MSM bias? What MSM bias?
Just got Newsweek in the mail a minute ago and was really staggered by the cover, which I reproduce in small size here: Keep in mind as I describe this that more and more balanced information is emerging sharing the blame pretty evenly around (although I think emphasis goes to state and local failings), and the fact that the MSM has been consistently wrong about every single piece of news it's reported since this whole disaster/fiasco began. If you've got all that in mind, envision this cover: As you can see from the thumbnail, it contains a picture of an exceptionally pretty little black girl. What you may not see is the single tear coursing down her face, and what you can read is the description: "1-year-old Faith Figueroa, rescued from her flooded home in the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans." I'm glad they just showed a pretty face and not a bloated corpse, so I shouldn't complain too much about this. What I do complain about are the main captions: Over Faith's right cheek is this promised article: "Poverty, Race & Katrina : Lessons of A National Shame by Jonathan Alter." How about, instead of this divisive, ill-thought out, inflammatory headline, these headlines: "The Legacy of the Welfare State : Lessons of a Political Disgrace by Someone Intelligent," or "The Legacy of Decades of New Orleans Corruption by Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, and current Dallas homeowner," or perhaps "How I failed to do absolutely anything, by the Governor of Louisiana" (who is such a nonentity, I always forget her name). Above the magazine's title you'll find this: "Why Bush Failed * Children of the Storm." Yes, you guessed it -- it's all Bush's fault. This is why I'm so rabidly defensive of the Bush administration's role in this debacle. Not necessarily because I think the feds behaved so exemplarily (although I also don't think they did anything wrong), but because the attacks on President Bush himself are so aggressive, so vile, so open, and often so wrong. Maybe we should rename this magazine "Pravda week" or, even more accurately, the "Weekly Propaganda Organ of the Democratic Party." By the way, I haven't read the articles (no time, no stomach for the task), but nothing the articles can say in the way of wiggle-words and caveats can erase the shame of this cover.
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