"Inattention to Murtha, a coal-country Pennsylvanian and rock-solid patriot, suggests a level of indifference, if not denial, that is dangerous for a president who seeks to transform the world."Posted on 12/18/2005 7:59:46 AM PST by SmithL
Even as up to 70 percent of eligible voters in Iraq turned out for the parliamentary election Thursday, Newsweek was painting a picture of President Bush in a bubble, "the most isolated president in modern history."
"Inattention to Murtha, a coal-country Pennsylvanian and rock-solid patriot, suggests a level of indifference, if not denial, that is dangerous for a president who seeks to transform the world."
"What Bush actually hears and takes in, however, is not clear. And whether his advisers are quite as frank as they claim to be with the president is also questionable."
"The official says that the way Bush phrased his questions, as well as his obvious lack of interest in long, detailed discussions, had a chilling effect."
The Newsweek attack amounts to yet another false meme in the litany of slander against the president. First: Bush is stupid. Then: Bush lied, people died. Now: Bush lives in a bubble.
Let me translate. What the magazine really means is: "Bush refuses to do what we tell him to do."
I'm sure that as far as Bush is concerned, the magazine can naff off. He has long since rejected the New York-Washington-California press as an honest voice in the debate. His administration considers coastal journalists to be nothing more than a political action committee for the Democrats.
Bush has decided to accept this as a natural state of affairs. He doesn't fight the press; he has simply cut it out of the process. He intends to make the right decisions in Iraq and let events vindicate him two or three decades hence.
It's a good plan. What fool seeks advice from his enemies? Listen to one of Newsweek's top editors himself, Evan Thomas. No one can call Thomas a Republican. He is not only one of the authors of the "bubble" hit job, he is also the grandson of the famous American socialist Norman Thomas. Yet, last year Thomas admitted:
"The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they're going to portray Kerry and Edwards ... as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all; there's going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that's going to be worth maybe 15 points."
It's not just the 2004 election in which these 15 points come into play. It's every election, and it's every poll. So the next time you read that Bush's popularity is 39 percent approval vs. 55 disapproval, remember to add 15. If the press didn't mark the cards, Bush's rating would be 54 percent approval vs. 40 percent disapproval -- excellent numbers for a president in his second term.
The same equation applies to the 2008 election. If Mitt Romney runs against Hillary Clinton, he doesn't have to win 51 percent of the vote -- he has to win 66 percent. Romney will need a landslide. Democrats were angry that Bush "stole" the 2000 election. Bush didn't steal it. He just won it by less than a landslide.
Press bias is a corruption of American democracy, but more immediately, it is a betrayal of the Iraqi people. They want to see our troops leave their country -- but only after we have established their security first.
Consider a recent survey of Iraqis carried out for the BBC and ABC News. How is the new government performing? It's doing a good job, say 61 percent. How are things going in their personal lives? Quite well, say 71 percent. Will their lives improve in the coming year? Yes, say 61 percent. Will the situation improve nationwide? Yes, say 69 percent.
Killing the jihad crazies at a ratio of 20:1, our soldiers are similarly optimistic. But just 33 percent of our journalists believe we will establish democracy in Iraq. Now, who would know better? The Iraqi people and the soldiers? Or the reporters? Tough call, isn't it?
The Brookings Institution makes other crucial points. Despite terrorist sabotage, the Iraqi economy is likely to grow 17 percent next year. Per capita income is 30 percent higher than before the war. There are five times as many cars on the street, five times more telephone subscribers and 32 times more Internet users.
According to ABC News, teacher salaries have risen from $9 a month to $200. Civil servants and police officers have seen similar pay increases.
Norman Podhoretz adds that our troops have built 3,400 public schools, 300 water and sewage facilities, 260 fire and police stations, and 150 public-health facilities. Another 920 such projects are under way. And here I thought we were there just to steal the oil.
To an observer without an agenda, it's clear we are winning the war. It's also clear this is the best-kept secret in America today. It is agonizing every time a bomb kills another Marine. But the story here is more than just our casualty count.
Democrats such as Howard Dean declare "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong." How can he say something so offensive and ignorant?
The answer is that, secretly, his party is deeply frightened of victory. Many Democrats don't believe America deserves to win. They don't believe our military can ever be a force for good, unless it's fighting to save Russian communism from extinction, as it did 65 years ago. They don't want Bush to get any credit. Tearing him down is more important than securing a stable and prosperous Iraq.
Mr. President, block out the losers. Stay in your "bubble." Finish this war. Win.
PING PING PING!
"Let me translate. What the magazine really means is: "Bush refuses to do what we tell him to do."
A brilliant article. The MSM is going crazy because they no longer control the political process.
CHICAGOLAND PING
Nice job, as always, by Mike Bowers.
I cancelled my Newsweak subscription months ago, though they keep on sending it to me...I'm sure they'll do it for free to keep their numbers up.
I took great relish this past week, shredding that entire issue and putting it in the chickens' nesting boxes, LOL!
I don't even take them to the Library any longer for the "Free" box. I refuse to help spread this traitorous slander in a time of war. They usually go straight to the burn barrel, unread.
Newsweek: The journal of record by, and for, eighth grade minds.
Bush has decided to accept this as a natural state of affairs. He doesn't fight the press; he has simply cut it out of the process. He intends to make the right decisions in Iraq and let events vindicate him two or three decades hence.
It's a good plan. What fool seeks advice from his enemies?
Good article.
Excellent find. One of the best articles of this vein I have read.
BTTT
Yeah, 8th graders outside of the US.
What I want to know is what's cheaper, spending 200 billion to make Iraq free and democratic and killing and capturing 10's of thousands of terrorists in the process or taking another 1 trillion dollar hit as we did on 9/11?
Great Stuff ~ Bump!
"Mr. President, block out the losers. Stay in your "bubble." Finish this war. Win."
I go along with your pings SandRat, We have to help our Best of the Best that are in country by beating down the "ENEMY WITHIN" which Murtha, Dean, Hiterly, and others are part of. Our guys in country would have a big problem if they had Gore or Hanoi john in the White House. God Bless ALL of our Guys in country and they are in my Thoughts and Prayers. God Bless America and ALL WHO have and will DEFEND HER.
bttt
We were winning in Vietnam too.
BTTT
Great article! The dems and the MSM are merely continuing the Dan Rather/CBS forged documents pattern. It doesn't matter if they lie about the president or the Iraq war. Bottom line -- they believe the President is evil, stupid, and stole both elections, so they print or say anything, regardless of the truth. Right out of Dan the Man's playbook.
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