"How did it come to pass that an opposition's measure of a president's foreign policy was all or nothing, success or "failure"? The answer is that the political absolutism now normal in Washington arrived at the moment--Nov. 7, 2000--that our politics subordinated even a war against terror to seizing the office of the presidency." - Daniel Henninger - WSJ 11/18/05
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"the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts." - George Orwell
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Bob Woodruff injured in Iraq

Pretty much any time I overhear any news I hear about Mr. Woodruff. Now don't get me wrong, I certainly hope he does ok; I just don't much care for the media having yet another opportunity to talk about themselves.

Stephen Spruiell of the Media Blog notes there have been positive and negative effects based upon the injury of Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt. "the Woodruff angle has had the positive effect of leading some vocal critics of the war in Iraq — like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann — to highlight some of the U.S. military's amazing successes."

But we still get outright BS from people like Christiane Amanpour, "The war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster and journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that and so have many, many other people who have been there."

Positive or negative, they always appear to be very impressed with themselves and their sacrifice in reporting from Iraq. Spruiell links to Byron York at "The Corner" with this statement regarding the possibility of too much coverage with, "Perhaps some press critic will explore that question. And perhaps that critic will compare coverage of the Woodruff attack with coverage of the deaths of U.S. Army Private Brian J. Schoff, of Manchester, Tennessee, and Sergeant David L. Herrera, of Oceanside, California, who, according to Army records listed in icasualties.org, were killed in action — hostile fire, IED attack — in Baghdad on January 28."

It is not just a quote like the above that makes me feel the way I do about the media, but it sure fits their self-importance. This is a grand opportunity for them to do what they do best and that is talk about themselves. Hopefully we won't see too many dislocated shoulders with all the self back patting.

 

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