Shooting Blanks

If you want to see read some more bizarre rambling parading as coherent conservative thought, head over to Real Clear Politics and check out this wacko editorial by Tony Blankley. In his rant about the media coverage of Haditha (and implicitly the military in general, at least in Tony's mind), Blankley spits out this nugget:

"At journalism conferences, the question is often brought up whether a journalist should see him- or herself as an American first or a journalist first. Often the consensus is that they are journalists first.

I wonder how many of them would report a story if it would mean the death of their own child. And would any of those reporters who would be journalists first in even that appalling instant cheerfully misreport a story in order to cause the death of their child? I suspect virtually none would.

If only they loved their country's young and willing warriors as much as they loved their own children."

And just how many Senators and Congressmen (and Presidents, for that matter) would authorize military action if their own children's lives were on the line? There are valid arguments for and against the Iraq war, and there are legitimate questions to be raised about which stories the media covers and how. But I'm pretty sure I don't want Blankley's standard applied to decisions made by my government or the journalists who monitor it.

Just like so much of the current "conservative thought" (cough - Ann Coulter - cough - stupid whore - cough), Blankley's perspective is warped beyond any reasonable measure. What piece of bad news out of Iraq is fair game to report? None whatsoever by the current standards of conservative pundits. As far as they're concerned, we should all just jam our heads in the ground and let our fearless (albeit hapless) leaders handle it.

No, Haditha should not reflect in any broad way on our military. But it is bad fucking NEWS, and no amount of denial or bluster is going to change that.