Abracadabrah<br><br><i> I create as I speak</i>: Journalists and the War

Friday, March 24, 2006

Journalists and the War

From two interviews on Hugh Hewitt's radio show:

The first, Hugh Hewitt interviews Christopher Hitchens and this is how it concludes:

HH: Well then, in 30 seconds, if the Democratic Party returns to power in this country, you get thirty seconds now, what happens?

CH: I'll just tell you something a very senior person at a well-known network. I know this sounds a bit odd, but I just can't tell you who he is or which network. I don't have the right to do it. But you'll have to believe me, okay?

HH: Okay.

CH: He called me the other day. This is not a guy who's in any way a conservative, and said you know, we've known each other for a bit. He said you know, I'm beginning to think you must be right, because it really worries me what we're doing, when we are giving the other side the impression that all they need to do is hang on until the end of this administration. Do people know what they're doing when they're doing this? One doesn't have to make any allegation of disloyalty, but just...if it worries him, as it really does, I think it should worry other people, too, and it certainly worries me.

After that, and following from Christopher's point, Hewitt interviews Glenn Reynolds, of Instanpundit:

HH: And today, Glenn Reynolds, I want to ask you both about this. New documents indicating contacts between al Qaeda, and specifically Osama bin Laden, and Saddam's people came to light, a '95 document, 2001 document. Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly writes, so what? I mean, that's his quote. So what? What do you do to that, Instapundit?

GR: You laugh at it. I mean, you just have to note that people are out of touch with reality. One thing I've noticed about the press, by the way, the defensiveness I've seen in the last week or two illustrates a couple of things. I think first it shows that even they realize that they've gone too far and overplayed their hand, and it's likely to come back to bite them. The other thing I think they've figured out is imagine that in fact, what they're doing succeeds, that we do lose the war, that it is seen as another Vietnam. A substantial portion of the American public, 30, 40%, at least, is going to blame them and hold a grudge that will last decades. Now is that a position they want to be in? Because that's what's going to happen, and they will have earned it.