8/22 Morning Report

There is a lot of media hype about former CIA chief George Tenant’s failures allowing al-Qaeda to accomplish their 9-11 plot. Quoting from the BBC article,

But former CIA analyst Ray McGovern told the BBC the inspector general's criticism was justified.

"... [George Tenet] was too busy schmoozing with foreign leaders and getting sort of swamped with the detail that he forgot that his job was to manage the intelligence community and so the cracks such as existed became wider and wider. He didn't talk to the FBI and 9/11 happened."

I think it’s more important to remember that Tenant was appointed during the Clinton administration. The Clinton modus operendi was to schmooze. The fact that Bush did nothing to change that strategy, does not speak well of Bush. But, I think this is another failure of the Clinton administration being passed on, with the Republicans being blamed by the media.

Media bias against Bush specifically, and the right wing in general, is something well documented—especially among bloggers. Of course the MSM denies it. And the left doesn’t believe reports from the right such as this one from News Busters. One could also look at the list of headlines the MSM ignores, such those listed by Robert at Conservative Thoughts.

Of course, it doesn’t help that liberals read more than conservatives. Pat Schroeder, former Democratic Congresswoman and now president of the American Association of Publishers, had two very revealing remarks about the different groups—as readers. Of the right, she said:

"The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: 'No, don't raise my taxes, no new taxes,'" Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. "It's pretty hard to write a book saying, 'No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes' on every page."

Now, this does not deny the left has it’s own fondness for slogans. Just visit any anit-war rally or web-site to see all the one liners flying around. Still, there is far too much truth in that for many I have observed on the right. Meanwhile, media bias has also helped portray those on the right as unformed and undereducated. Still, Schroeder was equally unflattering about the left:

She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who "can't say anything in less than paragraphs.

Small wonder that speeches by many liberals are so long winded they cause the nap-syndrome to kick in among listeners.

And, here are my personal observations on all this. With liberal control of the media, it is small wonder that the right is always the underdog. One of the problems the right has is a failure to unite. The left has slowly but surely gained control of the media by having a consistent core agenda. They have gathered support. They have focused their efforts. They consistently marshal public opinion. The few times the right has done this in the last 60 years, the right has overwhelmingly taken control of American politics.

A classic example of the left uniting is The Daily Kos. The right has nothing comparable. The amount of control this exerts is amazing. Via efforts of Kos and related websites, the left garnered far more financial support via the internet than the right. The conservative right has demonstrated the ability to do the same thing. Look what was accomplished when the right took to the airwaves, using radio to reach voters! Unless conservatives gain a focused agenda, and a united voice, the liberal left will hold control of both houses, and the White House, and state offices as well.