Wash Post Distorts Level Of Congressional Interest in Downing Street Memo
Wash Post Distorts Level Of Congressional Interest in Downing Street Memo
In today’s Washington Post, Dana Milbank attempts to dismiss concerns about the Downing Street Minutes as the ravings of fringe conspiracy theorists. A sample of Milbank’s coverage of the hearings:
Conyers’s firm hand on the gavel could not prevent something of a free-for-all; at one point, a former State Department worker rose from the audience to propose criminal charges against Bush officials. Early in the hearing, somebody accidentally turned off the lights; later, a witness knocked down a flag. Matters were even worse at Democratic headquarters, where the C-SPAN feed ended after just an hour, causing the activists to groan and one to shout “Conspiracy!”
To bolster his point, Milbank tries to create the impression that Rep. John Conyers is the only member of Congress who is paying attention to the controversy:
A search of the congressional record yesterday found that of the 535 members of Congress, only one — Conyers — had mentioned the memo on the floor of either chamber. House Democratic leaders did not join in Conyers’s session…
What Milbank doesn’t mention is that 121 other members of Congress — including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — have signed Conyers’s letter demanding President Bush answer questions about the Downing Street Minutes.
Maybe the media should spend less time mocking the Downing Street minutes and more time covering them.
UPDATE: John Conyers wrote a letter to the Post in response.
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What’s happened to the WaPost? I thought they were “progressive”. I guess their publishers & stockholders are trying to figure out which side their bread is buttered on.
Where are the next generations Woodward & Bernstein when you need them? Where’s the next Ben Bradley?
June 17th, 2005 at 11:13 amwell the media was the feeding tube Bush used to feed us the lies about Iraq, and now they are playing life-support for Bush. I think its time we cut the media off altogether and go straight to the politicians – as we are doing right now with Conyers.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:30 amHalf the reporters on any major newspaper in the country are probably paid CIA operatives, or government plants, or do it as favors for info and access. It’s illegal, but so was this war. That didn’t stop them, there, did it?. This country is pretty damn sick, dysfunctional. It’s going to take the better part of this century to fix it, if we ever can.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:33 amThe previous two posters offer valid comments. I can’t imagine what the WaPost is thinking. Do they have business before Congress that would tilt something in their favor if they “just play along”?
Many politicians and media folk are feeding off the tits of GWBush. They have for going on 6 years now. We need to find a way to discuss the truth of things amoungst all of the citizens in the US.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:35 amToo many people overly comfortable in their jobs leads to bad journalism in this case.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:38 amThe Memory Hole… maybe some of them journalists are just scared:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/cia-swat-journalists.htm
June 17th, 2005 at 11:43 amhttp://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=1363
June 17th, 2005 at 11:44 amread all about it
June 17th, 2005 at 11:48 amThe coverage in the Washington Post following the disclosure of Mark Felt as Deep Throat revealed the paper as it used to be….a progressive news organization dedicated to dislosing the news of the day. For several days following the Deep Throat revelation, it was as if the Post was back in its glory days of the 70s. Unfortunately, this was just a brief reminder of a paper that no longer exists. The Washington Post today is nothing more than a glorified tabloid with a smattering of news articles. Its editorial policy is far from progressive (the editorial pages supported and still supports the Iraq war) Front page stories focus on “human interest” ariticles and not hard news. See the photo on today’s edition which shows several Senators wearing suits for “Seersucker Thursday” There is no reason to criticize the Washington Post. That paper is beyond all hope and only superficially looks like the newspaper that unraveled Watergate for us.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:48 amYou must understand that the Downing Memos are an indictment of the Washington Post reporters who covered the pre-war planning.
June 17th, 2005 at 11:53 amThis is, afterall, a democracy. If there’s nothing to hide about the Downing memo, then why isn’t it being discussed?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:03 pmThe irony of course is that the post hosted a Q&A on line yesterday and has long hosted Walter Pincus’ excellent reporting particularly on this subject. Of course Fred Hiatt seems to have a different take on it. I am surprised by Milbank here, I must admit, but he seems to have designs on higher office within the WaPo organization and that probably requires knuckling under to the party line.
June 17th, 2005 at 12:10 pmPerhaps the Post (and its readers) might be better served with more focus on the Downing Street Memos and what they say than running down Conyers’ “hearing”. Interestingly, Milbank says nothing about why Conyers’ forum was held in a basement room amid confusion caused by the Republicans’ calling 11 votes while Conyers’ forum was being held. I would add that Milbank’s mockery of the hearing is highly consistent with the Post’s lack of coverage of the DSM from the outset of becoming public and the sad job the Post did in challenging the Bush Administration’s rationalia for the Iraq War in the first place.
