All Better
For those of you who just got out of the bath, the Arkleyville Reporter has done an abrupt about face on their editorial content. It could be just a little internal ethnic cleansing, or it could be the wolf taking off its sheepskin.
Back in March I was pleasantly surprised to read an articulate, thoughtful editorial by Reporter managing editor Glenn Franco Simmons stating that he now advocated pulling American troops out of Iraq. “It is a tragedy,” he wrote, “that thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been slaughtered in Iraq.” Pointing out that caring for the tens of thousands of American wounded will be problematic, he continued, “The war’s cost is taxing our soldiers, treasury and military capabilities beyond what they can tolerate. Such unsustainability will create will create a tremendous financial burden that future generations will have to pay for.”
Contrast that with the new line taken by the new editorial page editor Peter Hannaford this last week. The former Reagan spokesman and advisor says: “Gradually, but steadily, the violence in Iraq decreases. Even the New York Times has noticed it.” Last month was the lowest number of American combat deaths in a year, writes Hannaford, the number of suicide bombings and Iraqi civilians killed is down sharply, and people fleeing Baghdad in the past are now returning home. “Slowly, the cumulative effect on the American public will be positive,” he writes, and points to an article in the New York Times titled “Iraq, a War We Can Win”. “The article had the effect,” says Hannaford, “of beginning to turn the dynamic away from immediate or near-immediate troop withdrawal. The withdrawal clamor had been fueled for months by the far left wing of the Democratic Party.”
I don’t think Mr. Simmons fits that description.
Along with others I had been watching the Reporter’s editorial pages, and had been surprised at how balanced the opinions had been. Given the fact that Mr. Arkley is seldom mistaken for a diplomat, to have liberal columnists appear alongside anti-war editorials (even before the Times-Standard ran any) in addition to Phyllis Schlafly and Bill O’Reilly, seemed destined to make a real horse race out of the newspaper wars.
But now that pretence of balance is gone, and we have yet another official organ of the Cheney regime. Professionals like Mr Hannaford know just the right juxtaposition of the words “Iraq”, “al-Qaida” and “9/11” and sprinkling in hints of invasion of America by Islamic hordes. With The Wall Street Journal and (soon) the only Eureka paper purged of infidels, freedom of the press will become as quaint a notion as the Geneva Accords.
Hic et ubique.