For those who don't know, the Washington Post wrote in respones to the Downing Street Minutes that they were not
news because everyone already knew everything they
contained--importantly, though the WP carefully avoided mention, the
DSM proving that Bush had decided to go to war prior to figuring out a
reason and also that he in fact began that war prior to recieving
congressional authorization.
This is bullshit. First of all, Secondly it is
certainly not something "everyone" knew, and certainly not something the
news was reporting on. Thirdly, I think perhaps the largest shocker of
all: this is
proof--positive evidence and not mere speculation. It implies the Washington Post knew the war was a fraud from the very start and probably before but pretended it was legitimate.
That, if true, would be treason so far as I'm concerned. In the real definition of the word.
We've at least become sophisticates of our own bamboozlement, I guess.
First,
there is the group of us (we) that have seen through the bamboozlement
from the start. The feeling I've heard over and over hasn't been
sophistication, so much as chagrin...over the fact that Bush could
bamboozle everybody else (despite our protests).
Second, there's
the mainstream press, for whom the Downing Street Memos are old news.
Although they appeared to have been bamboozled, they now say they knew
the truth all along (i.e. they are just as sophisticated as "we"
were). It's just that they didn't care to share their insights with
the American people (thereby facilitating the bamboozlement).
Finally,
there's the group that have been bamboozled on a consistent basis,
until perhaps recently. But Toto has pulled the curtain aside, forcing
Bush to frantically tell them to pay no attention to the man behind the
screen.
This group, I think, will proceed slowly down the
path of opposition to White House policy. Nobody likes to admit that
they had been bamboozed, after all.
But at least it's good to see that the press is now (finally) holding their hand along that journey.
