty strongly that Bush is the worst we’ve ever had. ~

Paul Ford keeps on being a genius. Constants are good to have around lately, since things are changing minute to minute around here. ~