With the Watchdogs Silent, Vigilantes Must Act

Day 7, and the media is still too obsessed with personality politics to notice that President Bush wholeheartedly approves of torture. At this point, our Assclown in Chief could admit to stir-frying babies, and the media would stick a three-line item on page B-18. They simply don't care.

I don't know how they got the idea that Americans only want stories about gaffes, bullshit, woo, and general fluff. It's time to disabuse them of that notion.

Firedoglake has put together a nifty little tool for writing easy letters to the editor of a bajillion papers. I've done my part:

Bush Approves Torture, Media Obsesses Over Orange Juice

Dear Editor,

Where are our watchdogs of democracy?

President Bush knew of meetings held at the highest level of his administration to discuss and approve specific torture
techniques. He approved of those meetings.

The American President approved of torture. ABC broke the story on April 10th. And yet, Dan Fromkin of the Washington Post notes, "There was no mention of Bush's admission in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times. There was nothing on the major wire services. And nothing on CNN, CBS or NBC."

Barak Obama's choice of morning beverage was far more important to our media than our president approving torture.

When President Nixon authorized a burglary, the media kept the story going until he was impeached. President Bush's authorization of torture would seem a far worse offense, but the media has ignored it.

Democracy's watchdogs barked at Watergate. Why are they silent now?

I know a fair number of you are writers. Go forth and write.