More poor reporting from McClatchy ...

White House's help to automakers might defuse Democrats' plans by David 'Congress-wants-to-spend-more' Lightman

If you are interested in well organized facts, strategies and possible motivations go to firedoglake.com. Certainly McClatchy has given up on real reporting, I gather. One expects loaded words on most blogs (I certainly use them) but I would not expect to use them if writing a news article, nor did I used them when I wrote reports for businesses. David Lightman, however, starts right out with loaded words and phrases:

• defuse,
• Congress wants to spend more,
• take steam out of;

and that's just between the title and the first two paragraphs.

The Auto Bailout: Who Is In Favor of What by emptywheel Monday

Now firedoglake.com is a partisan blog, yet manages to produce a more a straightforward report than does McClatchy. Why?

I'm aware that news oriented bloggers could not exist with out the media. I just wish, and no longer expect, the news media to act responsibly. It is my opinion that they are dragging the country down and if this Constitutional representative Democracy finally fails it will be in large part due to news media malfeasance.

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Many eyes opening about the Mormon and Catholic Churches while the Dem 'leadership' keeps its eyes wide shut. Today's QUOTES:

... Seeing them [the Mormon Church] come out for Prop 8 when they had declined to act on torture was all the extra motivation I needed. --JC Christian, Tremonton, UT - Redemption, signing for something.org ... [Congressional Democratic leaders] consider it a good thing -- not a bad thing -- when they anger their own base. They're thrilled when they get accused -- accurately -- of acting like Republicans and supporting right-wing measures, particularly on national security and "terrorism" issues. They consider it a benefit -- an incentive -- when they are attacked for embracing Republican political policies and violating the principals of their own base. --The mind of the Democratic leadership by Glenn Greenwald, salon.com

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A McClatchy sports-jargon wielding short story writer ... David Lightman

Three paragraphs before there's even a hint of any subject interesting to a voter looking for actual information.

WASHINGTON — John McCain and Barack Obama punched and counter-punched on issue after issue throughout their second debate Tuesday night, but neither man knocked the other one down, much less out.

Obama loyalists will call McCain the aggressor, continuing a line of attack that the Republican nominee began on Monday, after nearly a month lagging behind Obama in national polls.

McCain triggered the point-counterpoint Tuesday as he talked about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the failed mortgage giants that the federal government rescued last month.

But for those who prefer to imagine an old man duke it out with a much younger man in a 'punch and counter-punch' kind of way the article is very readable. Quite suitable. It has action. It has drama. It has suspense that won't be resolved until a later time. But as for information, facts, analysis it leaves this reader searching elsewhere.

Warren P Strobel

Remember Warren P Strobel from yesterday's McClatchy article where what I believe is intended as a news article appears more like a negative editorial?

Strobel also writes he said/she said articles. But where Strobel jumped to invent a case against Obama's premise of change in this article Strobel is just oh so gentle on Bush and his Orwellian time 'horizons.'

So it appears that Strobel will go after Obama's message of change, even if it requires manipulation. But Bush's Orwellian language of deceit gets a pass from him.

This is what McClatchy has to say about Strobel:

Warren P. Strobel, the foreign affairs correspondent, has covered that topic for more than 15 years. Before joining the bureau, he covered national security and intelligence for U.S. News & World Report. He began his career at The Washington Times and is the author of the book "Late-Breaking Foreign Policy," a study of how CNN and other news media affect U.S. foreign policy and the deployment of American troops abroad. He speaks and writes frequently on the topic of media-military relations. In 2005, he was part of a team that won a National Headliners Award for "How the Bush Administration Went to War in Iraq.''

More information is here:

Warren P. Strobel is a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report, responsible for covering national security and intelligence. He joined the magazine in October 1998.

For three years before that, Mr. Strobel was White House correspondent for The Washington Times, covering the Clinton White House and traveling extensively with the president domestically and abroad. From September 1994 through September 1995, Mr. Strobel was a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based United States Institute of Peace. At the Institute, he conducted research for a book on how the U.S. news media report on modern peace operations and the media's effect on American foreign policy and public opinion. The book, Late-Breaking Foreign Policy, was published in June 1997. An article based on his research appears in the May 1996 issue of the American Journalism Review. Mr. Strobel also has been a co-investigator on an Institute grant to study how the Internet has been used as a new tool by those seeking nonviolent change in Burma. The resulting paper, "Networking Dissent," has been highly acclaimed.

