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Sunday, April 12, 2009

Stacking the deck

The MSM is highly trained in the art of stacking the deck. Here is the lesson today from the Washington Post... Obama Team Mulls Aims Of Somali Extremists


Some in the Defense Department have been frustrated by what they see as a failure to act. Many other national security officials say an ill-considered strike would have negative diplomatic and political consequences far beyond the Horn of Africa.


Some ... Many. The few cowboys vs. the many level headed mature men.

If you didn't get it, the final paragraph drives the theme home. The "many" come back:

But many on the national security team insist that it is their caution and willingness to consider all aspects of the situation that differentiate them from the overly aggressive posture of the Bush administration that they say exacerbated the terrorist threat.

Let's look at the score: after 9/11 no more terrorist attacks on the US under Bush.
No American ships taken by pirates in 200 years.
After a mere 70 days into the Obama administration pirates take a US ship. This calls for a speech and a stiff protest to the UN.

According to the Post, one man's pirate is another man's nationalist. And don't call them pirates.

5 comments:

DPD said...

But here's the thing (and this is what drives me absolutely batty about so much of the media criticism from my fellow conservatives):

How do you know that's wrong?

I mean, seriously: How do you know that wasn't the breakdown of opinion in the Defense Department?

This is classic shooting-the-messenger. It drives you nuts to hear a certain reality conveyed, so you blast the entity that conveyed it to you.

To me, on the other hand, this sounds like a perfectly good reason to be pissed at the DoD. Or to at least ponder if I should be. Why would I hold it against the Washington frikking Post, of all things?

Chad said...

DPD,

You know because it's the MO for these organizations going back decades. And in any 'cry wolf' scenario, the media have left themselves no credibility because of their choices through the decades.

As for being mad at the DoD, look to its executive in charge. A strong executive would be able to cut through noise quickly.

Anonymous said...

DPD,

Its the predictability.

AMW

Moneyrunner said...

DPD.

Because there is no way that the reporter for the Washington Post was in a postion to take a poll.

The DoD may be the worst passel of pussies in the world, but it's literally not possible to write this story in this way without injecting your own opinion.

If you have a problem with conservative criticism of the MSM, consider this article and consider why you think that this is a legitimate survey of DoD opinion.

egoist said...

It should never have gotten to this point. But, when it did, the entirety of the Somalian boat collection should have been sunk to the bed of the sea. Until / unless the pain is experienced by all of them, the “pirates” will live on, even finding a new host country if bombed out of Somalia. When nobody dares to permit them in their country, for fear of American belligerence, the problem will be starved out.

Picking off their bases within Somalia is too meek, and simply drags the problem on.

I am unimpressed that a country taxing me to death for a wicked powerful military is so strangled by such altruistic morality as to be more concerned for the enemy’s “rights” than protecting our country. If we can’t utterly clobber Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia in hours – let alone months & years – all while sacrificing American men, there are serious philosophical problems that are killing us.