When Headlines Attack

I'm sure WaPo "journalist" Jonathan Weisman thinks himself oh-so-clever with this headline:



No editorializing here, right? Casting Democratic efforts to restore the Constitution as a war against the poor, innocent, beleagured George W. Bush?

Even as their confrontation with President Bush over Iraq escalates, emboldened congressional Democrats are challenging the White House on a range of issues -- such as unionization of airport security workers and the loosening of presidential secrecy orders -- with even more dramatic showdowns coming soon.

For his part, Bush, who also finds himself under assault for the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, the conduct of the Iraq war and alleged abuses in government surveillance by the FBI, is holding firm. Though he has vetoed only one piece of legislation since taking office, he has vowed to veto 16 bills that have passed either the House or the Senate in the three months since Democrats took control of Congress.

Despite the threats, Democratic lawmakers expect to open new fronts against the president when they return from their spring recess, including politically risky efforts to quickly close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; reinstate legal rights for terrorism suspects; and rein in what Democrats see as unwarranted encroachments on privacy and civil liberties allowed by the USA Patriot Act.

Message to Weisman: Oscar Wilde you're not, pal.

I'm sure that with articles like this Weisman is attempting to cast himself as the Jon Stewart of the Washington Post -- witty, cheeky, irreverent. Actually, he's ending up sounding more like Dennis Miller -- smug, lame, and desperate.

Apparently this is nothing new for this so-called journalist. In 2004, Jessica Wilson at For the Record chronicled Weisman's feud with economist Brad DeLong. Apparently DeLong had the temerity to point out that Weisman and fellow so-called "journalists" Mike Allen and Fred Barbash, in reporting on Captain Codpiece's 2004 budget, did little more than repeat the White House spin.

And just last Friday, Weisman penned an article with the headline "Liberals Relent on Iraq War Funding" -- a piece peppered liberally (sorry) with that word that is to conservatives as a red flag is to a bull. Jonathan Weisman clearly knows who his audience is.

When people visit this blog, they have a pretty good idea early on what they're getting. I don't pretend to be an objective chronicler of events, nor do most bloggers. But at least we're honest about what we do. While mainstream outlets like the Washington Post wring their hands and call for conferences into blogger ethics, they are touting guys like Jonathan Weisman as "objective journalists" even as these guys rewrite the press releases given them by the White House media affairs office.

Physician, heal thyself.