"Are we newsmen or are we businessmen?"
So asked Lowell Bergman/Al Pacino in the film, "The Insider."
I can see politicians read this site. Rush Limbaugh reads this site. Apparently all kinds read this site. I wonder if the media does?
Because I have something to say. And yes, this is a Rant.
A CNN anchor earlier today after watching Celine Dion's tears, said something to the effect that she should feel better now after listening to Honore in a news conference earlier.
A news conference where we learned they hadn't anticpated the scope of this disaster. A news conference where they cited the one road into New Orleans as the problem. A shameful news conference littered with excuses.
And this "News" anchor is telling Celine she should feel better now.
As Mayor Nagin said last week, "It's too late."
IT'S TOO FUCKING LATE.
What is happening today is the fault of not only millions of Americans that voted this man into office, but You, the Media, are complicit. You, the media, are to blame.
When I was young, I watched the Watergate scandal unfold, and reveled in watching the film that explored that time -- I grew up just knowing Jason Robards, with his raspy voice and his bulldog determination to fight the highest level of government, existed in our newsrooms.
Not so anymore. Jason is dead. The Washington Post Editor he played is dead. Deep Throat is dead.
So is the media.
Where in the hell was the media in the 1990s when Kenneth Starr was allowed to run free looking under desks to find anything to bring down a President the powerful Republican party wanted gone?
Where in the hell was the media when votes were NOT being counted in Florida, and strong-arm tactics were taking place in back rooms?
IT'S TOO LATE.
Where was the media when this Administration was appointing incompetent people to high level positions, including men who headed up companies that polluted our environment to positions in the Environmental Protection Agency?
Where was the media when this Administration was bankrupting the government with their tax cuts, when they were mismanaging MY TAX DOLLARS?
Did you know the wetlands were being destroyed around the Gulf?
Did you know government agencies were being raped and destroyed?
Did you know the price we were going to pay for going into Iraq?
Have you EVER bothered to expose the smear tactics of this Administration? In your effort to remain "fair," did you IGNORE that sometimes one side isn't playing fair?
ARE YOU SURPRISED THIS HAPPENED? This Administration has been destroying the Federal Government since they took over.
Why is it that an ABC poll today is telling us people are still supporting Bush after this total and blatant failure?
I'll tell you why -- You've been distorting the truth for so long, IGNORING the great threat this President has been and continues to be, that people cannot comprehend the disaster this Administration is.
They believe YOU.
Where was the media on Friday when they KNEW what was going on behind the scenes during the photo-ops of George and Laura? Did you see how they were staged? YOU WERE THERE, weren't you? Did you know that rescue operations were put on hold during those shameful photo-ops?
Where have you been at those speeches you've covered for this President? Have you bothered to tell the American people that this President WILL NOT ALLOW people there that disagree with him? Have you ever seen a Secret Service agent keep someone away from him that wants to ask a hard question?
And WHERE IS THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS? Oh yea, you're there alright. Never following up on questions. Never asking the tough questions.
Paddy Chayefsky wrote some memorable words in 1976 in the film Network. In that film, Max talks to Diana, who is a Network executive. He says this:
"It's too late, Diana. There's nothing left in you that I can live with. You're one of Howard's humanoids. If I stay with you, I'll be destroyed. Like Howard Beale was destroyed. Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed. Like everything you and the institution of television touch is destroyed. You're television incarnate, Diana: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. And the daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split seconds and instant replays. You're madness, Diana. Virulent madness. And everything you touch dies with you. But not me. Not as long as I can feel pleasure, and pain... and love. "
In that same film, Howard Beale told us to go to our windows and scream. I've been screaming since the day I watched a President being impeached for lying about a blowjob, and the media never really bothered to look under some OTHER desks and find the truth behind that impeachment. You sat on your damn hands. I've been mad as hell since the media didn't bother to expose the very real problems with America's voters not being able to get to polling places during the last election.
I've been mad as hell the day the media stopped asking questions.
I hold you as responsible as the federal government for the deaths of thousands of people, not only in our own country but in Iraq as well.
For the last few days, you've been asking questions. Minutes ago, Colonel Walberg on CNN made excuses for his slow response -- said the storm ended Tuesday. Problem is, it ended Monday for the people that needed help.
I gather that was too hard for the CNN reporter to tell him he was wrong.
So it appears you're going to stop asking questions now?
For those thousands dead, anything you may do now IS TOO FUCKING LATE.
