Why Do I Care? I suppose it bothers me that blogger-with-a-paycheck Sheila Lennon, representing the primary Rhode Island newspaper, the Providence Journal, would link with glowing approval to a foul-mouthed, uninformed racist of a mock reporter. Matt Taibbi covered the "peace" protests in Washington in the way that one would expect from a raving liberal. First, he hit an earlier counter protest by Marines and Other Veterans Engaging Outrageous Un-American Traitors (MOVE-OUT). His major complaint was that he didn't get exclusive footage:
Why so much press? Getting an early start on a major protest day? Nah, no doubt all of those reporters went home before the A.N.S.W.E.R. rally. Funny that I, with my conservative leanings, received the most coverage of MOVE-OUT from a left winger complaining that it got too much coverage. Of course, I don't get most of my news from those government mouthpieces in the mainstream media. Perhaps in the alternate reality in which one can cast the right wing, pro-government, pro-war bias of Reuters and the New York Times as self evident, it is perfectly fine to let slip the term "Oreo" in a non-cookie sense to describe a "traitorous black person representing the [pro-war] 'cause' (Kevin Martin, head of the 'African-American Republican Leadership Council')":
Well, let's see what Encarta has to say about World War I in France, Mr. Oh-So-Superior Reporter:
Perhaps Mr. Martin misspoke and meant World War II (perhaps Taibbi misheard), or perhaps he was applying "fascists" in the generic sense to the predecessors of Fascists. Either way, Taibbi's reaction has the biting flavor of historical ignorance mixed with puerile arrogance. From this dubious beginning, Taibbi goes on to insult the veterans, antagonize the reporters, and join the "peace" rally, from the midst of which he reports:
I guess he did want some coverage of the Republicans, after all. And how peaceful those threats of bodily harm. Oh, wait a sec, Taibbi hasn't used the word "peace" yet. In fact, he doesn't do so until he laments the arrival of actual peaceniks:
I'm not sure whom Mr. Taibbi would label as the "real" protestors. He's apparently aware of the coverage of the front of the rally involving A.N.S.W.E.R. However, his only mention of the group's politics involves the "peripheral" story about "the uncertain future of the protest leadership (the reported affiliation of A.N.S.W.E.R. with the Workers' World Party was an uncomfortable undercurrent that ran through the entire event)."
And what would a Senator who represents A.N.S.W.E.R. do, besides oppose war and support every foreign fascist on the planet? We don't know. Taibbi doesn't describe the thrust of the opinions on the ground. We can infer, however, that an A.N.S.W.E.R. politician certainly wouldn't sing "Give Peace a Chance" or associate with black people who are out of step with left wing dogma. Sheila Lennon, who recently marked the birthday of that song's author with a wish that he were still among us (scroll down from link), says of Matt Taibbi: "The writing swoops from his brain to my screen without processing, no distance. Taibbi's experience is raw, fresh, and eye-opening." It sometimes seems as if respectable reporters direct attention to such polarizing writers because they say what more-established journalists wish they could. Anything to say, Ms. Lennon, about "Oreos"?
Posted by Justin Katz @ 11:32 PM EST |