Myth debunking has become a full-time job on the editorial pages of the Washington Post. Last Sunday, Jacob Heilbrunn debunked five myths regarding “those nefarious neocons.” On Monday, Ann Marlowe took on two myths regarding Afghanistan. Myth 1. Hamid Karzai is a good president who looks after American interests. Myth 2. The second is that…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Debunking Myths or Creating Them?
The Washington Post has plenty of editorial space available, and it’s hardly unreasonable for the editors to offer its pages to “competing views.” But when offering space to outside opinion, one might expect, as a courtesy to its subscribers, that the Post would require these contributors to state their case honestly—opinion yes, propaganda no. But…
The Washington Post, centuries behind
Today’s Washington Post editorial page picks an odd hobbyhorse, the high cost of college textbooks. The Post is particularly ticked at publishers who produce new editions “even though there have been no major advances in fields such as calculus and elementary physics in decades or even centuries.” Now, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that…
The New York Times, defining democracy down
The current political season is causing some headache, heartache, and heartburn over at the New York Times. In a heartfelt editorial, the Gray Lady complains bitterly that the American people are just not listening to the American people. Even worse, they aren’t listening to the New York Times. “Americans have made it clear that they…
That’s so Broder Dept: The Cat Is Back!
The word from Dave: Unelected conservative ideologues—such as Rush Limbaugh and George F. Will—can mutter in frustration, but Republican politicians recognize what was written here as long ago as last Dec. 2: “If the Republican Party really wanted to hold on to the White House in 2009 … it would grit its teeth, swallow its…
No problem, officer. I’m sure I was speeding! By the way, nice headlights!
WTF? It’s the U. S. Library of Congress, of course, up to its old tricks and celebrating the 100th anniversary of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. And, no, your eyes don’t deceive you. That’s Jayne Mansfield herself handing out the summons, circa 1962, apparently in promotion of something called Charles Brown’s Court Corps. (WTF on that one too,…
Richard Holbrooke, acting bold, sort of
Richard Holbrooke, former ambassador to the United Nations back in the Clinton days, doesn’t mince words when describing the Bush Administration’s efforts to eliminate the poppy crop in Afghanistan: “the program, which costs around $1 billion a year, may be the single most ineffective program in the history of American foreign policy. It’s not just…
That’s a Trend?
Are times tough all over? Michael A. Fletcher and the Washington Post would have you think so. As Mike tells it “The problem [long-term unemployment] is ensnaring a broader swath of workers than before. Once concentrated among manufacturing workers and those with little work history, education or skills, long-term unemployment is growing most rapidly among…
Calling All Twain Scholars! Calling All Twain Scholars!
Early on in Huckleberry Finn, Jim tells Huck “You wants to keep ‘way fum de water as much as you kin, en don’t run no resk, ‘kase it’s down in de bills dat you’s gwyne to git hung.” The words have a wondrously ominous ring, but what precisely did Twain intend them to mean, and…
Bank Shot
In its January 11 editorial, “Ron Paul’s Appeal,” the Washington Post gives the Texas Republican a deserved cuffing for his obviously bigoted, segregationist past and his other follies, including his suspicions regarding a “NAFTA superhighway,” presumably intended to put every good old boy in Texas out of work. After having established the fact that Mr….