Sunday, April 9, 2006

Today's Press Commentary

This morning, the Washington Post editorial writers (presumably a gent named Fred Hiatt) authored an opinion piece that defends George W. Bush for his leaking of what had been classified data, and attacks Joe Wilson for his statements against Bush. Here is a link to the editorial in question.

Now, what's interesting about this is that the "facts" presented in support of the editorial's position are not only at variance with what has been reported elsewhere...they're even at variance with what's been reported in the Washington Post. Matter of fact, the editorial contradicts some facts presented in the very same issue of the Post. This article that was in the paper this morning is headlined, "A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic" and they're referring to Wilson. But the editorial in the same issue is written as if it's an established truth that there was no such effort. (For more on the contradictions, read this.)

So here's my question: Is the Post editorial a case of its author saying, "I don't believe the other article?" Or is it, "I didn't read the other article?" There's a big difference there.

This is not unprecedented. A few years ago, The Wall Street Journal went through a period where the editorial page seemed to be written and assembled by folks who were unpersuaded by facts that appeared in The Wall Street Journal. In that case, it seemed clear that they thought the rest of the paper was getting things wrong. I'd like to know if that's what's occurring now with the Washington Post.

For a paper that still gets dismissed by some as a left-wing rag, the Post has been pretty supportive of George W. Bush. In fact, the American people have been a lot less supportive of Bush than the Post has been. At times, it's seemed like the paper has been consciously trying to side with him in order to shake the "Liberal" label and garner some respect (and subscriptions) from Conservatives. If that's their goal, it won't work. They could write 98 editorials praising the brilliance of Bush and two criticizing his policies, and the two would still be dismissed as Bush-hating, left-wing bias. For a lot of right-wingers, hurling that charge has becoming a way of sticking their fingers in their ears and going "la la la" so they don't have to hear, and therefore deal with facts that aren't going their way.

• Posted at 4:57 PM · LINK

The Boys Are Back!

Big Laurel and Hardy fest tomorrow evening on Turner Classic Movies. At 8:00 (all times Eastern), they run Bonnie Scotland, followed by The Devil's Brother at 9:30. Bonnie Scotland is okay and The Devil's Brother is probably the best of the "period" pieces they did. At 11:15, we get Nothing But Trouble, which is one of their later, less-than-wonderful features so skip that one unless you're a completist.

At 2 AM, TCM is running three shorts in a row: The Music Box, Them Thar Hills and Tit for Tat. Of these, The Music Box is the gem. Them Thar Hills is a short that I always thought was among the weaker efforts of Stan and Ollie but it was apparently quite popular with audiences of the time. So they made Tit for Tat as something of a sequel, and it's also not among my favorites. But what comes next is.

At 3:30 AM — and remember, these are all Eastern times I'm giving you — TCM gives us Sons of the Desert, followed at 4:45 AM by Way Out West. These were probably the two best features Laurel and Hardy ever made

That's all from Turner Classic Movies (although they are running Room Service on Wednesday if you like medium-grade Marx Brothers films). However, Tuesday morning the Fox Movie Channel is airing The Big Noise, which is another of those later films when The Boys were showing their ages and when they missed the freedom and support of the Hal Roach Studios. It does have some wonderful moments, though. Nothing Laurel and Hardy ever did was without wonderful moments.

• Posted at 4:32 PM · LINK

This Just In...

The polling conducted by Fox News currently has George W. Bush at 36% approval and 53% disapproval, while they have the Vice-President at 35% approval, 53% disapproval. Dick Cheney is now demanding that when he checks into a hotel room, all the television sets be tuned to The Cartoon Network.

• Posted at 12:28 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Of all the animated clips I've seen posted to the 'net, this one's my favorite. Even better is that I agree with its message and that it was commissioned by and distributed by the folks at Consumer's Union, the people who bring you Consumer's Reports magazine.

• Posted at 12:35 AM · LINK