Monday, June 12 2006

Lowering the bar.

In today's Grapevine, Jim Angle, Brit Hume's Friday understudy, wants us to know just how ungrateful the left is over the death of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Unfortunately, for Angle the pickins are rather meager.

One Big Scam?

The U.S. and Iraqi governments are calling the death of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi is a victory in the War on Terror, but some on the left here at home are calling it "one big scam."

One liberal Web log reader says the news is just "another wave of propaganda from the Bush Cabal," saying, "He was likely killed years ago, or is still alive." Another calls it suspicious that Zarqawi's death comes just "as the marriage amendment failed" and "Bush's poll numbers are slipping," adding, "I don't buy it."

Wow... you mean a couple of liberal Web log readers said that? Hold the presses! But wait... ther's more apparently:

Meanwhile, The Washington Times reports that California Democrat Pete Stark called the announcement a political stunt to "cover Bush's [rear] so he doesn't have to answer" for the deaths of Iraqi civilians.

But, alas, it turns out that Stark never actually called the announcement a "stunt." Those are the words of Washington Times reporter Amy Fagan. Indeed, the Washington Times article that Angle is referencing is suspciously vague, quoting Rep. Stark only very briefly, and completing most of his supposed thoughts for him. Take a gander at the opening paragraph:

Some Democrats, breaking ranks from their leadership, today said the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq was a stunt to divert attention from an unpopular and hopeless war.
"This is just to cover Bush's [rear] so he doesn't have to answer" for Iraqi civilians being killed by the U.S. military and his own sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat. "Iraq is still a mess -- get out."
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, said Zarqawi was a small part of "a growing anti-American insurgency" and that it's time to get out.
"We're there for all the wrong reasons," Mr. Kucinich said.
Officially, Democratic leaders reacted positively to the news and praised the troops that successfully targeted al Qaeda's leader in Iraq with 500-pound bombs at his safe house 30 miles from Baghdad.

Officially, Democratic leaders reacted positively to the news... but in their secret underground lair, located deep inside the crater of an extinct volcano sitting atop the mysterious, uncharted pacific Island of DOOMSKULL, Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy cursed our wise and magnanimous leader for eliminating their friend Al Zarqawi and went back to work fine-tuning their nefarious plan for the destruction of America.

Eric Bohelert has lot more on the Washington Times article. It's well worth reading.

So to recap: what you've got here, bsaically, is the Washington Times writing a scurrilous hit-piece, which is then picked up by Angle and Fox News and rebroadcast as if it were a legitimate journalistic product. It's a fine example of the way in which the right-wing echo-chamber manufactures and amplifies non-existent scandals.