Froomkin (WaPo) spanks Blitzer

[grasswire]

If you aren't reading Dan Froomkin's daily briefing, you're missing a lot of sound info, plus some good fun.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/09/21/BL2006092100764.html

I urge you to support this WaPo column. Dan's more informed than any other WaPo columnist, and he speaks the truth and recognizes the power of the Internet for good. Excerpt:

On the dominant issue of our time, the president is in denial.

By most reliable accounts, three and a half years into the U.S. occupation, Iraq is in chaos -- if not in a state of civil war, then awfully close. But President Bush insists it's not so.


White House Briefing

Bush vs. Reality

On the dominant issue of our time, the president is in denial.

By most reliable accounts, three and a half years into the U.S. occupation, Iraq is in chaos -- if not in a state of civil war, then awfully close. But President Bush insists it's not so.

He says the people he talks to assure him that the press coverage about how bad things are in Iraq is not to be trusted.

You might think that the enormous gulf between Bush's perceptions and reality on such a life-and-death topic would be, well, newsworthy. But if members of the Washington press corps consider it news at all, apparently it's old news. They report Bush's assertions about Iraq without noting that his fundamental assessment of the situation is dramatically contradicted by the reporting from their own colleagues on the ground.

And in the rare circumstances when they directly confront the president with observations that conflict with his own, they let it drop too quickly.

Case in point, Wolf Blitzer's lackluster interview with the president on CNN yesterday.

[Avalux]

1. That wasn't an interview -

that was a hideous display of arrogance by Bush, enabled by someone who calls himself a reporter. It was terrible.

Good column.

:hi:

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

2. Why Can't Countdown Get Froomkin Instead Of Mrs. Milbank?

MSNBC and their stupid contracts with "spokesmen" at the WAPO.

I'm tired of King george loyalists like Mrs. Milbank, "pretending" to be moderates so they can appear on a liberal leaning show like Countdown.

More Frank Rich, More Dan Froomkin, LESS DANA MILBANK.

[grasswire]

3. Dan told me that he doesn't do television

I've urged him several times to be the face of WaPo. That was his answer. I can barely look at lizard-neck Milbank.

[The Deacon]

4. More Iraqis Die Every Month Than Were Killed In The WTC, The

Pentagon AND Pennsylvania COMBINED and we're back to "The Media isn't reporting the GOOD news from Iraq"? What good news - that at least the Maronite Christian minority doesn't have an armed militia? That at least the UN hasn't officially declared it a civil war? (quick - somebody remind me: what EXACTLY is the difference between what is going on in Iraq & a civil war?) That 27 nations (down from the original 49 nations of the "Coalition of the Willing") still have so little self-respect they're "staying the course"?
Sheesh - I'm glad the annual Beer & Wine Tasting is tonight - I HATE drinking alone!

[flpoljunkie]

5. Froomkin also called out the influential, yet clueless David Broder.

Broder's View

The dean of the Washington press corps, David S. Broder , writes in his Washington Post opinion column that Bush and Cheney are lawless and reckless. But he refuses to throw in his lot with their critics, who he considers uncouth. Rather, he heralds the rise of a supposed middle.

"Bush was elected twice, over Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry, whose know-it-all arrogance rankled Midwesterners such as myself. The country thought Bush was a pleasant, down-to-earth guy who would not rock the boat. Instead, swayed by some inner impulse or the influence of Dick Cheney, he has proved to be lawless and reckless. He started a war he cannot finish, drove the government into debt and repeatedly defied the Constitution.

"Now, however, you can see the independence party forming -- on both sides of the aisle. They are mobilizing to resist not only Bush but also the extremist elements in American society -- the vituperative, foul-mouthed bloggers on the left and the doctrinaire religious extremists on the right who would convert their faith into a whipping post for their opponents."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

[grasswire]

6. yeah, Broder really made me mad

He's always been so thin-skinned when it comes to criticism from the "masses." Come to think of it, many at WaPo is thin-skinned. Downie, Susan Schmidt, Milbank, Kurtz, Woodward, Richard Cohen......

[KoKo]

7. Thanks for post "Grasswire" ...you hooked me onto Froomkin awhile back

and I've always been GRATEFUL! If one doesn't have time to parse through DU or BUZZFLASH LINKS to Informative news....ALL you need is at FROOMKIN on the WaPo BLOG (where they threw Froomking as the Liberal...but OMG...what a POWERHOUSE he is)

Thanks for the post. It's a great bookmark to have to read at the "Top o'the Morning or Night!"

:thumbsup: