Robert Parry hits Dana Milbank right between the eyes

Mocking the Downing Street Memo
By Robert Parry
June 18, 2005

http://consortiumnews.com/2005/061705.html

Dana Milbank, as the Post’s White House correspondent, has drawn conservative ire from time to time for not showing sufficient respect for George W. Bush. But if Milbank were tempted to write an over-the-top attack on Bush – like he did on Conyers and the Downing Street Memo hearing – he would pay a high price from retaliating conservatives who would accuse him of bias and flood his editors with complaints.

Almost certainly, Milbank would have second thoughts about such an article or his editors would for him. Without doubt, the story would not have appeared in the openly insulting form that it did when Democrats and liberals were the target.

Though no one wants to say it, everyone in mainstream journalism knows intuitively that there is no real risk in ripping liberals. Most often, it’s a win-win. Not only can you write almost whatever you want, but it buys the journalist a measure of protection from conservatives, who have a long record of costing reporters their jobs.

Milbank, for instance, must know that his putdown of the Downing Street Memo hearing means he can wave the article in front of Bush supporters the next time they criticize something he’s written about the president.

Not some sort of right-wing shill or stooge, but instead a reporter heavily vested in the Beltway, in danger of losing access, reputation and even career should he report on the wrong news in the wrong way. And unfortunately, he's not brave enough (or perhaps foolhardy enough) to disregard consequences.
People like Milbank should be more targets of pity than scorn. I save my ire for the people in power -- at the WaPo and among party officials (elected or otherwise) -- who have created the environment that Milkbank and others now find temselves in.

That old adage "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword" That is only true with people that have a mighty pen. Milbank is showing the US that his is not mighty at all.

with a very reckless, wide-ranging attack on the event he seems to have mistakenly believed they set up. His sketch revealed his incompetence, pettiness, and vindictiveness among many other flaws. If his attack had been against a right-wing Republican, however, as Parry points out, his ass would have been grass. The right-wing would never have stood for his staying on the job. But lefties don't wield that kind of power anymore. We've become the "wingnuts" the media can mock openly and insult with impunity.

http://www.democrats.com/milbank

However, he got that POS article approved so IMHO WaPo wanted that kind of hatchet job done on the memo, Democrats.com and Conyers. They were among the last to acknowledge the existence of the memo, I believe. They want this to go away so bad they can taste it and the seriously unprofessional way they are trying to accomplish that reeks of desperation.

They knew what they could get away with better than Milbank did.