Lowry Sells Out

National Review editor Rich Lowry must be drinking the Beltway kool-aid or angling for a gig on The New York Times op-ed page because here he is selling out to the traitors in the MSM:

Most of the pessimistic warnings from the mainstream media have turned out to be right — that the initial invasion would be the easy part, that seeming turning points (the capture of Saddam, the elections, the killing of Zarqawi) were illusory, that the country was dissolving into a civil war.

Say it ain't so! And most of all what about the good news from Iraq? Lowry says "the opening of schools and hospitals is not particularly newsworthy, at least not compared with American casualties and with sectarian attacks meant to bring Iraq down around everyone’s heads in a full-scale civil war." Damnit, Lowry, don't you know that only four of Iraq's eighteen provinces are violent? "True, but those provinces include 40 percent of the population, as well as the capital city, where the battle over the country’s future is being waged." It's madness. A veritable stab in the back, I say. Lowry, though, says "many conservatives lost touch with reality on Iraq. They thought that they were contributing to our success, but they were only helping to forestall a cold look at conditions there and the change in strategy and tactics that would be dictated by it."

Fortunately, Stanley Kurtz is on hand to explain that . . . the media is to blame for conservatives' failure to believe accurate media reports about conditions in Iraq. Fire Lowry! Kurtz for National Review Editor! Can't we bring this Lowry back:

It is time to say it unequivocally: We are winning in Iraq. Even as there has been a steady diet of bad news about Iraq in the media over the last year, even as some hawks have bailed on the war in despair, even as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has become everyone’s whipping boy, the U.S. military has been regaining the strategic upper hand.

Take that, MSM!

12/20/06 11:19AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

Kurtz's comment is really the Conservative tautology in a nutshell. It's damn near beautiful. I'm simultaneously tempted to give him a standing ovation while running headfirst into a wall.

Shorter Kurtz:
Assuming that there was a liberal media bias, we didn't believe the media, even though they were correct. The obvious solution, now that the media is vindicated and we were proven wrong, is to correct the liberal media bias which, as I just stated, only existed in our imaginations.

Posted by: jfaberuiuc on December 20, 2006 11:47 AM

Kurtz's comment is really the Conservative tautology in a nutshell. It's damn near beautiful.

Elegant. Like a Moebius strip of bullshit.

Posted by: tb on December 20, 2006 11:57 AM

Kurtz is pretty amusing here.

The Liberal Media told the truth about how bad the situation is in Iraq.

However, they didn't report good things that were going on in Iraq that also happened to be true. Granted, these things were/are far less important, but it would still be nice to hear them.

Therefore, the Liberal Media is to blame for Conservatives refusing to acknowledge the important truths because the Liberal Media refused to be sidetracked by pleasant sounding, but rather unimportant truths.

Is this a call to turn the Mainstream Media into People Magazine?

Posted by: a on December 20, 2006 11:59 AM

Shorter Kurtz: If the media had reported that things were going great in Iraq, we would have perceived more quickly that things were going badly.

I am in awe.

Posted by: Gator90 on December 20, 2006 12:00 PM

Matt and the other liberal bloggers should be grateful for the existence of these uberboys (nee self-proclaimed ubermensches) at the Corner. If nothing else, you can pick any post from that place on at any moment and wallow in the joys of its idiocy.

Posted by: gregor on December 20, 2006 12:03 PM

Is the right seriously saying that their own perceived bias in the media, which prevented them from believing anything reported by it, is the reason they weren't aware Iraq was going to hell? Are they now admitting that FOX is worthless as a news source?

Posted by: jg on December 20, 2006 12:11 PM

So we are on the Titanic and someone notices a giant iceberg which the crew decides to ignore. Since the passengers were running about, screaming about the looming iceberg, the crew did not notice until the ship was listing on its side and the passengers cannot get to the lifeboats. (ignore that the planners never had enough lifeboats for everyone so that 30% of the passengers would have to swim for it even if all the lifeboats were used)
Had the passengers instead, started yelling compliments about how the deck chairs were arranged, how great the orchestra sounded, what a great job the lookout was doing, and how much they enjoyed cold water swims, the crew would have noticed the iceberg and changed course and averted disaster.
This ignores that the captain of the Titanic in this scenario is Daffy Duck...........

Posted by: entlord on December 20, 2006 12:15 PM

Lowry is still full of crap: "Bush allowed himself to be cornered by his media critics. They wanted him to admit mistakes, so for the longest time, he would admit none." Damn that all powerful media! If it hadn't been for them, we'd be in better shape because Bush would have changed policy sooner. It's still the media's fault.

Posted by: SteveH on December 20, 2006 12:26 PM

I feel like people should find this whole thing--particularly Kurtz--more worrying than amusing. These people are fucking morons; if not as individuals, then by virtue of the system of knowledge into which they've bought. And they represent half of our country. Sooner or later, the war in Iraq is going to end, but these fuckers are still going to be around, they're still going to have an unbelievable set of notions about how the world works, and they're going to be at least 40% of the population. And all of this is going to be true for the rest of our lives.

