I suppose I should be used to it by now, but I’m not.
When it comes to policy matters, the mainstream media will sit on its thumbs indefinitely, taking a position that purports to be objective but is in fact a form of cowardly post-modernism–that there is no true and false, no right and wrong, but that there are simply two sides to every story.
But when a juicy personal scandal comes along–one that is tangential or irrelevant to policy, then the press extends its claws.
I speak, of course, about Bush’s history in the “champagne unit” of the Texas Air National Guard, his, uh, undocumented presence for duty, and the newfound interest in it.
It’s a bit of a mystery to me why this wasn’t an issue in 2000, or before for that matter. It’s been known, and it’s been covered intermittently since then, with some interesting angles. Something–I don’t know what–poked the press in the side and whetted their interest in this. Which is fine in and of itself: as a bellicose president, Bush of all people should be held up for close scrutiny when it comes to his own military service. But there have been so many issues of more immediate concern during the past four years that went underreported that the renewed interest in investigative journalism comes across as tawdry.
I was thinking the same thing. While the accusation of “destoying military records that would embarass the governer” seems newsworthy, all this attention about his dental records and whether people remember him being there seems over-the-top.
Remember the superbowl, where CBS wouldn’t play the moveon.org ad, but Janet’s boob was fine for public consumption. (Oops, fake an apology,later.) Eat your Soma and shut up, America.
Do you think maybe this is getting more play now because it’s looking like the Democratic candidate is going to be Kerry, and if you were Kerry wouldn’t you just love the comparision of MIA war prisoner survivor vs. Nat’l Guard wannabe–uh, rather, don’t wannabe?
Darn that preview button, Adam.
I really don’t know why it’s suddenly getting traction. There’s some interesting discussion of exactly this over at billmon. Kerry might be part of the issue, but I don’t think that quite explains it. Perhaps the press felt that, in the wake of serious current policy-related program activity scandals (that haven’t been nearly as damaging as they should be), along with a current absence of new wars or terrorist alerts, they felt the president was fair game, and decided to run with this.