Fear of Clowns

This is what the President said in his press conference last Monday:

"...in spite of the bad news on television -- and there is bad news. You brought it up; you said, how do I react to a bombing that took place yesterday -- is precisely what the enemy understands is possible to do. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't talk about it. I'm certainly not being -- please don't take that as criticism. But it also is a realistic assessment of the enemies capability to affect the debate, and they know that. They're capable of blowing up innocent life so it ends up on your TV show. And, therefore, it affects the woman in Cleveland you were talking to. And I can understand how Americans are worried about whether or not we can win."

He said the bad stuff shouldn't be ignored, but points out the media is affecting the perception of the war by showing only the negative things happening.

Don't you see, the enemy wants only negative press, then they look to be winning. And the polls seem to indicate that this is what Americans believe!

You know, I think the most fascinating unreported stuff comes from the soldiers themsleves, in milblogs and their diaries about what is really going on there.

I found this week's installment that is being reported on Fox News' website interesting:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189265,00.html

Part of the problem with turning Iraqis into police is that many cannot even take the test because they cannot read. This is something the soldier says goes unreported by the media. Why don't they? Because it may be a logical explanation for why this process of handing over security to the Iraqis is a long process.

How is it possible that you are passing on unreported news? If something's not reported you couldn't find out about it.

But, what is your overall point here? That Iraq is actually a great place to vacation or live?

My overall point is that the mainstream media is playing into the opposition's hands by focusing on the negative. And then they cannot even admit it when it is brought to their attention.

For the record, I don't think I would want to live or vacation in Iraq right now, but I wouldn't have wanted to before the war when Saddam Hussein was in power either. Do you think America looked attractive during the Revolutionary War, but look now how many people do anything to come to the land of opportunity!

You mean you believe the insurgency's goal is to influence US news coverage?

And to counter that, US media should ignore incidents of schoolchildren being kidnapped and of Iraqi intellectuals fleeing the country?

And of the occupying forces never coming close to their infrastructure or military recruitment goals?

To answer your questions in order:

1.) Yes

2.) No

3.) Your question proves I am right about question 1.

If the goal is to influence American media, why are Sunis and Shiites the main targets??

I don't follow...

Two questions, Beth. If you were a war corospondent in a war zone, would you risk your life and the lives of others to disobey the military and the Iraqi's by driving off to a newly built school so you can report on it? Do you realize that they are reporting the "good" things and underreporting the bad? Do you see pictures of dead Iraqis in piles flasched across your screen? Do you see pictures of dead American kids in body bags flashed across your screen? Do you often hear the details about how the scores of dead every day came to be that way?

The media does report the good stuff - it's Americans who pay a lot more attention to the death and destruction. That and the fact that there just isn't a lot of good happening for the majority of Iraqis. Life goes on, evwen in a war zone, but tell me, how "good" can life be when you here bombs and gun fire from most every direction and you just hope and pray it doesn't get you? Think about living that way for years.

Wouldn't the concentration of spectacular attacks be killing Americans if the overriding goal is to influence American media coverage?

DuWayne, I cannot imagine living that way for even one day. We cannot imagine what it is like because we live in freedom already, our forefathers fought those deadly battles long ago.

I don't watch the news to know what images they show, but I would think showing deceased people would be very disrespectful.

To Erik, that doesn't matter to them or the media.

The president is just looking to place the blame. He has a pathological inability accept responsability for his collosal, tragic fuckups - period. He will continualy find excuses that place the blame for the devestation he has caused everything he touches, squarely on anyone he can. He is a menace who has destroyed our economy, ratcheted up our nations deficit to new heights, destroyed Iraq, destroyed foriegn relations, stolen our civil liberties and polorized our nation like never before. But of course none of this can possibly be his fault. I don't hate bush, I don't hate anyone, what I hate is the destruction he has wrought.

I just don't see our country in the shambles you make it out to be, DuWayne.

The shambles is a lot more obvious to those in the middle class who have been bumped downward. Those who have lost their jobs to foreign countries. Those who have lost their healthcare. Those who have lost loved ones in iraq to the presidents lies. This country has always had a pretty little veneer to hide the shit from the view of the haves. I live in the bottom and it just keeps growing. The economy is only good for the very top 3 - 4% - for the rest it either really sucks or they just have yet to get knocked down. We are jacking into record deficits and this moron wants to cut more taxes for the top 1%. He can't even pretend to be responsible or resonable to the middle class because the last round of cuts increased the tax burden of the middle and so will this round if they go through. He wants to give even more breaks to the oil industry, including forgiving the cost of leases for oil fields on our public lands. Who cares that they are having record profits for any industry right now and we are at war, they just need to have more breaks. He truly is the worse president ever.

While Ms. Logan is safe in her studio trying to cover her ass, this solider in actually IN Iraq, and knows the real story, guys.

http://americancitizensoldier.blogspot.com/2006/03/shoot-messengers.html

And while you all like to dwell on the negative, let me tell you that consumer confidence is up.

http://www.conference-board.org/economics/consumerConfidence.cfm

The country is not in shambles!!

Beth, the blog post you link to says it's as bad in Iraq as it is in LA.

You say consumer confidence is up. What does that have to do with anything? Are you trying to get me to say direction of the country and approval of Congress and the White House is down?

Exactly the point, why don't we hear daily news reports around the country about the daily violence in LA??

As for bringing up the economy, that was for our friend DuWayne here who thinks our country is in shambles.

The LA Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer both report on violence in their respective cities and both report on violence in the war we're fighting in Iraq.

Do you see a problem with that? I can't imagine what it could be.

I only have a problem with it when it distorts the news, or when they give too much attention to the evildoers.

With 45 million and growing without health care and an increasing number of jobs leaving at a rapid rate I would say the country is in shambles. I am not sure what the national average is but the dropout rates in high school are also on the rise in a big way here in Oregon, in Michigan and Washington - the places I pay attention to - I doubt it's different anywhere else in the country. We produce, per capita, 15% of the Phd's we were producing 30 years ago and of those we do produce more are having problems finding jobs here in the U.S.

What would you say is going real well here? Keep in mind that even in the consumer confidence study you mentioned those who felt job prospects were worsening are still increasing and even among those who felt it was imporoving, few felt it was drasticly improving. Also keep in mind where it is imporving from. The other thing to remember is that many of these people are looking at government stats. The way the government measures unemployment has changed. If you were to take the measure by the methods used during the Reagan Administration, we have 23% unemployment/underemployment.