June 17th, 2005 at 12:10 pmFirst they ignore you
June 17th, 2005 at 12:31 pmThen they ridicule you
Then you win
Mahatma Ghandi
Of course the editor of the Washington Post doesn’t want a bowl of anthrax for breakfast like another editor in FL did?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:31 pmOff the Subject: We never did find the source of the anthrax letter did we?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:57 pmMilbanks is a Skull & Boner like Bush (and Kerry – they’re all together in this) and the WP is a CIA annex – what do you expect from that rag. Further check out ‘Secret Admirers: The Bushes and the Washington Post” by Michael Hasty…
June 17th, 2005 at 1:21 pmCancel your sub to the Post. I wrote them this morning to inform them they’d made a grave miscalculation by not putting this crap on the op-ed page, and instead running it as news on page A-6.
Money TALKS! Dump the Post!
June 17th, 2005 at 1:44 pmLets use this issue to de-bunk the issue of the “liberal media”. Something should come of this.
Note to your friends and family that after 44 days of this information going public – throughout the world , that only about dozen stories were reported in the corporate-owned papers, magazines, radio and television. Contrast that with “Hairgate” back when Clinton was in office where there were 770 references to that scandal (a haircut in AirForce One – that did not delay airport traffic – but implied that it did) in the corporate press after 44 days.
One instance had no significance – but was touted by the corporate media, as if it did.
The other instance has great significance – constitutional issues of impeachment – but has been selectively ignored by the corporate press.
12 to 770 would indicate that the primary bias in the media favors Republicans – overwhelmingly.
Make that your “talking point” and this corrupt corporate media will be exposed. We don’t have a free press – just a press free of governmental controls. We have a corporate-owned press whose only loyalty is to $$$. It seems the corporate media is actually in the pockets of the uber-wealthy and their corporations.
June 17th, 2005 at 1:44 pmMan!
I feel so bad for intelligent people in the US. AS a Canadian, all I have to deal with is incompetence and bickering in the goverment, but our media for the most part tells it like it is. any bias (ie National Post) is from the owner’s own background, more so than for favours or fear.
Something needs to be done to counter the echo chamber that has filtered into “decent” publications from the right wing rags.
June 17th, 2005 at 2:01 pmYou all should see Conyers’s reply to the Post. It’s BRILLIANT.
June 17th, 2005 at 3:04 pmDana Milbank must not qualify as a left wing liberal member of the Press. I do believe though, that he does qualify as a brain dead, blind supporter of an illegal, immoral war in Iraq. I can’t wait to read his in depth piece on why we are justified in using(but lying about)new napalm bombs in the Iraq conflict. The “Best and the Brightest” still rule!
June 17th, 2005 at 3:08 pmI like CNN’s new lunch hour show “Your World Today”. They had good coverage of Rep. Conyers’ hearing. I guess CNN’s new president is doing some mild but good cleanup (Out with Crossfire etc)
June 17th, 2005 at 3:28 pmI would cancel my subscription to the Post (suggested by Wonkster no. 18) , but they have a decent sports section (Kornheiser and Wilbon) and the Weekend section on Friday lets you know about movies and other stuff. Also, you do get Doonesbury. For news there is nothing to compare to The Progress Report and The Progress Report is free with no advertising!
June 17th, 2005 at 3:37 pm(maybe they should consider adding a sports section and movie schedule)
Do me a favor The Witch, if you could, could you link to where Conyers replied to this article. I would like to see it.
June 17th, 2005 at 3:52 pm19. to add to what you’re saying, who owns the corporations that own the press? The press may be free of government controls, but when corporations control the government, it effectively makes the press a government mouthpiece.
June 17th, 2005 at 4:10 pmBush’s cabal can lock the truth in a basement, but they can’t hide from it.
June 17th, 2005 at 4:18 pmThe Bush Administration owns the press. Lets face it. King Bush needs to be taken down a notch or two!
June 17th, 2005 at 4:21 pmMore than two, Bloggerman. How many notches is it to the lowest level of hell? Or under hell? Or as many levels as ther are dead in Iraq? I’ll stop now… My sons already think I’m bonkers…
June 17th, 2005 at 4:34 pmThe entire text of Rep. Conyers’ letter to the Washington Post is on Eschaton.
June 17th, 2005 at 4:46 pmDana Milbank is a Bush collaborator and a closet cocksucker in the mold of Jeff Gannon/Guckert.
June 17th, 2005 at 6:22 pmThanks Zookeeper. I had already picked it up through DKos but any help is appreciated.
Milbank – you know how Dan Savage has made a new word out of sanitorum? We need to do that with Milbank. Who wants to start with the possibilities?
June 17th, 2005 at 6:36 pmMilbank has been up and down in his reporting. Early in the run-up to the invasion, he was pro Bush and thumping. Then he began to get real and question a little bit. He was tacitly chastised by the administration, and now he seems to be back at the feed bag.
It’s much larger than Milbank. Major media in the US is trying to blow the smoke that they were on top of this story long ago. They did mention doubts in passing, but there was no in depth, there was no real reporting.
June 17th, 2005 at 7:24 pmI believe Greg Palast summed teh Post up the best. In response to their self congratulatory stance re Deep Throat, Mark Felt, and the Watergate story they covered oh so courageously all those years ago, Palast said:
“Yeah, but your paper still sucks.”
June 17th, 2005 at 7:40 pmThe truth is in the blogs.
We are the voters, we are the people.
