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Bush Lies, Media Swallows Print this article E-mail this article Write to the editors he more things change... Roughly ten years ago, I celebrated the criminal indictment of Elliott Abrams for lying to Congress by writing an Op-Ed in the New York Times on the increasing acceptance of official deception. (I was just starting my dissertation on the topic back then.) The piece got bogged down, however, when an editor refused to allow me even to imply that then-President Bush was also lying to the country. I noted that such reticence made the entire exercise feel a bit absurd. He...

Back in March of this year, way before Rush Limbaugh and ESPN, Esquire ran an interview with a liberal journalist – an interview that, outside the Internet, made only a few ripples. In the exchange with Esquire, Eric Alterman, who writes a column for the Nation, a far-left political magazine, charmingly told the interviewer, “I hate to say it, but I wish the guy [Rush Limbaugh] would have gone deaf.” Call me crazy, but when Alterman says, “I hate to say it,” I have the funny feeling that he really means “I love to say it.” Anyway, it’s not just...

<p>Howard Kurtz, writing in the Washington Post notes the sudden appearance of multiple stories critical of various conservative symbols and causes.  Liberals love it, and conservatives claim conspiracy.  Whatever.   A Wall Street Journal columnist notes that it represents ''an outsized, mad hostility that even the assault on Clinton, which was poisonous, does not match,'' she said. ''A bottom level of partisan craziness and zealousness has infected the media.''</p> <p>The Los Angeles Times dropped an October surprise on Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday, running detailed interviews with six women who say the actor groped them during the last 30 years.</p>

September 11 is often said to be the defining moment in the Bush presidency, even of modern history. How strange, therefore, that Bush's behavior that morning--along with that of his Administration--is almost never examined in any detail. This is all the more incredible when one considers the fact that 9/11 is among the most exhaustively chronicled days in human history and Bush among its most heavily covered individuals. No less odd has been the media's willingness to let the many inconsistencies in White House stories pass unexamined. They seem content instead to let Showtime tell the story, Leni Riefenstahl-style. That...

I went to an off-the-record fund-raising breakfast with John Kerry yesterday. I can’t quote him or anything. But I came away with the strong impression that he’d make a first-rate president in every way but I have trouble imagining how he’s going to get there. He is articulate, intelligent, well-prepared, thoughtful and has some really good ideas, particularly on health care. But he has zero personal charisma and jes’ folks communication skills, which Bush has in abundance. (Don’t let’s even bring up Clinton.)        I hate the fact that this matters, but it in our infantile political culture,...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The author of a book denying the existence of a liberal media in America declared that the right wing media "machine" is now so powerful that it acts as "a steamroller" of liberal ideals. Eric Alterman - author of What Liberal Media? - appeared at a workshop called "Reversing the Right's Hold on the Media" on the final day of the three-day "Take Back America" conference sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future, which states as its goal pushing the Democratic party to the left. Alterman said the dominance of conservatives in the media is now so...

(Language in this article may be offensive to some readers) Washington (CNSNews.com) - The author of a book denying the existence of a liberal media in America declared that the right wing media "machine" is now so powerful that it acts as "a steamroller" of liberal ideals. Eric Alterman - author of What Liberal Media? - appeared at a workshop called "Reversing the Right's Hold on the Media" on the final day of the three-day "Take Back America" conference sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future, which states as its goal pushing the Democratic party to the left. Alterman said...

(Language in this article may be offensive to some readers) Washington (CNSNews.com) - The author of a book denying the existence of a liberal media in America declared that the right wing media "machine" is now so powerful that it acts as "a steamroller" of liberal ideals. Eric Alterman - author of What Liberal Media? - appeared at a workshop called "Reversing the Right's Hold on the Media" on the final day of the three-day "Take Back America" conference sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future, which states as its goal pushing the Democratic party to the left. Alterman said...

<p>BOOKING LUNCHES FOR LIBRARY The crowds started to gather early yesterday afternoon at the corner of State and Washington streets downtown - after all, a pair of black limos and men wearing dark suits, sunglasses, and earpieces are a little hard to hide. So even though Bill Clinton was at a private lunch at the offices of Boston Capital honcho Jack Manning, half of downtown knew that the former president was in the neighborhood.</p>

Tune in now to hear Alterman's Comments on FR

The “Freedom Fry” brigade in America is almost by definition an idiotic bunch, but perhaps some of them have been honestly misled by the dishonesty of the American government in recounting the French position on the war. In the current New York Review of Books, the great Stanley Hoffmann sets us straight on something with which the administration has consistently slandered the French vis-à-vis that nation’s willingness to go to war. And can anyone doubt that the French were absolutely right not to believe Powell’s lies and exaggerations about the extent (and perhaps existence) of Iraq nuclear and WMD capabilities?...

