I read this piece by Donald Myers, and found all I could say was "AMEN"!.
Ever notice that all the naysaying, gloom and doom members of the "Progressive" Left only have negatives to espouse? Never do we hear a positive proposal for a solution, just excoriation of the status quo.
Don't like the causelty rates in Iraq? "Pull out, NOW!" is their only response; ignoring the fact that it would lead to only greater conflict. Rep. Murtha says that it's now "time for a political solution, rather than a military one"....Tell me Mr. Murtha, with all due respect for your past service, just HOW do you use diplomacy with a group who's ONLY desire is the total destruction of everything the West represents?
I honestly believe that a great deal of the discontent that is being exhibited by the general population can be directly laid at the feet of a partisian press dedicated to the goal of running President Bush out of office in whatever manner possible. Read the news, and all you'll find are body counts of Alliance soldiers and threats of even great mayhem relayed through Al Jazeera from the "Arab street"...yet talk to the soldiers coming home on rotation and you'll hear about how they have given the Iraqi people a chance at a better life by building schools, power plants, and water treatment plants....You'll hear how on an indivudual basis, they have been befriended and encouraged by Iraqis on the street.
Yes, the Iraqi people do want the soldiers to leave; what patriot would want to have foreign troops on their soil?, but they don't want them to leave untill their job is done, and the Iraqis know they are capable of standing on their own.
Another example of media partisianship is how they give wall to wall coverage to Rep. Murtha, yet almost totally ignore Sen. Lieberman when he stated that it would be the height of folly to precipitously withdraw troops at this time.
Try to find a pro-administration article, and your pretty much limited to the WSJ, if you want to find the Progressive stance, all you need do is open just about any other paper. The media has great power to influence opinion, but we must always ask: does a particular paper or station have an agenda? Are they telling the whole truth, or only that part of the truth that serves that agenda? What AREN'T they reporting? What they DON'T say can be more important than what they do say.
This is not to say that we have to march in lock-step with the Administration, they are just as guilty of spin as the Left...excessive spending rates, ignoring the border security problems, trying to sugarcoat the hard realities of war, the Administration is guilty of all these, and they should be held accoutable for these and other issues. But the American people have to wake up and demand that issues be debated in an open and honest debate of ideas, not a constant barrage of spin and partisian sniper attacks.
Posted by Delftsman3 at December 4, 2005 07:10 PM | TrackBack