Latest Column

Speaking of the last days:
.
Having watched Obama's press conference, I'm now being treated by MSNBC to the jocular presidential pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkeys. What a contrast.

BOB SCHIEFFER: How does [the Democratic presidential primary debate] play off against the pictures we saw this week of President Bush landing on the aircraft -- aircraft carrier and appearing before these screaming, adoring groups of military people? As far as I'm concerned, that was one of the great pictures of all time. And if you're a political consultant, you can just see campaign commercial written all over the pictures of George Bush.

.

JOE KLEIN: Well, that was probably the coolest presidential image since Bill Pullman played the jet fighter pilot in the movie Independence Day. That was the first thing that came to mind for me. And it just shows you how high a mountain these Democrats are going to have to climb. You compare that image, which everybody across the world saw, with this debate last night where you have nine people on a stage and it doesn't air until 11:30 at night, up against Saturday Night Live, and you see what a major, major struggle the Democrats are going to have to try and beat a popular incumbent president.

And very good column, as usual.

Jeez, exile, that was just the first draft of history.
.
If it makes Joe feel any better, plenty of other ostensibly liberal pundits, like Margaret Carlson, are now trying to walk back their silly comments on Mission Accomplished.

I certainly am glad that you now see the Bush for what he was. However, I wish that you had come to the point when e was wearing the flight suit.

Follow-up: will members of the Bush gang- Cheney, Feith, Yoo, Libby, Wolfowitz, Boulton, Schulsky, Perle, Gonzales, Addington, Rove... -be indicted and prosecuted for war crimes and treason? How soon?
-
Yes, I'd feel personal vindication, but more than that, it would go a long way toward rebuilding respect for and faith in our government and her people. And we need to make sure that these abuses aren't repeated by future administrations.

We have only one quarter of a president at this time.

Countdown:
http://newprez.com/index.jsp?key=20081126AM

We have only one quarter of a president at this time.

L'esprit d'escalier:
.
We have only one hindquarter of a president at this time.

Is Bush the lamest lame duck ever? Since the WWII? It's a bit scary to have a man with absolutely zero credibility still ostensibly in charge, and I wonder if this isn't one of the big reasons Obama is keeping Gates at Sec Def.

I'll take exception to just this: "It is in the nature of mainstream journalism to attempt to be kind to Presidents when they are coming and going but to be fiercely skeptical in between"
-
When was the MSM fiercely skeptical of Bush? I know, you'll be able to cite particular instances, especially after Katrina, which seemed to be the last straw. Mostly what I remember from the media is the lockstep of the herd.
-
As to the bracing moment at Ground Zero, I recall that was after an agonizing time when the only leader of the free world seemed to be Rudy Giuliani (to his credit). Bush had to wait for his handlers to tell him what to do.

And if I may say: His biggest legacy, beyond the creative paralysis and the intellectual laziness, is the rampant illegality.
-
I'm not meaning to harsh on the article, btw. I think it's right on. Obviously I've still got a lot of anger issues.

Great piece, Joe! I loved this gem:
The flight-suit image is one of the two defining moments of the Bush failure. The other is the photo of Bush staring out the window of Air Force One, helplessly viewing the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles — overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.
.
That just completely and succintly sums it up: overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.

When was the MSM fiercely skeptical of Bush? I know, you'll be able to cite particular instances, especially after Katrina, which seemed to be the last straw.

.

Though let's not forget this Katrina gem from Broder:
We cannot yet calculate the political fallout from Hurricane Katrina and its devastating human and economic consequences, but one thing seems certain: It makes the previous signs of political weakness for Bush, measured in record-low job approval ratings, instantly irrelevant and opens new opportunities for him to regain his standing with the public.

Joe. It is an excellent article. But thanks to the WayBack machine in Glenn's desk we know that you didn't always feel thus. Joe Klein's extreme revisionism It would be best to come clean when you write this stuff and say: "boy was I wrong about this guy." Doesn't make you appear weak to admit error. The past did happen. As Glenn concluded:
.
I'm glad that many people, including some journalists, seem to have learned some lessons from the Bush era now that he's almost certainly the single most unpopular President in modern American history. People who regret their mistakes and learn from them should be welcomed and encouraged. But a vital aspect of what happened over the last eight years is the role the media -- our leading media stars -- played in glorifying and venerating George Bush, and that can't be re-written or forgotten.

