Media not so hot on George Bush anymore.

The love affair between the media and George Bush seems to be coming to an end. To shore up his falling numbers, Bush has scheduled six weekly addresses in the run up to the "handover of sovereignty" to whatever Government is installed in Iraq. Last monday, Bush held his first address and it was ignored by ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX. What's more, his address wasn't received with it's usual fanfare, by his loyal followers in conservative media mags like the National Review.

Pundits that championed the Occupation in Iraq are making the U turn as well. Thomas Friedman, David Brooks, George Will and Tucker Carlson are some of the more well known warmongers to have expressed doubt or outright regret for pushing the war in the first place.

In another sign of how the mood has turned against the Bush Administration, yesterday, John Ashcroft held a press conference in which he spoke about vague, yet imminent terrorist attacks that were likely to occur. In the past, this tactic has served the Bush administration well in frightening people into silence. This time, however, mainstream media questioned whether or not this was a ploy by the Bush administration to take the focus off his sliding poll numbers.

At the end of last sunday's 60 Minutes program, Andy Rooney(nobodys idea of a flaming liberal) gave voice to a sentiment that seems to be sweeping a lot of George Bush's former supporters. This is what Rooney had to say.

In the history of the world, several great civilizations that seemed immortal have deteriorated and died. I don't want to seem dramatic tonight, but I've lived a long while, and for the first time in my life, I have this faint, faraway fear that it could happen to us here in America as it happened to the Greek and Roman civilizations.

Too many Americans don't understand what we have here, or how to keep it. I worry for my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren. I want them to have what I've had, and I sense it slipping away.

Have a nice day. full article

The New York times issued a (kind of) apology for the role they played in featuring the reporting of Judith Miller. Judith Miller's reports contained most of the discredited misinformation that Achmad Chalabi was feeding to the Neo-conservatives in the run up to the war. NYTimes columnist, Paul Krugman examines the change in the media's coverage of George Bush and makes some frank observations about the dynamics that were in play since September 11.

People who get their news by skimming the front page, or by watching TV, must be feeling confused by the sudden change in Mr. Bush's character. For more than two years after 9/11, he was a straight shooter, all moral clarity and righteousness.

But now those people hear about a president who won't tell a straight story about why he took us to war in Iraq or how that war is going, who can't admit to and learn from mistakes, and who won't hold himself or anyone else accountable. What happened?

The answer, of course, is that the straight shooter never existed. He was a fictitious character that the press, for various reasons, presented as reality.
full article

The media's love affair with George may be a thing of the past. It's unfortunate that it took the deaths of so many people, (soldiers & iraqi's) a debt ridden future for the next generations, and a foreign policy disaster to bring them to their senses.