I long decided that The Washington Post is practically worthless other than clicking it on for the crossword puzzles. In these early hours, I'm convinced it gives way too much space to sheer idiocy.
Ruth Marcus -- when was she hired? -- has determined
The Obama administration’s war on Fox News is dumb on multiple levels. It makes the White House look weak, unable to take Harry Truman’s advice and just deal with the heat. It makes the White House look small, dragged down to the level of Glenn Beck. It makes the White House look childish and petty at best, and it has a distinct Nixonian -- Agnewesque?
Link to idiocy
Really?
How old is this woman? She looks pretty close to my age (59). Has she ever read history -- or just the history of the paper for which she works? Does she comprehend the "heat" Truman experienced was incomparable to the outright, relentless lies and bullshite from Fox "News"? Methinks not.
She compares the Obama Administration taking on tabloid infotainment with the Nixon Administration taking on both The New York Times and The Washington Post over the Pentagon Papers? Perhaps she doesn't remember when her paper actually was run by people with literal or figurative brass balls. Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee watched the backlash against the NYT's publication of the Pentagon Papers and decided to follow up with their own series. Both news outlets ended up in court and won. The Washington Post had the courage to fight a President who not only had an enemies list, but a Jew list -- they published the Watergate series.
For Marcus to make this inane comparison demonstrates her utter stupidity and laziness. It is she who elevates Fox "News" to some kind of relevency. What comparable news outlet did Nixon attack? Did Nixon and Agnew waste their time on The National Enquirer or The New York Daily News? No. They attacked, full-throttle, two newspapers which used to have strong reputations.
I'm waiting for WaPo to fire Toles and Telnaes to secure their spot alongside Fox "News" as one of the most biased outlets in the nation. As for Marcus -- I'll offer some Agnew (Safire) invective -- she's a nattering nabob --- of what -- who knows? If she offered more than easy pablum I might be able to end that phrase.
Ok, so I'm sick of stupid people this week. You can sue me, but you won't get anything but two cats.
UPDATE: Hat tip to DraftChickenHawks for links to non-idiotic coverage of the kerfuffle: Steve Benen and Media Matters.