Major papers ignore Bush’s Iraq signing statement.
By on Jan 30th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Major papers ignore Bush’s Iraq signing statement.
On Monday, President Bush issued a signing statement on the National Defense Authorization Act. Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post rips the lack of media news stories on Bush’s neglect of the Constitution:
Looking for a news story about all this in your morning paper? You won’t find one in The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times or the Wall Street Journal.
As Froomkin noted, the only major paper to cover the Iraq signing statement Boston Globe.
UPDATE: The New York Times does criticize the signing statement in an op-ed today, but it does not devote a news story to the issue. More coverage in today’s Progress Report.
View Most Popular
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
Reports
In depth studies on select topics
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bailout
Big Oil
Bolton
Bush
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Earmarks
Economy
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
GI Bill
Global Warming
Guantanamo
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Iran
Iraq
Justice
Kristol
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
McCain
McClellan
Media
Military
O'Hanlon
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Politics
Race
Radical Right
RNC Convention
Rove
Terrorism
Third Bush Term
Torture
Veterans
Women's Rights
ArchivesBlog Roll
Why does the MSM hates the constitution?
Impeach the War Criminal.
Buck Fush
January 30th, 2008 at 2:43 pmThat pesky left-wing media! Withholding the truth from us again.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pmProbably because the Globe broke the story regarding signing statements to begin with.
Is it me, or is the biggest issue in the coming campaign, Campaign Finance Reform? Since it looks to be a two candidate horserace between Obama and Clinton (give me Obama), can we apply any pressure to them to commit to Public Campaign Finance? That would be the first step to getting our Democracy back.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pmCould be because it isn’t new/news.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:46 pmTechnically, TP, that is not an “op-ed” in The New York Times. It is an editorial. Op-eds are opinion pieces written by outside contributors that are printed in the newspaper. Op-eds do not necessarily reflect the position of the newspaper’s editors. Editorials do that.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:50 pmThis is “the liberal media”?
January 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pmIgnoring the truth will not make it go away.
My favorite newspaper McClatchy has an article today that isn’t specifically about the latest signing statement, but about Bush’s use of them in general. It’s a good read.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/ staff/ william_douglas/ story/ 15507.html
January 30th, 2008 at 2:54 pm“to sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”
January 30th, 2008 at 2:54 pmIs this the first time he’s noticed the major papers/corporate t.v. news censoring a story? He could do a daily column on this topic.
Stories currently being fully/partially censored by papers/t.v.
1) Sibel Edmonds revelations - in major papers worldwide, censored here
2) New Hampshire Vote recount - Bradblog has all the shocking details
3) Impeachment effort of Kucinich/Wexler.
4) FISA battle in Senate to eviscerate the 4th amendment
5) NSPD 54 - Bush authorizes NSA to monitor computer networks of all federal agencies.
…I could go on and on and on
January 30th, 2008 at 2:55 pmcan we apply any pressure to them to commit to Public Campaign Finance? That would be the first step to getting our Democracy back.
Comment by OptimisticMF
I think it’s a little too late in the game for that. But, we can certainly work with the new Democratic president to pass campaign finance reform laws to apply to the next presidential election.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:55 pmWhy does the MSM hates the constitution?
Comment by Buckie Boy — January 30, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
The one topic the corporate media is instructed not to report on is loss of civil liberties.
Bush’s fearmongering would be ineffective if the masses were told what they were giving up in order to remain “safe”.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:57 pmI think it is time to call the MSM what it really is: Un-American.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:01 pmI don’t think the average person even knows what a signing statement is.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:03 pmBilbo @ #10,
You are correct Sir, that is what I meant. I think we’ll all sort of waiting out the clock for next year, but I am hopefull that the next administration and Congress will take up this issue.
Back to the issue at hand though, not only does the signing statement imply that he can build his permanent bases in Iraq, regardless of the will of the people, but he also is declining to appoint a commission to investigate waste, fraud and abuse of military contracts. How is it that this can go unreported???
January 30th, 2008 at 3:10 pmSince Congress ignores them as well, why shouldn’t the media. The President of the USofA thumbs his nose at the Constitution and 200+ years of precedent and hardly anyone cares (and those that do are labeled traitors). Silly rabbits think ‘they’ (those big, bad islamofacists as opposed to us nice christian facists) hate us for our freedom and way of life. What freedom, and what way of life? Those were sold a long time ago.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:18 pmIs it me, or is the biggest issue in the coming campaign, Campaign Finance Reform? Since it looks to be a two candidate horserace between Obama and Clinton (give me Obama), can we apply any pressure to them to commit to Public Campaign Finance? That would be the first step to getting our Democracy back.
Comment by OptimisticMF — January 30, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
It’s you.
I mean, candidates and pundits might pay some lip service to to campaign finance reform, but it’s never going to be a viable policy if the people we elect to reform the campaign process are put in office on the shoulders of that corrupt process.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:20 pmBush’s last signing statement should be on death row.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pmTechnically you are a moron. It is an editorial in the opinion section, hence op-ed.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:29 pm“I don’t think the average person even knows what a signing statement is.” - Comment by ForTruth — January 30, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
I believe you’re right about this, and it’s thanks, once again, to our mainstream media. I think the idea that the MSM is the fourth branch of government isn’t quite accurate: these days, they are the trunk that binds the whole diseased mess together.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:45 pmThe Iraq invasion has been absent from MSM for two months now.
Signing statements not well publicized…
Well, so much for the Trolls argument about a liberal media, eh?
January 30th, 2008 at 3:53 pmThis is why we need the blogosphere and thank you, Think Progress!
January 30th, 2008 at 4:14 pmcomment by Doc Rock @ 4:14 pm
Absolutely! Knowledge is power.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:43 pmWhile I wish the “signing statement” misuse in the big national papers, I have to think that most folks don’t read the national papers but read their local, or at most regional papers.
Unfortunately, I see even less chance of them reporting on this - even though it is an easy investigative report: Get a copy of the signed law and a copy of the signing statement. Read both. One may even think that there may be a publication or web page which publishes the laws……
January 30th, 2008 at 7:30 pmExcuse me, but WTF do we have a Constitution for? This carpetbagging POS thinks he’s king or what?
I guess this country, the US, does not have the rule of law. Laws only apply to the poor so you can whip it up on ‘em and teach them poor folks a thing or two.
bu$h/cheney obey laws? You gotta be kiddin’ me. Laws don’t mean nothin’ to them. Why not? Hell, they break ‘em and nobody can do a dang thing to ‘em. All the felonies they have committed together would probably get them a long prison stay if they were tried in the World Court for crimes against humanity, presenting false evidence in order to attack a crippled nation.
BTW, who is going to “impeach” them? Certainly not the Democrats or excuse me, the other half of the conservanazi republikan party.
We got the best democracy money can buy.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:08 pmSpudge, You can’t help but embarrass yourself, can you? It is quite clear you know nothing of journalism and journalistic terminology.
One need only look at this to see the obvious distinction between an editorial and an op-ed:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/
See also:
“An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite editorial due to the tradition of newspapers placing such materials on the page opposite the editorial page, is similar in form and content to an editorial, but represents the opinion of an individual contributor, who is sometimes but not always affiliated with the publication.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editorial
See also:
http://en.allexperts.com/ q/ Journalism-newspapers-magazines-2494/ op-ed.htm
I can feel your humiliation from here, you nitwit. And it amuses me.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:02 pm