MSNBC's "dedication" to our armed forces
By Gary Krasner (07/04/06)
On the eve of Independence Day, Chris Mathews devoted tonight's episode of Hardball (MSNBC) to the courage of our American servicemen and women in Iraq. Or so he claimed.
Did he present any stories of individual acts of heroism or battlefield successes? Perhaps a retrospective account of the astoundingly successful Faludja campaign? Was there anything uplifting at all, at least for the friends and relatives of troops stationed in iraq?
Of course not. Mathews is part of the mainstream media with a knee jerk anti Bush agenda. (Watching these phonies, you would think there were no silver stars awarded in Iraq.)
Instead, the entire show was wall to wall depressing. What Mathews calls inspiring was old recycled news segments on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and soldiers trying to cope with "devastating injuries". Of course there was a segment on the division among the public over the efficacy of "invading Iraq" (never "toppling Saddam").
And as always, he invited the same anti Bush Iraq veteran (Paul Rieckoff, author of "Chasing Ghosts") who always appears on the cable talk shows, and who Mathews claims to "represent veterans". He explained how effective the insurgents are and why we shouldn't have troops in Iraq. The usual stuff. The number of Iraq veterans who support the war vastly outnumber guys like him. Yet Mathews and his colleagues cant seem to find them.
The mainstream media claims that there isn't good news to report in Iraq. Yet some people have been able to fill entire books of stories to the contrary. They also claim that it's not their job to report on "dog bites man" stories. Yet on a day when such stories are warranted, Mathews couldn't present a single one. And Mathews is the bell-weather of liberal, anti Republican thinking inside the beltway.
To be fair, Mathews didn't present the usual stories of American troops raping and killing innocent Iraqis. No, not even the MSM would do that on a day "dedicated to our fighting men and women of the armed forces."
Gary Krasner
July 3, 2006
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