Thursday, May 03, 2007
NPR's up to Its Old Tricks
Why does NPR feel the need to subtly spin the whole issue of the timeline the President's way? They are doing it very subtly, though: they report what the Pres. says. And then what the Dems. say -- so see? It's perfectly balanced!
But it's not: as they make it seem as if the Dems. want to remove the troops right now with no time for the current "strategy" to "work". There is no mention of what should be obvious (but what is likely not so obvious as it should be) -- that if things do start working well in Iraq, the Pres. can ask for a new funding law. No mention of the "Friedman unit" phenomenon. And no mention of the very obvious Dem. talking point of "the President expects a blank check? Who ever actually gets a blank check? I don't. You don't. Why does the President think he's so special?" (if the Dems. aren't saying this sort of thing, then it's their bad, obviously -- they need to frame what the President is asking for as something ridiculous, rather than let it be framed as something par for the course). And no mention of the hypocrisy of Republicans who were all in favor of putting timelines on Somalia.
Meanwhile, Ted Koppel is ever the helpful concern troll, saying the Dems. are being politically stupid. Of course, he's just re-iterating GOP talking points, but he's doing so in a way that establishes him as a liberal who just wants to "help". Which, kills to birds for the GOP with one stone: not only does it get their talking points out there, but it also maintains the impression that NPR is liberal so if they ever do criticize the GOP/President, people will dismiss it as "oh, the NPR is just too liberal".
It's getting again to the point where I can't listen to NPR anymore. But alas, they are the best game in town. And this town is, even if a kinda purple blue, a blue town never-the-less. I'm still not at all hopeful that those who've ruined our political discourse and are eating away at our republic have learned their lessons. All I can say now is "oy vey".
But it's not: as they make it seem as if the Dems. want to remove the troops right now with no time for the current "strategy" to "work". There is no mention of what should be obvious (but what is likely not so obvious as it should be) -- that if things do start working well in Iraq, the Pres. can ask for a new funding law. No mention of the "Friedman unit" phenomenon. And no mention of the very obvious Dem. talking point of "the President expects a blank check? Who ever actually gets a blank check? I don't. You don't. Why does the President think he's so special?" (if the Dems. aren't saying this sort of thing, then it's their bad, obviously -- they need to frame what the President is asking for as something ridiculous, rather than let it be framed as something par for the course). And no mention of the hypocrisy of Republicans who were all in favor of putting timelines on Somalia.
Meanwhile, Ted Koppel is ever the helpful concern troll, saying the Dems. are being politically stupid. Of course, he's just re-iterating GOP talking points, but he's doing so in a way that establishes him as a liberal who just wants to "help". Which, kills to birds for the GOP with one stone: not only does it get their talking points out there, but it also maintains the impression that NPR is liberal so if they ever do criticize the GOP/President, people will dismiss it as "oh, the NPR is just too liberal".
It's getting again to the point where I can't listen to NPR anymore. But alas, they are the best game in town. And this town is, even if a kinda purple blue, a blue town never-the-less. I'm still not at all hopeful that those who've ruined our political discourse and are eating away at our republic have learned their lessons. All I can say now is "oy vey".
# posted by alberich @ 6:17 PM 