We all do stupid things, but we all don't write about them in a column. I am one of the few who openly wrote about a stupid thing I did. And, it seems, everyone takes notice when you make a mistake, considering the dozens of letters I have received regarding this, and even Bill Press brought it up when I appeared on "Buchanan and Press" last week. I usually don't talk or write about myself, but my conscience compels me to do so now. In my column of April 26, I wrote, "As I was walking through Barnes and Noble...

Stop the presses! Lefty Alterman defends WSJ's Fund. Conservative Wall Street columnist John Fund may be one of those terrible right-wingers who picked on poor Bill and Hillary Clinton, but he is "not the kind of guy who pretends to want to marry women and then beats them up," wrote the "Nation's rabid leftie Eric Alterman. Noting Fund's conservative sins, Alterman says it "was fun to imagine, after he got himself arrested last year, that Fund was really a monster who had walked out on a planned marriage with his girlfriend and then beat her up - the dastardly deeds...

Stop the Presses by Eric AltermanBush Goes AWOL [from the May 5, 2003 issue] One of the many maddening feats of this Administration is that in choosing to fight the war on terror by going to war with Iraq, George W. Bush has inspired new terrorist threats to the United States--according to the official testimony of his own CIA--where none existed. At the same time, he purposely starves those localities and institutions on which the complex and expensive task of terrorist protection ultimately falls. The Economist compares New York City to Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on...

       I WAS WRONG              Paul Wolfowitz thought U.S. forces would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. I did not. His prediction in this case, was correct. I was wrong. (And not for the last time, I’m guessing.)               I hope Mr. Wolfowitz has equally good luck in the rest of his predictions since they seem to be driving U.S. foreign policy right now. I’d be amazed, and the consequences of his being wrong will likely be catastrophic for this country, but as I said, I’ve been wrong before. And as far...

I WAS WRONG Paul Wolfowitz thought U.S. forces would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. I did not. His prediction in this case, was correct. I was wrong. (And not for the last time, I’m guessing.) I hope Mr. Wolfowitz has equally good luck in the rest of his predictions since they seem to be driving U.S. foreign policy right now. I’d be amazed, and the consequences of his being wrong will likely be catastrophic for this country, but as I said, I’ve been wrong before. And as far as the Iraqi liberation goes, I’m extremely pleased to be wrong...

April 10, 2003, 7:45 a.m.Hall of ShameMedia recriminations after VB Day.By NR Staff o many pundits, pols, and, yes, celebs, said so many wrong — and downright silly — things about the war in Iraq, prewar. We knew that back then, but now that Baghdad has effectively been liberated by the U.S.-lead Coalition, we provide a handy snapshot of what was said by some of those who should be looking down and making their apologies. Included here are Maureen Dowd, Chris Matthews, and Barry McCaffrey, the latter one of the retired-general second guessers Vice President Dick Cheney dubbed “embedded...

Calling the conservative bluff By John Mark Eberhart, Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News By Eric Alterman Coulter, Limbaugh, O’Reilly; oh my. Goldberg and Goldberg, Buchanan and Drudge. There they are: Ann and Rush and Bill, Bernard and Jonah and Patrick and Matt. Seven of the most popular political pundits in America, their views on display in newspapers, voices crackling across the airwaves, opinions flying through cyberspace. And nary a liberal among them. But now Eric has come forward to call their bluff. That’s Eric as in Eric Alterman, author of What...

THE WAR IN IRAQ When the Press Goes Patriotic Eric Alterman, author of "What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News," analyzes how well the press is covering the war in Iraq:Q: What do you think of the coverage so far? A: I think it's been predictable. The press' instincts are to demonstrate its patriotism. Q: Why would it feel it had to? A: One, it really is patriotic. September 11 changed a lot of people's attitudes, and sort of made the whole reporting of foreign affairs a less objective enterprise. Two, many people in the media are...

March 16, 2003 The Wayward MediaBy TED WIDMER Deborah Copaken Kogan/Basic BooksEric Alterman, author of the book "What Liberal Media?" WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA? The Truth About Bias and the News.By Eric Alterman. 322 pp. New York: Basic Books. $25. DEMOCRACY AND THE NEWS By Herbert J. Gans. 168 pp. New York: Oxford University Press. $26. First Chapter: 'What Liberal Media?' (March 16, 2003) First Chapter: 'Democracy and the News' (March 16, 2003) he only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists,'' Alexis de Tocqueville wrote. ''They indeed are not great writers,'' he added with Old European disdain, ''but...