Truly learning from one's mistakes -- as opposed to wet-finger-in-the-air abandoment of previously revered leaders when they are revealed as failures and lose their power -- requires, at the very least, an acknowledgment of one's own role in what happened. There have been very few mea culpas from establishment media journalists, many -- most -- of whom, to this day, think they did nothing wrong ("It was all Judy Miller!"). As bad as this absence of remorse is, it is simply intolerable to watch those who cheered on many of the worst excesses try now to pretend that they were skeptical, adversarial critics all along. Journalists with influential platforms have responsibilities, the primary one of which is to be accountable for what they say and do.

Exile, do you have a link for that Broder quote?
Sully's compiling the nominees for his Von Hoffman award for "stunningly wrong political, social, and cultural predictions".

Joe,
It's sad that the msm was so intent on lambasting Gore unfairly while swooning over Bush in 2000 or these last 8 nightmare years could have been avoided. Even if the msm decided to correct their mistake not do the same to Kerry and ginning up the Swiftboat lies, we could have been spared at least 4 of them.
The media thought having a dolt that people wanted to have a beer with was cute and so much more fun to cover then having a president with a brain and intellect.
The press never was critical or suspicious or skeptical of anything the Bushies did or said until the last year. By then, having an idiot run the white house was not fun anymore.
But, while you feel sorry for Bush, Joe, he is busy in his last days not implementing Obama's economic plan to help stop the bleeding of the economy. Instead he is busy pushing through more deregulation for the oil industry in digging and polluting previously protected lands in the west and trying to make so Obama cannot roll those back once in office.
How sorry do you feel for the man now?

JOe Bftsplk, When is Sully going to publish these? I missed his blog the past couple days as I did not have much time on the computer.
He is one of my favorite writers online.

The real crime is this: the most important decisions are always the ones covered up in ambiguity. By manicuring your previous position, you prevent real understanding and learning. The answer is in diving back into that ambiguity and unpacking it item-by-item. In this task, Joe, you are part of the very serious problem and not the solution.

Once again you gave words to my frustration. Yes, Bush seems so lost. thank you for your writing.

@Joe Bftsplk

Here's the Broder link.

I have to admit that, having observed the gusto with which journalists try to rewrite their own recorded positions, I know have a new skepticism of pretty much all recorded history.
.
If professional journalists can't even agree on what their own recorded thoughts and actions were a few years ago, how can we possibly believe that historical events have been recorded in a way that is remotely accurate?
.
Was there a guy named Socrates? Probably. Was he sentenced to death? Possibly. Did he drink hemlock? Who knows. Good story though.

Was there a guy named Socrates? Probably. Was he sentenced to death? Possibly. Did he drink hemlock? Who knows. Good story though.

.

Joe Klein v. 1: Well, that was probably the coolest execution since Cain killed Abel. That was the first thing that came to mind for me. And it just shows you how high a mountain Plato is going to have to climb. You compare that image, which everybody across the world saw, with one of his wooly-headed disciples teaching a bunch of spoiled Athenian kids, you see what a major, major struggle the other philosophers are going to have to try and be rememberd.

.

Joe Klein v. 2: So I've been searching for valedictory encomiums. . . . I'd add the bracing moment of Socrates defeating the Sophists in front of the Parthenon, but that was neutered in my memory by his ridiculous, preening hemlock stunt in a toga. The hemlock drinking is one of the two defining moments of the Socrates failure.

JOE KLEIN: Well, that was probably the coolest presidential image since Bill Pullman played the jet fighter pilot in the movie Independence Day.

Joe, your finger is always in the wind, and you'll say whatever you have to say to curry favor with those in power, or those likely to come into power. You're a boot-licking disgrace, and any reader who thinks they're getting anything of value or substance from you simply doesn't understand what you are.

No matter how pathetic Bush appears, I refuse to feel sorry for him. Words cannot describe how frustrating it is to those of us who knew he was a useless hack back in 2000. We've had to sit and watch him deconstruct the country piece by piece for 8 years without a care in the world. Now he can sit back and drink himself into oblivion knowing his oil buddies will forever protect him for sacrificing his reputation in the world to fill their pockets.