Prior to being selected as a fellow, Mr. Strobel spent nine years with The Washington Times. From June 1989 until August 1994, he was the Times' chief State Department correspondent, covering the department and American foreign policy under Secretaries of State James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Warren Christopher. In this post and his others, he has reported from more than 70 countries and been on assignment to Iraq, Germany, the former Soviet Union, Israel and the West Bank, Vietnam and at the United Nations.

From 1986 until 1989, Mr. Strobel was national security correspondent, reporting in depth on the U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations, the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative, and both military and civilian space programs in the United States, Russia and Europe. In 1989, he wrote an award-winning story on how incorrect launch codes had been inserted into nuclear-tipped Minuteman III ICBMs, meaning that, unbeknownst to anyone, they could not have been launched, if needed, for an entire year.

He was a general assignment reporter on the Metro and National desks in 1985 and 1986, where he wrote extensively on the beginnings of the AIDS crisis.

Mr. Strobel has lectured at the National Defense University, U.S. Army War College, Quantico Marine Base, Fort Bragg, the U.S. Naval Academy, Harvard University, George Washington University, American University and elsewhere. He is frequently a guest on C-SPAN, and has appeared on CNN-FN and NET.

In July 1998, he served as a member of a joint International Republican Institute-National Democratic Institute team observing the elections in Cambodia.

Mr. Strobel received a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in December 1984. He was editor-in-chief of the student newspapers both at Missouri and at St. Mary's College of Maryland, which he attended from 1980-82.

Is McClatchy implying inconsistency?

McClatchy:

Obama's foreign policy: moderation, not change by Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has presented himself to American voters as the candidate of change, but on a weeklong foreign trip that ends Saturday he sounded more like a traditionalist when it comes to foreign policy.

The implication in the title and the 1st paragraph of this article would seem to imply that Obama is being inconsistent in his call for change. After all a change from Bush and the way that 'Washington' works could never go along with a 'traditional' foreign policy where the President of the US actually talks to other heads of state like one adult to another. And doing so wouldn't be a 'change,' would it, from the Khrushchev-like spoiled brat that currently resides in the White House?

Obama may be inconsistent, may change his mind, or may lie like any other politician (or human being for that matter). But no need to invent such events. McClatchy usually does better than this. This is not reporting but a negative editorial masquerading as news. Will have to watch out for Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev in the future ...

I can't believe they put this title on a newpaper article ...

As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch by Jay Price and Qasim Zein

Pablum from McClatchy ...

Kevin G. Hall writes an article in praise of Henry M Paulson Jr: Treasury Secretary Paulson earns praise for calming markets

Paulson was given little chance of accomplishing the ambitious goals he announced, such as overhauling the tax code and putting Social Security on a firm footing. He's got even less of a chance now, with Democrats in charge of Congress and the 2008 elections fast approaching.

Poor guy, foiled in his goals of making things even more skewed towards the very rich and worse for everyone else. Less chance with the Democrats? Come on, the Republican goal of destroying SS met its road block while Republicans were an unchallenged majority in Congress.

'Pears Paulson is some kind of superman playing with the house of cards they call a 'market.'

August was one of the most volatile months ever for stock prices, as the market for subprime mortgages — those issued to the weakest borrowers — essentially closed down. Those problems spread to global credit markets, crimping the ability of corporations to issue short-term debt to fund day-to-day operations. That threatened broader economic activity as well as the jobs and income of all Americans.

As problems deepened, Paulson appeared almost daily on cable news channels, talking up the economy's fundamental strength without downplaying the severity of the problems in the financial markets. The Federal Reserve's half-point rate cut on Sept. 18 restored Wall Street's confidence, but Paulson's performance in a key supporting role won over important decision-makers in Washington such as the cantankerous Frank, hardly a Bush administration admirer.

I'll assume the reporter is correct and that Representative Barney Frank considers that Paulson was in the right place at the right time. However this sentence --

'Paulson's performance in a key supporting role won over important decision-makers in Washington such as the cantankerous Frank, hardly a Bush administration admirer'

-- implies that under more ordinary circumstances, and possibly because he's cantankerous, Barney Frank would usually lie about his opinions because he's 'hardly a Bush administration admirer' but because Paulson is just 'so good' poor ol' Barney had to tell the truth. Tell me that's not the gist!

Wonder if any of this is real:

Paulson also has gotten involved in negotiations with poor countries to forgive debt in exchange for nature preservation. He's working with development banks to fund environmental initiatives. And Bush tapped Paulson in late September to head an effort to promote and finance new low-carbon technologies, such as clean coal and nuclear energy.

