Thursday, July 26, 2007
Balance
Joe Klein writes about torture today over at Swampland. He thinks it is bad (brave stance). To blunt the arguments of his critics, he points out that he wrote against torture once in 2005.
His defense is exactly what the problem is with modern punditry as practiced by the squishy moderates. People on the right show no such compunction. How many political junkies know that Robert Novak hates the capital gains tax? I do, because just about every week on Crossfire, or Capital Gang, he would make the point over and over about how poor investors like Bob were getting screwed by paying any taxes at all.
He was full of shit, but capital gains taxes were reduced. His part was small, but still signifigant in pushing the idea forward.
We are violating the Geneva Conventions. Joe Klein believes that pointing this out once in 2005 is enough to prove his chops. He is wrong. We have continued violating the conventions every day since then, yet he has remained silent until now.
When Clinton stuck his penis in Monica Lewinsky's mouth, the press obsessed hours on end every day about how terrible it was for our country. Even squishy moderates like Klein, who to his credit decided impeaching him for it wasn't the best idea.
They don't show as much interest in our fifth amendment, our first amendment, our treaty obligations, our image around the world, the truth, the integrity of the justice department and the like.
Maybe a columnist did point out in 2006 in a paragraph somewhere that they thought that supressing minority voters was bad. Frame it on a fucking wall somewhere. Good job. It's not enough.
If reporters could keep obsessed on the bend of Clinton's wee-wee, they can obsess on the Attorney General perjuring himself. Don't pretend that you are above the fray, and can't really obsess on our constitution being violated. It's a cop out. I know Lindsay Lohen is a tragic young figure, and her 21 years of life have been filled with pathos, but you can give as much a shit about our laws as you do about her drinking problem.
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