Press finally exacting price for Bush's "irreconcilable rhetoric, reality"

WP: Demanding Answers
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, September 7, 2005; 1:27 PM

In the wake of a mortifyingly slow government response to the Gulf Coast disaster, the press is demanding answers from the White House with unprecedented vigor.

President Bush and his aides are refusing to provide them -- saying this is no time to play the "blame game."

But as a frustrated Terry Moran of ABC News put it yesterday, during the stonewalling marathon that passed for Scott McClellan's mid-day press briefing: "It's not a blame game. It's accountability! It's accountability!"

The White House press corps is sensing a political sea change caused by Katrina. Bush and his aides are finding it impossible to wave off the incontrovertible facts and heart-rending images emerging from the lake that was once a great American city. They're finding it harder to set the news agenda. And the scathing criticism is becoming increasingly bipartisan, freeing reporters from the obligation to make every White House story sound like one with two sides equally based in reality.

Bush may be paying the price for the years during which his rhetoric and reality have been at times irreconcilable. After all, this post-Katrina press awakening is not the result of reporters expressing their personal or political opinions so much as it is about their asking tough questions based on what they, and others, have seen with their own eyes....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/07/BL2005090701133_pf.html

"And the scathing criticism is becoming increasingly bipartisan, freeing reporters from the obligation to make every White House story sound like one with two sides equally based in reality."

When was that EVER a reporter's obligation? A reporter's obligation is reality, period.

heaven forbid they do some investigation that shows one side to be outside of the realm of reality...

Didn't they say that while we were trying to investigate a previous one, they were off creating a new one?

Well, I guess the REAL reality is finally FINALLY about to catch up with them. I hope it rolls over them like a slow moving steam roller from the toes up.

The problem has not been that they present both sides of an issue as equally valid.

The problem is that they have elevated the side of Bush and the Bipartisan Status Quo Elite, while denigrating or ignoring anything that does not fit into that mold.

Remember the Iraq War debate? The "conventional wisdom" was established by the administration, the generals and the bi-partisan Empire Oriented foreign policy establishment.

The views of those who disagreed with the Bush/Kerry line were marginalized as the cranky minority opposition and "leftist fringe."

Turns out the fringe minority was right after all,and more people have joined it.

The press should be after the truth,and presenting different perspectives. Not buying into the assumptions of anyone -- including us.

I just read the entire article. We can only hope that all the reporters on-site have been changed by this. I heard Anderson Cooper say that he will never be the same....

What time?

I want a front row seat today.

intensity of a media blitz like Bill Clinton dealt with. BTW, Clinton's actions never caused thousands of deaths, so Bush is still getting the kid glove treatment considering the magnitude of the FEMA disaster.

Dick Cheney is BushCo's "POINT MAN" in the south. Too bad he didn't have the time of the Guts to be a real point man in Nam. It might have made a man out of him. * Point Man = More GOP Play Acting

"for the years during which his rhetoric and reality have been at times irreconcilable."

When weren't they?!

one WaPo ed today referred to his "strong communication skills". Strong given the fact that he's a drunken, slobbering, cowardly moron, I guess. Even after a disaster like this they have to lie for the loser.

They aren't to challenge any statement out of this corrupt administration, no matter how at odds it is with reality that they haven't personally seen?

This is logic I'd find wanting from a four year old.

... to wake them up. The second saddest thing will be how quickly they revert to previous behavior.


Another good soundbite from the article...

"... freeing reporters from the obligation to make every White House story sound like one with two sides equally based in reality."

It's only breaking down now because the PRESS started doing it's goddamn job.

fuck himself and CBSNEWS has it on its front page for people to view

About goddamn time

It's closer to the press we've been wanting than it has been for a long long time.