The Main Stream Media continues to fall all over themselves to move beyond the obvious issue of Iraq. And they are wrong again.
The NYT, WP, LA Times, Time, and Newsweek are straining to find other lessons in the recent elections and are alarmingly repeating the bromides of the Republican Spin machine which is trying to turn Democrats into conservatives: Karl Rove says Iraq had nothing to do with the debacle (WP and Time). It was all scandals "without corruption...Republicans could have kept control...regardless of... the war."
"The lesson should be, don't throttle mistresses," was the juicy quote The Financial Times got from conservative leader Glover Norquist.
"Democrats...don't have a mandate because they stood for nothing," said Laura Ingraham.
The New York Times lead story Sunday "Incoming Democrats Put Populism Before Ideology" was about how newly elected populists are going to change the face of/ take over the National Democratic Party.
The Washington Post "Democrats Find Lessons In GOP Reign" talks about Blue Dog Democrats and how conservative they are on abortion and gun control. The Los Angeles Times tries to make the case that the Democrats are the New Republicans. See Arianna's original argument.
Rahm Emanuel and Charles Schumer are hailed far and wide as heroes of the election because they recruited red meat Democrats to oppose Republicans in the boondocks.
Hogwash! No matter how hard the MSM tries, it can't avoid the obvious.
The Iraq War sucks all the oxygen out of the room. In fact, it sucks all the oxygen out of the country.
Sure, the country is in an economic mess and we don't know exactly why or how, but the middle class and especially the midwest manufacturing belt knows its true (despite seemingly favorable economic numbers). There are frightening instabilities out there for ordinary people...health care costs are unimaginable and job security for the middle class is at risk. There is a stunning rise in longer term unemployment. The unemployment numbers are cooked -- they don't count people who have given up trying to find work.
82% of the voters pointed out their economic worries to the exit pollsters last Tuesday.
The budget deficit makes dealing with all this impossible -- the monies being daily sucked into the war are humongous --- and the long term trade deficit -- $790 Billion in 2006 -- is a ticking time bomb that will bite us in the butt.
But Iraq is the ball and chain that holds Washington back and from addressing any of these problems. Everyday, every month, more American young men and women are giving their lives for a useless cause which continues to fan the flames of worldwide terrorism.
Iraq and national security are what we have to deal with... All politics is local (and financial), except when there is a war on.
This is what powered the huge democratic mandate. And this is what the Congress and Senate have to focus on.
There will be no national security, or dealing with economic issues, or health care, or anything else until we figure out how to pull the troops out of Iraq...This is what the voters have been telling us.
Why doesn't the media want to listen?_______________________________________
Postscript:Finally, on Monday, the NYT had an article "Democrats Push for Troop Cuts Within Months" on Iraq and the elections. Lest we forget, the NYT (and most of the MSM) originally supported the war and provided many of the false facts -- re: WMDs -- and the intellectual foundation to justify the invasion.
Better late than never.
jfleetwood@aol.com