|
CounterPunch
December
2, 2002
Wag the Bush
By JASON LEOPOLD
What if this whole squabble with Iraq is just
an attempt by President Bush to cover up a White House sex scandal?
What if the President was caught getting it on with a girl scout
in the Oval Office and was about to be exposed so he cooks up
a phony war to divert the media away from the real story.
That's the plot line in the 1997 movie
Wag the Dog, a satire on media manipulation.
But based on the way the media has covered
the President and Iraq as of late, the story doesn't seem that
far-fetched. However, in reality it appears that our trusted
unbiased news organizations are in on the scheme.
Since September 11, the media has tiptoed
around the President and has refused to second-guess Bush on
the economy, his own business acumen or the war on terror because
that would be unpatriotic.
Sure, there have been a few news stories
written about those issues. A couple of reporters have challenged
Bush, only to be publicly discredited by the President's cronies,
and that's enough to put the fear of God into the rest of the
journalism community. Unfortunately, there are no Bob Woodward's
or Carl Bernstein's in modern day journalism because most reporters
don't have the balls to ask tough questions. Like the old saying
goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
So, in a time when the public is bombarded
with information, be it through the Internet and traditional
outlets such as newspapers, magazines and television, we're stuck
with propaganda by so-called credible news organizations like
The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Fox. How can
any person with a brain trust that the coverage from Fox is fair
and balanced when Roger Ailes, Fox News Channel's chairman, is
giving President Bush political advice? CNN and The Times downplays
the anti-war movement and our last bastion of hope, Bob Woodward,
the man who brought down former President Richard Nixon, just
published a book about Bush that says absolutely nothing important.
Woodward did, however, disclose the Ailes/Bush correspondence.
When op-ed columnists and bloggers are
spilling more ink on the underhanded tactics of the Bush administration
than the reporters on the Hill assigned to the beat, you know
that the state of journalism is in trouble. And that's unfair
to the millions of people who depend upon major news organizations
for information.
What we know about Bush since he was
sworn into office is that he operates under a veil of secrecy.
Journalists don't even attempt to dig for answers to lingering
questions about the President's relationship with big business,
particularly Enron, his alleged insider trading into Harken Energy
and most importantly what he knew about the September 11 terrorist
attacks and when he knew it. Rest assured, the American people
won't find out about the latter now that Henry Kissinger is heading
the inquiry. That's like asking Ken Lay to head a task force
investigating the California energy crisis. Will the media press
Kissinger for answers? Time will tell.
It's likely that in a few weeks, the
sequel to Wag the Dog, Wag the Bush: War with Iraq, produced
by Roger Ailes, will air on your local Fox News Channel. Just
in time for the holidays. Watch it at your own risk.
Jason Leopold
can be reached at: jasonleopold@hotmail.com
Yesterday's
Features
Alexander Cockburn
American
Journal
Gabriel Kolko
Another
Century of War?
Jeffrey St. Clair
Rockets,
Napalm, Torpedoes & Lies: The Attack on the Liberty Revisited
Steve Perry
Spank
the Democrats
M. Shahid Alam
A Predatory
Orientalism
Kurt Nimmo
The Murder
of Iain Hook
Ali Abunimah
Death
& Lies in Palestine
Anthony Gancarski
The
Return of Al Gore?
Joanne Mariner
In Defense
of the Filibuster
Ahmad Faruqui
The Apocalyptic
Vision of the Neo-Con Ideologues
Dave Marsh
Eminem's
Body & Soul
David Vest
On the Lam
from Uncle Sam
Julian Samuel
Bowling
for Columbine
Adam Engel
Piss Off,
NSA!
Behzad Yaghmaian
The Grassroots
Challenge to Iran's Theocracy
Wayne Saunders
This
Mad, Limitless War
Dan Brook
Celebrate
Genocide!
Uri Avnery
"Likud
Has Failed"
Philip Farruggio
Turkeys
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|