More Thoughts on the Speech

I was interested to see that the media reaction to the speech was largely negative. My view has been, all along, that the media, especially the talking heads, have been reluctant to deal realistically with this war because they were beating the drum for it back in 2002 and 2003. In a way, it was their war as much as it was Bush's, and like Bush, they weren't going to admit making a mistakein invading Iraq.

But it looks like the media talking heads might be seeing an opening to extract themselves from the mess (and their responsibility for it) and to start criticizing the Administration's handling of the war--if not, ultimately, the Administration's bogus rationale for the war, which the media pushed so hard, post-9/11--you remember, WMD. This is also appears to be true of the editorial pages of the leading newspapers, including the bellicose Washington Post and even the Judith Miller'ed New York Times.

If this happens, then the Administration's kid glove treatment by the media will come to an end. Watch out.

On the substance of the speech, the most interesting line was the call to military service. I will only note that the call was limited to those considering the military, already. What kind of horsepucky is that? There should be a major push to get every last Republican under 30 to sign up and put their asses where their mouths are. And that push should come from the very top. Oh, wait--can draft "evaders" like Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the chickenhawks advocate military service? The kind of military service where the bad guys actually shoot at you?

If this wasn't so serious, it would be funny.