Joe Katzman says that the media is right–Iraq is another Vietnam. Just not in the way they think it is.

Charlie Gibson is surprised to hear that Iraqis (you know, the folks that the so-called “insurgents” have been murdering by the droves?) are not Zarquawi fans.

On Wednesday’s World News Tonight, after Brian Ross noted that “some Arabs” on a “popular Web site said they hoped the news was true” about the serious injury to terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with messages such as, “Let this criminal Zarqawi go to Hell,” Gibson turned to reporter Nick Watt in Baghdad and expressed shock, “I’m surprised by something in Brian’s piece: The vehemence of the comments on Arab Web sites in opposition to Zarqawi, because we keep hearing that he has considerable support.” Watt confirmed that “many” Iraqis “will be very glad if he does die.”

There are some things so stupid that only a liberal television commentator can believe them.

Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:

Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.

It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.

Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:

Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.

It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.

Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:

Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.

It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.

We have another Eason Jordan incident. As Bryan Preston notes, the press should be even more sensitive to such charges in light of the recent Newsweek fiasco, but they seem to remain clueless.

The folks at ABC News apparently need to go back and read their history books. They seem to fantasize that it was Republicans who blocked the Civil Rights Act. In a piece on the current filibuster debate, they write the following, titled “Historical Perspective”:

The filibuster has been used historically by the minority party, which can’t win with a vote count. Democrats have opposed the filibuster before

Ann Coulter reminds us of some Michael Isikoff stories from the past that Newsweek was in no hurry to run:

…apparently it’s possible for Michael Isikoff to have a story that actually is true, but for his editors not to run it.

Why no pause for reflection when Isikoff had a story about American interrogators at Guantanamo flushing the Quran down the toilet? Why not sit on this story for, say, even half as long as NBC News sat on Lisa Meyers’ highly credible account of Bill Clinton raping Juanita Broaddrick?

Newsweek seems to have very different responses to the same reporter’s scoops. Who’s deciding which of Isikoff’s stories to run and which to hold? I note that the ones that Matt Drudge runs have turned out to be more accurate

Howell Raines’ replacement at the Gray Lady, Bill Keller, apparently impervious to irony, had some strange things to say at Johns Hopkins last week.

With blogs that “just throw opinions out there” and shows like CNN’s debate program “Crossfire,” newspapers are “no longer society’s usual news,” said Keller.

“…blogs that ‘just throw opinions out there…'” You know, kinda like Paul Krugman. Or Jayson Blair.

He added that with media sources like these, and with a readership that is “seeking the journalism of affirmation…it’s possible for the public to feel well-informed without interacting with opinions that contradict theirs.”

How rich is this? This, from the land of Pauline “How could Nixon have won, I don’t know anyone who voted for him?” Kael. This, in fact, would seem to be a perfect projection of the political cocooning of the left, and the Times Executive Editor remains clueless.

He picks an amusing example of how badly he and the media are being put upon:

As an example of the criticism and distrust news organizations are facing, Keller cited a story the Times ran eight days prior to the 2004 presidential election reporting that missing weapons in Iraq had been stolen by insurgents after the American invasion.

He said the article had quotes from soldiers who admitted to witnessing the theft of weapons and that the reporting was “well-backed.”

However, once it was printed, Keller said a “firestorm of hostility” came down on the Times as critics attacked the paper, claiming sources were fabricated.

“Evidence in support was dismissed,” he added.

Not only was the Times’ credibility questioned, but its motives came under fire as well. Because the story came out close to the election, critics claimed its purpose was to undermine President George W. Bush’s candidacy as part of its liberal agenda, Keller said.

According to Keller, this incident “has lived on as critical lore.”

Gee, maybe because the political agenda was, and remains, transparently obvious?

This was my favorite part, though, in a feeble pretense at apology and contrition:

When examining why it was so easy to discredit such a story, Keller admitted that the “crisis of trust is self-inflicted” by recent scandals in the newspaper industry.

However, he added, “The press has never pretended to be perfect. My own paper pretty much decided to overlook the Holocaust.”

Strange that he should mention that, when a much more obvious case would be the Times aiding Walter Duranty in covering up for “Uncle Joe” Stalin’s earlier holocaust against the Ukrainians and others, an act for which to this day they’ve not returned the corresponding Pulitzer. That killing-of-Jews-and-Communists-by-Nazis thing we really should have covered, but when communists do it, well, you know what they say about omelettes and eggs. I mean, they were creating a greater and more just Soviet society, after all, can’t watch the sausage being made and all that.

Could this be an explanation for his seeming insouciance about Soviet atrocities?

From 1986 to 1991 he was in Moscow as a correspondent, then bureau chief, and he won a Pulitzer Price in 1989 for his coverage of the Soviet Union.

Maybe he wouldn’t want to see any ugly precedents set about handing back Pulitzers resulting from Soviet Union coverage.

Anyway, just asking.

And he wonders why his paper continues to lose credibility.