by bartleby the scrivener | So. Tom Ridge confirms what progressives have long known to be true. Here's Marc "Divide the Baby in Half" Ambinder to confirm why you must never again rely on our "free press" to protect democracy.
Marcy Wheeler saw that one off in fine style.
Of course, equally appalling is Ambinder's view of the role of journalists in a democractic system.
Throughout the Bush years, those who said demonstrably true things were continuously dismissed as fringe, conspiracy-driven leftist-losers....
Having been proven right about all of those things hasn't changed perceptions any at all. As Ambinder's comments today reflect, the paramount unchangeable Beltway Truth is that those who distrust government claims are unSerious Fringe Leftist Losers. Even when they turn out to be right, they're still that. And no matter how many times journalists like Ambinder are proven wrong in "giv[ing] the government the benefit of some doubt, even having learned lessons about giving the government that benefit," they still continue to do it and believe it is the right and responsible thing to do.
Hey, but what about all that "gut hatred"? Thers, writing at FDL:
But then these crazy assholes turned around and said to people like Armbinder, "these people are calling us crazy assholes. Isn't that rude?" And Armbinder by his own account nodded, and I dunno, rubbed his chin, chewed his cud, and decided that Civil Discourse requires that when one must consider the competing claims of those who dislike liars and say so, on the one hand, and on the other hand, liars, the only sensible way to come to a decision is to figure out who's nicer.
And since it's not nice to call someone a liar, even if they are a liar, it's kind of not a fair competition.
You know who was a real dick? That kid who said the Emperor had no clothes. What a presumptuous little shit.
Having been called out, Ambinder "apologizes." He McArdles:
Here's the way to put this into context: the political team at the White House had the honor of using policy to advance politics....[O]ur not calling out Republicans on these tactics -- not calling them strikes, as they were definitely within the strike zone -- was our deepest failing.
Dave Anderson: "[H]e still argues that those who argued the world was flat were justified in their argument... The world was round and that fact was not nor should it be in dispute."
Marc Ambinder is now a national joke....
So he was right to be wrong and those who were right were wrong to be right and the fact that the Bush campaign had lied like a rug from day one was irrelevant toward judging the credibility of the same people once they were in office.
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Posted by: Criminal Defence Law | August 25, 2009 at 12:59 AM
Nice post. Journalism has a big role on balancing issues in our government.
Posted by: Roxanne | August 27, 2009 at 11:15 PM