A reader of Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish writes:
Excerpt:
This is nearly identical to what I feel about the situation, and Sullivan says the same. I disagree with the writer on one point, that of an unfair attacks by the left and the media coverage. The coverage was generally supportive of the administration initially, and shifted over time as blunder after blunder was made. If I have one criticism for the press, it was that they were too supportive early on and that a bit more critical reporting post 9-11, pre invasion might have better served the public. The press is biased of course whether your talking CBS or Fox, but there is nothing unfair about them being critical, that is the job of the "watchdog" of government.
But we are in in now, and we need to fix the mess we created, so I'm against a pullout before the job is complete. I don't excuse the administration for getting us into a bad situation, but I don't think the Democrats have the right plan either. I think what we need is not the Democratic solution or the administration (Republican) solution, but something in between, involving no timeline but a set of performance standards that are linked to funding. in all areas except those which relate to protection and care for our soldiers.
Excerpt:
However, the biggest single mistake neoconservatives made was that we placed our faith in the abilities of what has turned out to be a singularly incompetent administration. In the mission's basic planning, forecasting, and execution, this administration has almost uniformly made the wrong choices for Iraq's stabilization and progress. What the leftist and media critics get wrong about Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush is that they screwed up by going in halfhearted and without demanding real sacrifice upfront from the American people. Rumsfeld sacked the Chairman of the JCS for speaking honestly and saying correctly that it would take hundreds of thousands of troops over several years to truly "win" Iraq. That should have been a red flag to us all. But conservatives and a lot of moderates rallied around Bush and Co. because of the unfair attacks from the left and the media, whose objectivity was never in evidence, and in doing so we ratified and enabled every bad decision Bush and Co. made in Iraq.
This is nearly identical to what I feel about the situation, and Sullivan says the same. I disagree with the writer on one point, that of an unfair attacks by the left and the media coverage. The coverage was generally supportive of the administration initially, and shifted over time as blunder after blunder was made. If I have one criticism for the press, it was that they were too supportive early on and that a bit more critical reporting post 9-11, pre invasion might have better served the public. The press is biased of course whether your talking CBS or Fox, but there is nothing unfair about them being critical, that is the job of the "watchdog" of government.
But we are in in now, and we need to fix the mess we created, so I'm against a pullout before the job is complete. I don't excuse the administration for getting us into a bad situation, but I don't think the Democrats have the right plan either. I think what we need is not the Democratic solution or the administration (Republican) solution, but something in between, involving no timeline but a set of performance standards that are linked to funding. in all areas except those which relate to protection and care for our soldiers.
3 comments:
"But conservatives and a lot of moderates rallied around Bush and Co. because of the unfair attacks from the left and the media, whose objectivity was never in evidence, and in doing so we ratified and enabled every bad decision Bush and Co. made in Iraq."
Conservatives backed Bush because the left and the media were unfair? WTF? As if the Liberals are to blame in making Conservatives take stupid foreign policy stances? Sometime's I like Andy, but this time he's gone back to the same lame excuses. At least he could have noted this.
What a bunch of hooey. As you point out, if anything the press wasn't critical enough. The lack of objectivity wasn't with the objectors, that was the supporters of the Iraqi adventure labelling critics of the administration's lame policy traitors and terrorist sympathisers. I remember, I was one of those that advocated against the Iraq policy path the rest of the country blindly stumbled down.
Andy's still blaming other people for his lack of critical analytical skills. When are the war supporters going to start blaming themselves for their positions and quit blaming those that are not responsible?
Hey Leon can you remove that first deleted comm? They need an edit function of comms. ;-p
First post deleted as requested Stumpy. Also I think you need to be a bit more fair towards Andrew, he did not write that himself, but posted what a reader wrote.
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