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Journal frankie's Journal: Ten Miles from Honest 9

Journal by frankie
Karen Hughes is media-blitzing right now, promoting her book which promotes Bush Jr. She was on the Daily Show thursday (sadly I ditched "Extended service" when Comcast jacked their rates last year), and on NPR's Diane Rehm friday.

As usual, Diane spent the hour totally lobbing softballs. I really don't get the "liberal media" stereotype put on NPR. For the most part, their hosts are simply limp, bending to match whatever point of view their guests put forward. Perhaps in the 90s they interviewed a lot of Clinton officials, which would therefore look like a liberal bias. Except for Juan Williams, no one at NPR questions their interviewees strongly enough to evoke even mild skepticism, much less bias.

Among Karen's unchallenged declarations were that the rise of Al Qaida stems from lax US policies in the 90s (aka Clinton's fault), and that we need to fight terrorism at its source (which is why we invaded Iraq). My responses:

First, if Karen wants to look for blame in the past, she's got some distorted lenses on:

  • Who trained Al Qaida in the 90s? Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants.
  • When did OBL learn how to do that? The 80s.
  • What was he doing then? Using "asymmetric warfare" (aka terrorism) against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
  • Who trained OBL? The CIA, on behalf of Reagan & Bush Sr.
  • Is there a word for how fucked up that is? Yes: blowback.

As for Iraq and the War On Terror (tm) ... this Google search is for you.

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Ten Miles from Honest More

Ten Miles from Honest

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  • You definitely need to put that on a sign and hold it from a freeway overpass.
  • no one at NPR questions their interviewees strongly enough to evoke even mild skepticism, much less bias.

    I don't think Terry Gross was biased in this interview. She asks everyone very personal questions. If they evade, she never lets up. Bill O'Reilly didn't think he was getting softballs. I guess he can't take what he dishes out.

    Listen to the whole interview [npr.org]. Don't just skip to the end. It's worth your time I promise.

    • Thanks for reminding me about Terry Gross. I'm mainly a rush hour listener, she's mid-afternoon. The folks on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Marketplace are annoyingly milquetoast to their interviwees. Maybe it's due to lack of time, since the segments are so short, but they should at least try to counter outrageous claims (of any persuasion).

      After listening to that segment, I have to agree with Bill. Terry was out to get him. While his personal character and previous statements are valid to

      • It's a tough call (for me) on that interview. I was lucky enough to have heard the Al Franken interview first. Lucky, because I only listen when I'm telecommuting and she's on when I'm normally cooking lunch.

        Terry has a strange style. She gets people to talk about how the really feel. I've heard people open up on her show like I can't believe. I think Bill was evasive. He could have said very simple things and she would have let go, but he didn't want to say how he really felt and kept evading simpl

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