Where you don't hear any criticism is on talk radio, dominated as it is by right-wingers such as Rush Limbaugh and his mimics. They're still blaming all the country's woes on Bill Clinton, the president who just won't go away, and the so-called "liberal media conspiracy," conveniently ignoring that they are part of the media mix themselves.
It occurred to me the other day while driving about town with the radio on just how different the tenor of the airwaves would be if a Democrat were president right now.
Imagine if you will: Al Gore had been elected president and had decided on the same course of action in Iraq as Bush.
(Yes, I know, he would have had a different cabinet, different secretary of defense, etc., so the comparison can't be perfect. And, in any event, he probably wouldn't have been so inclined. But bear with me for the sake of argument.)
What would we be hearing on talk radio today, with the identical set of facts to deal with?
You can be certain that President Gore would be excoriated daily for the colossal waste of taxpayers' dollars and the mounting casualties of our young American men and women. Limbaugh and his like would be ripping the president's liver out over the air. They would be demanding to know the "truth" about his assumptions of weapons of mass destruction. By now they likely would have already called for his impeachment.
So why aren't these red-white-and-blue radio patriots worried about the troops and the dollars and the weapons of mass destruction now? Because the guy in the White House is one of their own, of course.
Sunday, July 13
One Newspaperman Has Had Enough
The editor of the Dayton Daily News was probably biting his tongue for the last two years. Well, this morning, he finally reached critical mass. Maybe, just maybe others will finally ask the same questions.
