Verbosities

Glenn Greenwald - How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates - Salon

Christina Davidson at IraqSlogger... reported yesterday morning that "Republican lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration are aiding and supporting the efforts of an Iraqi opposition leader who is calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki."

Here's how it works:

1) Depose ruthless dictator
2) Sow the seeds of democracy
3) Celebrate the Iraqi vote as an American victory
4) Grow immediately disenchanted with the choice of the Iraqi people
5) Allow opposition leader to employ Republican lobbyists to change conventional wisdom in hopes of deposing his leader
6) Profit?

Look, lobbying happens. Legislators can't be experts in everything, and it's obvious that ideas both good and bad get pushed through our channels simply by having good PR strategies behind them. But it's especially galling that our system is being used by an Iraqi government official to effectively depose his own democratically-elected leader.

It's working too. Conventional wisdom is being formed around the "Petraeus White House progress report" in September that while the noble surge is working, the Iraqi government simply needs new leadership, and then (to borrow a favorite phrase I read online) everyone gets a pony. The beltway media chatter is beginning to support Allawi, and Bush has already said Maliki could be replaced.

Frankly, whether this newfangled political allegiance with Allawi is a good or bad idea is beyond the point. What is striking is how little it matters to the media how this story came around. Let me put it to you this way... Imagine, if you would, a Bush administration that spends its last few months in office trying to dial up the rhetoric against Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Hillary Clinton takes office in January 2009, and all of a sudden the op-eds in The Washington Post and the talking heads on TV start focusing on the good things Chavez does for his people. Two weeks into this PR push, we hear that Chavez has employed a Democratic Party-connected lobbying firm to engage in a PR push.

I ask you then, What Would Bill O'Reilly Do?

Knee-Jerk Reactionary Far-Left-Wing Media my ass.

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