We already know that any initiative of Bush's is a front to either avoid real progress on global warming or for financial gain for his friends, or both. Too bad this 'honor' was included in the same paragraph with two items that sound like possible 'good things.'

How I hate that I don't trust any of them anymore! Where's the evidence, McClatchy? How about some reporting instead of just transcribing their words.

Oh, really ...

For an article with no substance but many detail-empty quotes read: McClatchy's Bush's pick for attorney general garners widespread support by Marisa Taylor

It couldn't be that Marisa Taylor was primarily looking for those supporting Mukasey? Or does she define tepid opinions such as 'nothing can be as bad as Gonzo' as support for Mukasey?

Notice those few oblique references to Mukasey's rulings and opinion that don't quite give any worthwhile information.

Which actions were those that demonstrated Mukasey's "independence and a willingness to stand up to this administration."

Why do we have this ridiculous spectacle. Bush doesn't want and will not get someone who is 'independent.' And should the inconceivable happen and Mukasey actually does have some integrity and independence then BushCo will destroy him. But what kind of integrity (or independence) does a ruling that an American citizen can be imprisoned forever without trial suggest?

Independence is it? 'Conservative Organization' get first crack at finding out:

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as a matter of policy, said Mukasey met individually with six representatives from conservative organizations on Sunday in an effort to answer their questions.

What's a little issue of perpetual imprisonment at the hands of the president ...

"He's perceived as a lawyer's lawyer — someone who is smart and fair," said Sale, who worked alongside Mukasey as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York. "People will have to really strain to find anything negative about him."

Right, negatives are only for Democrats anyway.

Imagine, this McClatchy reporter, Marisa Taylor, managed to find someone who isn't 'falling all over' themselves to praise Michael Mukasey:

"I see somebody who falls over himself to justify some of the worst practices that the administration has carried out," Kadidal said.

Sucking up to the White House? ...

Bolten quietly orchestrates change in White House by William Douglas, McClatchy Newspapers

Seems Joshua B. Bolten as White House Chief of Staff is just working wonders ... Haven't you noticed? He's been chief of staff since March of 2006, over a year and a half.

• He plays the 'bass-guitar,' gee, how human.

• "Several Democratic lawmakers praised Bolten this week for helping to find pragmatic outsider Michael Mukasey to replace Bush's longtime inner-circle friend Alberto Gonzales as attorney general ..."

• He's "exercising pragmatic conservatism ..." Is that anything like 'compassionate' conservatism?

• "There is a sense that compromise is no longer a four-letter word as long as the president can adhere to his fundamental principles." Believe that? After 7 years? And just what are those fundamental principles? War? Shock and awe? Torture. Corruption? Lying? But it sounds good and no one is as gullible as a Democratic Congresscritter ...

• " ... administration friends and foes alike say they see positive change in the White House, thanks largely to its low-profile chief of staff." Ha, ha ...

• Oh, my, and he got rid of Rove, too?: "He has gotten rid of some of the problems," Panetta said. "Moving Karl out, Gonzales leaving — I suspect the chief of staff had some impact on that, cleaning out the lightning rods." Believe it or not ...

The article goes on and on ... One gem is that Tony Snow is one of Bolten's admirers and "said Bolten is a master recruiter who's able to persuade talented people to quit their jobs and join an unpopular administration." Intellectual giant Snow was a victim of Bolton's reverse psychology!

The more I read this article, which I used for this post on Mukasey, the more I wonder ... is the writer serious, is it tongue in cheek, am I really in an alternate universe? Alice, where are you?

NOTE ADDED: Has 'pragmatic' been chosen to replace 'compassionate' as the term of choice for Republican obfuscations?

Of course, the US isn't to blame and didn't make it worse, did it?

One of the more intellectually intact members of Bush's administration, Robert Gates, thinks up another reason the Iraqi's are at fault:

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, returning from a four-day trip to the Middle East, offered a pessimistic view of Iraq's political progress Thursday, saying he thought that the United States had underestimated the level of distrust between the Shiite Muslim-led government and other ethnic groups.

And when I say Gates is intellectually intact I don't mean very intact. He equates the Iraq political environment to the US constitutional convention.

In addition, Gates sees bright spots in the possibility that the US may be able to create new little Saddam's in Anbar province:

However, he said that Sunni provincial leaders in once-restive Anbar province had been reaching out to the U.S. military, which had led to a drop in violence

"The developments at the local level, I think, are more encouraging than I would have expected three or four months ago," he said.

Iraq is falling apart but there's always some little light somewhere that can be protected and inflamed.