R-E-S-P-E-C-T, as Aretha Franklin put it, seems to be the key to the mystery of why the MSM plays straight man to the comedians of the Bush administration. Today's tangled tale of misplaced respect comes from a big front-page article in the New York Times explaining why Bush's "strategy" of shifting responsibility to Iraqi forces didn't work in 2006.
The most peculiar thing about this article, based on lengthy interviews with administration apologists, including Stephen Hadley, is that absurd declarations are never challenged. Bush is supposedly surprised that Iraq is disintegrating into civil war. Bush is supposedly convinced that he can achieve victory. Bush is going to replace Casey because Bush knows better how to win the war. Bush refuses to stop using the term "victory" because he is afraid people will think his policy has changed.
Again and again, the Times reporters refuse to exhibit the WTF? reaction one would expect from an average educated person. Are they that stupid? Obviously not. They are in the "forbidden zone" where political malfeasance has become so gross that they cannot denounce it without failing to "respect" the office of the President. A further discussion of the forbidden zone follows.
What Bush and Rove understand is that a little bit of mischief in high office will attract hordes of critics and incessant complaints, but high crimes and profoundly deceitful behavior will receive a RESPECTFUL response in the press. Simply put, the MSM has created a cult of the Presidency that cannot be sullied by any action of the incumbent President. If the President is a shabby war criminal, it is simply forbidden to describe him thus. It is forbidden because it would besmirch the OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
The theory of the forbidden zone explains why repeated falsehoods from the Bush White House are not denounced by the MSM. It explains why torture is described on the front page of the New York Times as "tough questioning." It explains why the reporters at Bush's press conferences chuckle at his jokes, even as Iraq is being ripped apart by his folly. It explains why Tony Snow can play endless word games without penalty and why nobody walks out of his press conferences in disgust.
How did we come to have a national media that is afraid to call the President incompetent and to point out obvious inconsistencies and fallacies in his statements and actions? One reason is that access to top administration figures is limited to respectful reporters. If the transcript of an interview with Hadley makes him look like the unprincipled flunkey he is, that reporter will never get another interview with Hadley. The MSM reporters are literally AFRAID to upset powerful members of the administration, and that goes double for their editors. But a few reporters will have a conscience strong enough to break through this barrier of self-interest. What stops those few appears to be respect for the cult of the Presidency.
In a manner reminiscent of protecting the myth of Santa Claus, the MSM seems determined to preserve the dignity of the Presidency, whatever the cost. We are paying a heavy price for this cult of respect. Fortunately, much of the blogosphere is unencumbered by this cult, and the increasing visibility of blog criticism of the White House is making articles like today's puff job in the NYT look increasingly grotesque.
The fools of the MSM are intent on preserving the dignity of the Presidency, no matter what the consequences for the dignity of America.