OK, I'm not kidding: judging from tonight's episode of Hardball, either the MSM is psychotic, or I am. You be the armchair psychiatrist.
Chris Matthews' guest was NY Times media reporter Bill Carter. Matthews, discussing W's low poll numbers, observed:
"Bush is down there, Lou Harris, a liberal pollster, let's get straight on that, has got him down at 29. Is it too easy now to bash him? Even the money guys now in our business are saying, 'hit him again'. Is it too easy now to bash him?"
Carter: "You have to say, the media didn't go after him for a long time."
Matthews: "Tell me about it. They were embedded, I think. Too much."
Carter: "Way too much. So when it turns around . . . "
Matthews:
"Here's a favorite topic of mine, which is the war in Iraq. I've been skeptical about the arguments made. I can't say right or wrong, but I think there's been real questions about the case made. But I see the media still in this lazy habit of assuming if you're pro-war, if you think this was a smart thing to do, you're treated as the majority. The fact is that Cindy Sheehan, is more representative of most people's thinking now, as far left as she seems, because most Americans for months now believe it was a mistake to go to war, yet the mainstream media continues to act as if most people support the war and it's the outside weirdos that oppose it. That's not true! The average American opposes this war."
Carter: "That's what the polls are telling us."
Matthews: "Why does the media still act as if this is a gung-ho country?"
Carter: "I think the media has been very much currying favor with the administration for a long time."
Matthews: "Why?"
Carter: "Because I think that was the only way to get access with these guys. They've been very difficult to talk to and you see that playing out."
Matthews: "You're singing my song. I think you're right. The word embedding is of course appropriate for people like David Bloom who went out there and lost his life, really risking in the tough conditions of war, but when you start thinking like the party you're covering, the politicians you're covering . . . "
Carter: "I've seen more comment recently about that whole embedding thing was a psychological ploy almost and it worked very effectively to get the media thinking we're involved, you're more involved that way."
Look, no one denies that there's been more discontent lately with the war. But the notion that:
- The MSM "didn't go after Pres. Bush for a long time."
- The MSM were psychologically 'embedded' with the Bush administration.
- The MSM treats pro-war people as "the majority."
- Cindy Sheehan is representative of America.
- The MSM act as if most people support the war.
- The MSM acts as if this is a gung-ho country.
- The MSM has been currying favor with the administration for a long time.
- The MSM thinks like the Republican party and Republican politicians.
Sorry, but either Matthews and Carter are crazy, or I am. As I said, you be the judge.