Posted by: SomeCallMeTim on December 20, 2006 12:32 PM

Wow, quite the contortions there from that Kurtz fellow. How do these people keep jobs? (oh yeah, telling their readers what they want to hear).

I just don't undertand how the MSM can have a liberal bias when the most popular news channel, and BY FAR, the most popular pundits, are all of a conservative bent.

The idea that the media screwed this up is so profoundly...retarded...it's just hard to grasp. Also, Kurtz should have noted that the media did try to make heroes out of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman...mostly from FALSE reports coming out of the Pentagon.

That last sentence though, ('The media has discredited themselves, making it tough to take them seriously even when they are right, and that has hurt us all.')....just WOW....the paraphrases above do great justice to this tripe.

Cognitive dissonance at it's most base. Even when finally faced with information that can't be dismissed, they hate the messenger for informing them.

Posted by: Wah on December 20, 2006 12:35 PM

shorter kurtz:
we're forced to ignore the media's reporting of facts in the middle east until such time as it is delivered by completely unbiased pro-israel hoover institute fellows.

Posted by: jethro on December 20, 2006 12:40 PM

Sooner or later, the war in Iraq is going to end, but these fuckers are still going to be around, they're still going to have an unbelievable set of notions about how the world works, and they're going to be at least 40% of the population. And all of this is going to be true for the rest of our lives.

I agree, SCMT, the situation is dire. Short of learning Mandarin, though, what is to be done? At least snark helps pass the time.

Posted by: Delicious Pundit on December 20, 2006 12:44 PM

The first sentence may be my favorite:

First Lady Laura Bush spoke for many conservatives when she excoriated the media’s coverage of Iraq the other day.

"Excoriate"? Rich, that's what's called a sustained whine.

Posted by: ts on December 20, 2006 12:53 PM

Everyone knows that Kerry and Jane Fonda lost Vietnam, not Johnson, Nixon, McNamara and Westmoreland!!
It was the filthy dirty hippy sideshow that got 50,000 americans and millions of indo-chinese killed, not the people who started the war!!!

A lot of soldiers are going to be coming home soon, one way or the other.

They lost their best friends, limbs, and innocence in a horribly wrong endeavor.
There will be no good jobs for them to come back to.
They believe they could win Iraq, but for the media and the dirty filthy hippies who hate america.

What will happen when these men flood our streets? Getting paid less, and with inadequate VA care?

Anyone remember a former soldier named McVeigh?
Anyone remember gangs of former disillusioned soldiers roaming Munich and Rome in the 1920's???

The most dangerous threat to the safety of america is demagogues like Kurtz.

Posted by: feckless on December 20, 2006 12:55 PM

I love Lowry's "some Conservatives" dodge. How about you Rich? Why were you so totally wrong in your "We're Winning" cover story of May? What's your excuse?

And if you have been so wrong for so long - why should anyone bother to listen to you now?

Posted by: Tiparillo on December 20, 2006 01:05 PM

Pwned!

Posted by: Nick Kaufman on December 20, 2006 01:06 PM

Where's Al when you really need him

Posted by: a on December 20, 2006 01:09 PM

"Most of the pessimistic warnings from the mainstream media have turned out to be right"

Could someone supply a link to the article cited? I must have missed it along the way. As I recall, the MSM ate it all up with a very big spoon, and regurgitated it to the public 24/7.

Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.

Substitute 'reason' for 'method'.

Posted by: RudyTahuti on December 20, 2006 01:12 PM

So we're no longer turning a corner.

We're turning The Corner.

Posted by: Davebo on December 20, 2006 01:22 PM

I'm amazed that these guys are finally admitting that they got it wrong, even though their excuse is beyond bizarre. And didn't the liberal-biased MSM all support this adventure in the beginning? By the way, has the most important character in this story yet noted the present state of affairs? He still must continue not to lose face as more and more young Americans die and are disabled. May the next two years pass as fast as possible.

Posted by: Allan R on December 20, 2006 01:24 PM

Lowry is of fighting age and could volunteer today for Iraq duty, but has yet to do so.

Why not?

Posted by: Garuda on December 20, 2006 02:26 PM

"However, they didn't report good things that were going on in Iraq that also happened to be true."

Not even Fox and the Wash Times reported on the "good news". Fox tried one night, and that was the end of that.

Has anyone considered asking why the conservative media has not been all over the "good news"? Mr. Kurtz,are you listening? Mr. Limbaugh, your flight to Iraq is boarding now. Ms. Malkin is saving your seat.

Posted by: zak822 on December 20, 2006 02:35 PM

Hey Delicious,

The good news is that Mandarin is not all that hard to learn. As K.O. would say:

晚上好也祝好運

再見

Posted by: mjshep on December 20, 2006 03:00 PM

Shortest Kurtz: "Inconceivable!"

