Posted by
on Sunday, January 14, 2007 4:53:27 PM
Is it a case of "carrying Bush's water," or is this an honest reporter asking questions, and making the case that many in the media seemed to have completely overlooked? You be the judge. This exchange (courtesy of The Instapundit) happened on CNN's Reliable Sources between Howard Kurtz, and UPI Pentagon reporter, Pam Hess:
KURTZ: Pam Hess, has the sending of 20,000 additional troops gotten a fair hearing in the media or has it gotten caught up in this wrenching, emotional debate about whether the war itself was a mistake?
PAM HESS: I think it's gotten caught up about it, and the debate about it is actually all wrong. What reporters know and what Martha says is that 20,000 really isn't that big -- isn't that big a jump. We're at 132,000 right now. It's going to put us even less that we had going in going across the line.
What we're not asking is actually the central question. We're getting distracted by the shiny political knife fight. What we need to be asking is, what happens if we lose? And no one will answer that question. If we lose, how are we going to mitigate the consequences of this?
It's so much easier for us to cover this as a political horse race. It's on the cover of "The New York Times" today, what this means for the '08 election. But we're not asking the central national security question, because it seems that if as a reporter you do ask the national security question, all of a sudden you're carrying Bush's water. There are national security questions at stake, and we're ignoring them and the country is getting screwed.
The emphasis above if from The Instapundi, but the point is well made. Why aren't the media people, journalists, and media pundits asking the key question about national secuirty. What happens if we lose? The media has had it's fun at the president's expense--calling him dense, stupid, foolish, incompetant, etc.--yet none of them want to ask the question of what will happen if we lose this war. Do they think that our enemy will just smile, and wave good-bye as we leave? If they do, then they're definitely not paying attention to what's going on in the world today.
The Islamofascists were driven from afghainstan. Wehere did they go? We know that many ended up in Pakistan, and that the government of pPakistan, unwisely, struck a deal with them. That deal is now in shambles as they aren't honoring their end of it, and their causing problems in Pakistan. THAT FACT should have everyone's attention. If the Musharraf regime falls to the Islamic extremists there what will happen to their nuclear arsenal? Does anyone think that they won't be tempted to use those weapons?
In addition to that, they headed into Malaysia, which is currently a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism, and to Africa. I suppose the press could have missed the recent war between pro-government Somali forces, fighting alongside Ethiopian forces against the Islamic radicals that had swept themselves into power in Somalia. Al Qaeda was flocking to Somalia, believing they had found a new Afghanistan there. Fortunately for the world, the Ethiopians weren't going to tolerate a militant Islamic state to their south, and one that was threatening to begin causing mayhem in their nation.
But, the point Ms. Hess is making is that if you're a reporter, and you don't tow the "Bush is an evil, misguided prick" BDS line, then somehow you're going easy on him, and giving him a pass. Or worse, somehow you've become a mouthpiece for him. Since when did agreeing with the administration, and pointing out their position equate to being a cheerleader for them? As the readers here know, we are conservatives, and we support the president. But we're anything but water-carriers for him. All three of us--Thomas, Marcie, and myself--have handed out criticism to the administration. We're not too happy with a lot of the things the president has decided to do. But, he is the president.
He's the commander-in-chief of the United States military, and on September 11th, we went to war with people who wanted to destroy this nation. President Bush didn't want to be a wartime president. He's said that repeatedely. But he walso knows that we rarely get to do things we want, and at times we have to do what's right even though we really don't want to do it. He made a tough decision in going to war. But he looked at the past mistakes made by previous administrations and decided that we weren't going to run away from these people any longer.
National securitry is most definitely at stake in this war. If we run now, we'll never stop running. And our enemy will simply continue to pursue us until we ultimately are forced to surrender. Better for this nation, collectively, to die on it's feet than live on it's knees. And that's the whole point. For some odd reason, those opposed to this war don't seem to catch that clue. They miss that. Our enemies don't just want us out of the Middle East. They want us vanquished; removed from the face of the planet, and merely a footnote in history.
Ms. Hess is quite correct in making her point, and maybe it's time the media actually wakes up, and realizes this. They're in just as much danger as everyone else is because they'll be lined up right next to us and killed. They're not above the law that our enemies will force upon the conquered. Best to step up, cut the president a little slack, and remember that they're just as American as everyone else. The target is on their backs as much as it's on ours. So, for crying out loud, let's start being honest in our reporting. You don't have to do a rah-rah cheer for the home team, but when some nutcase in the media, like CNN's Jack Cafferty, makes a retarded statement about the president, call his butt on it. Call the media on the carpet when they start going off the tracks.
After all, why do they think that so many people have become fed up with their idea of honest and balanced reporting? Because it's anything but balanced, and the furthest thing from honest. Let the talking heads and the "dead-tree industry" (to quote Marcie's favorite description of the media) chew on that for awhile.
Sabrina McKinney