The term "heavy petting" comes to mind when I think of the relationship between USA Today reporter David Jackson and George Boosh's presidency.
Here is the headline for a USA Today story:
Many presidents have used the recess option
Here is the beginning of the body of the article:
"When President Bush decided this week that the Democratic-led Senate was playing politics with his nominees, he once again used powers as old as the U.S. Constitution to make recess appointments."
Yeah, he lays out the facts against the appointees and why they've been withdrawn in the first place later in the article but I am not Faux News and I call bullshit. You do not start off a story like this. Not as a reporter. Then a few paragraphs in you cover your ass and stick in the facts. If reporters are just going to get on their knees like this and fellate a politician we may as well just buy them some knee pads and call it a day!
I submit to you these headlines, posted a month ago, seperated by 3 days:
Bush reaches out to Latin America
Bush plan cuts Latin America aid
What's interesting in here is that Bush has cut counter-terrorism funding to Mexico. Presumably weakening the southern border that his party cares so much about. Just read the first article. Counter-narc, counter-terror, development aid, all cut WHILE the guy is on a swing through the region. Sigh. No analysis. No interpretation. Vague bah-bah-bah-bah bleating and cud-chewing heard in the background but that's it.
I don't understand why this guy can give such a ridiculously glowing interpretation of the Boosh's right to recess appointments, bury the real reason why he had to do them and do research on the topic and come to no subjective conclusion that the recess appointments Bush has made are different from the ones in prior administrations (like Hormel in Clinton's case, who was appointed during recess because he was openly gay) because he is basically trying to stick openly hostile people to head agencies they want to literally see destroyed (think John Bolton minus 10 stories of the UN building). In his other stories he avoids any kind of interpretation, fails to condemn something blatantly idiotic that Boosh is doing on his Latin America trip and writes article headlines, 3 days apart, that are incongruous to say the least.
What the heck happened to educated, opinionated journalism? Must we rely on TPMmuckraker for any kind of actual reporting these days? Crikey.