I wonder if he's using the same war we're using.

Posted by: Tom Allen on December 20, 2006 03:47 PM

It says something that even Al won't stoop to BS spin for Kurtz here.

Posted by: Eric on December 20, 2006 04:28 PM

Anyone remember a former soldier named McVeigh?
Anyone remember gangs of former disillusioned soldiers roaming Munich and Rome in the 1920's???

The most dangerous threat to the safety of america is demagogues like Kurtz.

No s**t - I just keep wondering who the next "November criminals" are going to be...

Posted by: Brian on December 20, 2006 04:33 PM

Garuda,

Did you volunteer? Did you serve? Questioning someone's service record becase they support the war is as moronic as questioning someone's service record if the are opposed. Not everyone is cut out to be in the military, but that doesn't relegate them to the back of the bus.

Posted by: WFIGUY on December 20, 2006 04:44 PM

We just conducted an interview with the Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran where we talk about a number of the MSM things.

In it, Rajiv expands on his experience in Iraq as Washington
Post bureau chief, discusses the Iraqi journalists who became an
important part of the Post's coverage and pinpoints key moments where the Bush administration and its war planners erred in their post-war strategy.

If interested, you can view it here: http://www.scribemedia.org/2006/12/20/imperial-life/

Posted by: Michael on December 20, 2006 06:17 PM

One thing to keep in mind regarding Lowry is that the Neocon philosophy that Bush followed in invading Iraq is quite a bit different from standard conservative philosophy. In particular, conservatives have always been very dubious about aggressively promoting democritization.

After 9/11 most conservatives temporarily converted over to neoconservatism, partly in the emotion of the moment and partly to support Bush. But now that neoconservatism is turning into a very unpopular disater, a lot of conservatives like Lowry are turning back to more traditional views.

Posted by: bobo the chimp on December 20, 2006 09:14 PM

Tell you what, if the people who supported the war stop questioning the bravery, seriousness, and rationality of those who opposed it, we'll stop asking them why they haven't signed up.

Still waiting.

Posted by: MDtoMN on December 20, 2006 09:34 PM

Lowery reminds me of the smart, earnest and good kid in High School that got seduced with the “in crowd”. First a little weed, some fast girls, Jack D, then off to the races rationalizing war crimes and defending war criminals.

He seems the type that will for ever have Lady Macbeth episodes as he thinks of all the dead and maimed soldiers and the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis.

Let’s start placing bets on those that will pull a Chuck Colson and cash in on redemption.

Posted by: erict on December 20, 2006 11:17 PM

Lowry: we know the liberal media is a contrarian indicator, so how could we know the war stunk when they said it stunk?

Posted by: Jay Crozier on December 23, 2006 08:19 PM

Assuming that there was a liberal media bias, we didn't believe the media, even though they were correct. The obvious solution, now that the media is vindicated and we were proven wrong, is to correct the liberal media bias which, as I just stated, only existed in our imaginations.

Posted by: sohbet on August 14, 2007 04:11 PM

thank you

Posted by: youtube on August 27, 2007 04:17 PM

thank you

Posted by: bilim on August 27, 2007 04:18 PM

thank you

Posted by: health on August 27, 2007 04:19 PM

thank you

Posted by: kurtlar vadisi on August 27, 2007 04:33 PM

thanks

Posted by: halkin yildizlari on August 28, 2007 10:21 AM

very nice

Posted by: oyunlar on August 28, 2007 10:21 AM

He seems the type that will for ever have Lady Macbeth episodes as he thinks of all the dead and maimed soldiers and the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis.

Let’s start placing bets on those that will pull a Chuck Colson and cash in on redemption.

Posted by: youtube on September 15, 2007 02:35 PM

veryGod.!

Posted by: sesli sohbet on September 15, 2007 07:08 PM

Verry Good web Thank Youu

Posted by: Sohbet on September 18, 2007 09:37 PM

sohbet

Posted by: sohbet on September 21, 2007 04:00 PM

www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışmasıwww.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışmasıwww.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışmasıwww.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması

Posted by: www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması on September 21, 2007 04:02 PM

thanks

Posted by: sohbet on September 24, 2007 09:37 AM

n it, Rajiv expands on his experience in Iraq as Washington
Post bureau chief, discusses the Iraqi journalists who became an
important part of the Post's coverage and pinpoints key moments where the Bush administration and its war planners erred in their post-war strategy.

Posted by: forum on September 24, 2007 01:16 PM

First Lady Laura Bush spoke for many conservatives when she excoriated the media’s coverage of Iraq the other day.now

Posted by: yakamoz on September 28, 2007 07:08 PM

hello

Posted by: chat on October 8, 2007 02:35 AM

thanks your article ready

Posted by: www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması on October 8, 2007 10:37 AM

seksi

Posted by: Adult on October 9, 2007 12:49 PM

merhaba

Posted by: sohbet on October 9, 2007 12:50 PM

oldu