They can run but they cannot hide.
We will prevail.
Do not subscribe to ANY newspaper..
Like another poster stated, you can view anything you want for free on the internet.
Do not do business with advertisers who advertise in the rags.
Blogs rule!
We are the voice!
June 17th, 2005 at 8:41 pmThey are whores, every last one of them. I used to think that Chris Matthews had some redeeming qualities but he’s in the tank. Russert, weak and pathetic. Milbank is a fraud and a coward. Even those that are supposed to counterbalance the rightwing like William Rasberry and Ricahard Cohen are sellouts. The supposed liberal or progressive voices in the DC media are mirror images of the Democrats in Congress. They hedge their bets, cash their checks and sellout the American people if it means they maintain their power and access. I would say that every one of them is blinded by the insider games and that they are all cowards!
June 17th, 2005 at 8:45 pmWaaPoo last year added to its board of directors, the wife of Bill “Gimme More Money!” Gates.
Both Milbank and the the editor who chose not to put the repulsive opinion piece on the editorial page, should be fired.
June 17th, 2005 at 10:18 pmFound this at the Washington Post Web site!
What scenes of Washington politics would you like Dana Milbank to write about? E-mail your suggestions of people, places or events — along with your name and hometown to Sketch@washpost.com.
I would like him to write an article to the parents of the children that have given up their lives in Iraq and explain his position as it relates to the Downing Street Memo!
Peter Infante
June 17th, 2005 at 11:30 pmGansevoort, NY
Fuck the press. Let them continue to ignore this while millions of Americans continue to turn off their television, use the newspapers as birdcage liners and get the real skinny from the web. While they’re busy jumping through their collective useless asses to cover the latest celebrity gossip, the American people will pressure the do-nothing Congress into chimpeachment.
I don’t believe any press that isn’t a blog should even be allowed photo rights.
June 18th, 2005 at 12:15 amIn Dec. 2004, Dana Milbank tells of a great friendship that could begin between him and White House Communications Director, Dan Bartlett, and that Milbank hopes Bartlett will be able “to send him along some ideas” of who to “pick on” in his journalistic style of “plenty of attitude and judgement,” but no “ideological opinions.”
Smoking Gun on where Milbank may have got his orders to smear the DSM and Rep. Conyers?
[See last six paragraphs of following URL]
http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/buzz/milbank.html
June 18th, 2005 at 12:26 amIf I were to lie and that lie caused the death of someone I’d be no less than guilty of manslaughter. Bush lied and has caused the deaths of untold number of people.
June 18th, 2005 at 5:19 amTo have the Washington Post dis-miss the Downing Street Memo and those that are trying to seek the truth makes them complicit in these deaths. For the main-stream-media in general to sugesst that the DSM is “old news” I would have to remind them that there is no limitations on murder.
DAMNED LIBERAL MEDIA!
June 18th, 2005 at 11:10 amThe email address for Dana Milbank is:milbankd@washpost.com. I recommend bombarding him with emails. I sent him one in which I told him exactly what I think of him for is participating in the coverup that this administration is engaged in and warned him that he is going down the crapper with the rest of the cabal. I concluded by letting him know that I wouldn’t use his writing to wrap up stinking fish. Given what he did on the Conyers hearing he deserves no less.
June 18th, 2005 at 11:17 amMilbank is a blowhard. He got a stern sensible email from me as well. If the MSM still wants to play coverup let them. This thing is bigger than them, the lid is off and so are the gloves. After all is said and done the average Joe will know how corrupt our media is. The media outlets that can see the writting on the wall and decide to start giving us the truth might survive this storm, those who continue to distort and lie will become trivial.
June 18th, 2005 at 12:37 pmThanks John the Elder,
June 18th, 2005 at 1:09 pmI sent an e-mail and hopefully many others did too.
MeBlank? As in “Done a MeBlank”?
June 18th, 2005 at 4:12 pm“Milbanks is a Skull & Boner like Bush (and Kerry – they’re all together in this)”
I resent that idiocy. Kerry joining an upper class fraternity didn’t stop him from ENLISTING, twice. It didn’t stop him from OUTING BCCI and Iran-Contra. It didn’t stop him from outing the USPNAC Airbases scheme in the first debate, and repudiating it.
It also didn’t stop him from winning the election, but our last two elected presidents didn’t get to take office for obvious reasons. So shut your cakehole.
June 19th, 2005 at 4:20 amThe WaPo staff also looks to have altered their running of an AP wire story deliberately to run Milbank’s misinformation. ‘Democrates Cite DSM in Bolton Fight,’ was afterwards listed on the WaPo website. However, in the print version of Milbank’s article, the same AP wire story read ‘Senators to Call for Bolton Vote,’ side-stepping the apparent contradiction.
June 19th, 2005 at 5:09 pmPS – The AP wire story ran immediately below Milbank’s article.
June 19th, 2005 at 5:09 pmI cancelled my subscription to the W-Post this morning. The only thing a corporate media will ever understand is to speak with your checkbook.
I’ve taken delivery for many years, but the time has come for action.
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