The news media’s pretense that the Maximum Leader
actually said something of value Sunday in his interview on “Meet the Press” was one more
confirmation that the United States is being turned into a Banana Republic.
So said I as straight-faced news stories began pouring in with headlines like this from UPI:
“Bush defends actions against Saddam” (instead of,
say, “fumbles defense”) and leads like this from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “President
George W. Bush delivered on Sunday a robust defense of his presidency, from his policy toward Iraq to his handling of
the economy to his blunt style …”
But now that the media has had a chance to digest
its so-called news, things are looking somewhat better. In two beautiful editorials, yesterday’s “Mr. Bush’s
Version” and today’s “Mr. Bush’s Revisionism,” The New York Times has
spoken out with ringing clarity against the pin-headed deceptions and pathetic lies that passed in
certain quarters for “a robust defense.”
Many others, too, are weighing in. For example, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary A.
Mitchell says this morning she feels betrayed: “Trust fades as war cry rings too hollow.” Fred
Kaplan wonders in Slate, in “Bush at Sea”: “Does this war president have any
idea what he’s talking about?”
That is not a rhetorical question.
