Doing the Media's Job for Them

Once again, it falls upon someone else--in this case, a Reagan era Secretary of the Navy--to show the media that "objective" reporting is NOT regurgitating half-digested talking points spewed out by wingnut "news" services:

During the 2000 primary season, John McCain's life-defining experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam were diminished through whispers that he was too scarred by those years to handle the emotional burdens of the presidency. The wide admiration that Senator Max Cleland gained from building a career despite losing three limbs in Vietnam brought on the smug non sequitur from critics that he had been injured in an accident and not by enemy fire. John Kerry's voluntary combat duty was systematically diminished by the well-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in a highly successful effort to insulate a president who avoided having to go to war.

And now comes Jack Murtha. The administration tried a number of times to derail the congressman's criticism of the Iraq war, including a largely ineffective effort to get senior military officials to publicly rebuke him (Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was the only one to do the administration's bidding there).

Now the Cybercast News Service, a supposedly independent organization with deep ties to the Republican Party, has dusted off the Swift Boat Veterans playbook, questioning whether Mr. Murtha deserved his two Purple Hearts. The article also implied that Mr. Murtha did not deserve the Bronze Star he received, and that the combat-distinguishing "V" on it was questionable. It then called on Mr. Murtha to open up his military records.

Cybercast News Service is run by David Thibault, who formerly worked as the senior producer for "Rising Tide," the televised weekly news magazine produced by the Republican National Committee. One of the authors of the Murtha article was Marc Morano, a long-time writer and producer for Rush Limbaugh.

The accusations against Mr. Murtha were very old news, principally coming from defeated political rivals. Aligned against their charges are an official letter from Marine Corps Headquarters written nearly 40 years ago affirming Mr. Murtha's eligibility for his Purple Hearts - "you are entitled to the Purple Heart and a Gold Star in lieu of a second Purple Heart for wounds received in action" - and the strict tradition of the Marine Corps regarding awards. While in other services lower-level commanders have frequently had authority to issue prestigious awards, in the Marines Mr. Murtha's Vietnam Bronze Star would have required the approval of four different awards boards...

The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats.

A young American now serving in Iraq might rightly wonder whether his or her service will be deliberately misconstrued 20 years from now, in the next rendition of politically motivated spinmeisters who never had the courage to step forward and put their own lives on the line.

Not that there's a chance in hell of it happening, but there are any number of cases where the media could point out glaring examples of incompetence or mendaciousness by this administration--offhand, I can think of Enron, Abramoff, Halliburton, the Katrina non-response...not to mention Operation Enduring Twin Clusterfucks, the obvious rhetorical hot air that can't be backed up with anything re: Iran (Digby appropriately labeled it "premature ejaculation" from an administration hell bent on giving the boy-king a splendid little war...that turned into the ultimate example of "be careful what you wish for")..., and, for that matter, 9/11 itself--I mean, anyone ever wonder why the media gave Team Bush a free pass instead of asking how the hell something so deadly could happen on their watch?

No, instead, the press busies themselves with nonsense like "did John Murtha earn his medals? Marc Morano thinks not" (without ever mentioning Mark Morano works for Rush Lamebaugh...the likewise either fail to challenge Team Bush on their associations with garbage like this, or meekly accept their lame statements alleging "distance."

Lapdogs...