Froomkin fans freak out

Buzzmachine hosts a one-sided discussion praising Froomkin’s Bush-bashing as "telling the truth" and "factual analysis." But again and again, Froomkin leaves out the part about the glass being half-full.

E.g., Froomkin today mentions that a poll [USA Today?] of Iraqis has two-thirds against continued US “occupation.” Duh…. What sane person would not resent a foreign army in their country?

But what Froomkin neglects to mention is that the same poll says that over seventy percent of Iraqis think things are getting better.

That doesn’t fit Froomkin’s Bush-bashing script.

Liberals leave out any positive “good” news and accentuate any negative “bad” news. It’s called agitprop and is an old liberal hard-left practice. Works every time in demoralizing the home front unless positive spinners follow the media/academia nihilists who say the glass is half empty and point out the balanced side.

That's why Post Political Editor John Harris is suggesting a conservative blogger to provide "balance."

But Harris' sensible proposal unleashed a torrent of liberal hard-left invective making the point that Froomkin is "telling the truth" and how can you have another version of the truth?

True to their totalitarian forebears, the liberal commentariat wants no opposition to their agitprop. Harris is being flamed in the comments section of the Washington Post Blog by the liberal remnants of the far left tonight for advocating balance and for putting Froomkin in the "Opinion" section where he belongs.

Streisand-like threats to cancel subscriptions and admonitions that the sky is falling are the stock-in-trade of these bitter-enders.

Just to end on a less jarring note, Froomkin's piece tonight lays off the heavy artillery he usually employs when Bush gives a public speech. Froomkin actually damned Bush with faint praise for taking questions.


Read Thomas Sowell in RealClearPolitics or Prof Socolow in, surprise!, today’s Globe. The Boston Globe somewhat surprisingly has a very deep and thoughtful piece which gives a broader perspective than I have in the paragraphs above. Michael Socolow of Maine University points out that

"too many journalists practice reporting informed by a pessimistic cynicism. This corrosive attitude is damaging the news industry; newspaper circulation and TV news viewership continue to decline."