Winging Media

Tom Toles got Told for Telling Truth should be the headline

The Toles cartoon shows a soldier, a quadruple amputee, in a hospital, being visited by a Dr. Rumsfeld who is scribbling on a form. Rumsfeld says, "I am listing your condition as battle hardened." At the bottom a smaller figure of the doctor adds, "I'm prescribing that you be stretched thin. We don't define that as torture."

For that, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a letter of complaint. Not to Rumsfeld, silly, to Toles! That's our "freedom" they're defending, so shut up!

And Peter Daou has a great analysis of the right-wing bias of mainstream media focusing on the tendency to use tropes and language which implicitly and consistently praise one side. My favorite bit:

4.BEVAN: “The flip-flop label stuck to John Kerry because he got caught uttering one of the most stupefying phrases in election history ("I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it") which struck the American people as incontrovertible evidence that he was, in fact, a flip-flopper.

OK Tom, explain this:

• Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it. • Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it. • Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it. • Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it. • Bush is against nation building; then he's for it. • Bush is against deficits; then he's for them. • Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again. • Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State. • Bush is for states' right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the Constitution. • Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't. • Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits • Bush: "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden." Bush: "I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care." .......

All that from a blog post that's almost two years old. There must be dozens more examples by now.

So again, who's the flip-flopper?

There's lots more, too. Once you've read that, go back to the beginning and read the whole thing.