President George Bush has been complaining about “the filter” of national media, which garbles his feel-good all’s-well-in-Iraq message by reporting on the car bombings, the killed-in-action Americans, the fleeing foreign aid workers, the internal White House investigations and recriminations, etc.
So this week, he and others in his Administration will be going around “the filter” to give interviews with local newspapers and small television stations. The idea is that journalists not used to dealing with Presidents and Cabinet secretaries will be more easily awed and deferential. In other words: We’ve reached the point in our Iraq adventure where the President de facto admits his policies can’t stand up to even basic media scrutiny — his only hope is to avoid questions, because he can’t really answer them.
Read more: Daily Outrage at The Nation