The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week, carved eternally in the records of cyberspace.
This week's winner focused on an important news story almost ignored by the media and its very troubling implications. Joshuapundit's The Most Dangerous Story In The News Today took an anonymously sourced story about how al-Qaeda is all but defeated and examined both the national security aspects as well as the political motivations...and who stands to benefit:
Here's a slice:
In today's Washington Post..here's the opening paragraph:
U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse.
The article quotes the usual unnamed sources.
The WAPO, being the relatively careful news organization it is covers its tracks carefully with caveats stuck away in odd corners like "al Qaeda might yet rally", "its demise would not end the terrorist threat" and "Even if al Qaeda is dismantled, its militant ideology has spread and will remain a long-term threat."
But the headline and the overwhelming thrust of the article is that al-Qaeda is finished.
Isn't that just wonderful? Wouldn't it be nice to believe that the war that began on 9/11 is all over now, and we beat the bad guys?
Sorry, but I'm afraid I have to pop your bubble.Let's look at something obvious. Why would this be fed to the media just now? And who benefits?
This story fits neatly into the Obama Administration's plans. And even though the WAPO isn't naming names, I can pretty much figure out whom they got it from and why.
We're getting out of Afghanistan, but if we - oh pardon me, President Barack Obama - killed Osama bin-Laden and defeated al-Qaeda, it's not a retreat anymore is it? On the campaign trail, it becomes a win. It can be touted as ''We've finished off the bad guys, and look at who it was that ended Bush's War brought our troops home!' So President Obama gets a totally undeserved label from the usual media suspects as a national security genius.
Not only that but since we've won, we can slash defense spending to the bone and spend that money on Obama's domestic agenda, can't we?
Now that we've figured out the why and who benefits, let's examine who the media almost certainly got this from..and why it's so dangerous.
In our non-Council category, this weeks winner was a superb rant by Jonah Goldberg entitled To Hell With You people submitted by Joshuapundit that examined the foul hypocrisy of the Left's meme of widespread referrals to Republicans and Tea Party members as 'terrorists'.
Here are this week’s full results:
Council Winners
- *First place with 3 1/3 votes! Joshuapundit–-The Most Dangerous Story In The News Today
- Second place *t* with 2 votes – The Colossus of Rhodey -Think like a "progressive"
- Second place *t* with 2 votes – Simply Jews-Understanding Israeli right and left, new dichotomy and the future
- Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Razor-Obama The Anti-Leader
- Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Glittering Eye – What To Do About a Balance Sheet Recession?
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – The Conservative Stand
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – New Zeal – Obama and Marxists March in Unison on Immigration
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Reconstitute HUAC And Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations As They Existed In The 1950s
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Democrats: Meet the New Party of NO!
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Right Truth – A Little Ray Of Sunshine
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Political Commentator- The Zadroga Act makes 9/11 victims the victims once more!
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – SoKo's New Clear Angle
Non-Council Winners
- First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Jonah Goldberg/The Corner- To Hell With You people submitted byJoshuapundit
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – American Thinker – Does This Deficit Make Me Look Fat? submitted by The Razor
- Third place with 1 2/3 vote -Doug Ross – Journolist Lives: The Democrat-Media Complex's Hostage Meme submitted by Snapped Shot
- Fourth place with 1 1/3 vote -Big Lizards – Right-Wing Folly, Another Reason Why I Am Not a Conservative submitted by Rhymes With Right
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Foundry – Liberals Force Choice Between Economic and National Security submitted by The Noisy Room
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - The Sad Red Earth – How Greenwald Argues submitted by Simply Jews
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Small Wars Journal – How We Became a Nation of Warriors submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -James Taranto/Best of the Web Today – "Fine! Call My Bluff!" submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Daniel Pipes/Big Peace – Another Islamist Soldier Turns Terrorist In Texas submitted by VA Right!
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Tea Party Tribune – Movie Redeems Itself (Kinda) In Left/Right Analogy submitted by The Watcher
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Arthur Hu/Asian Week – Norway Counter-Jihadist Commits Mirror Image Jihad as Oslo City Bomber submitted by The Watcher
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Accuracy In Media – A Warning From Norway submitted by New Zeal
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Radarsite – Alan Dershowitz on Norway submitted by The Political Commentator
See you next week! And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!
Though I 1000% agree with Jonah Goldberg's piece, the author of a book entitled Liberal Fascism might not be the best advocate for civility.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, concerning his comments on the Giffords shooting - that attack could have been used as an opportunity to educate the public about the woeful state of mental health care in the US. Instead, they went after Palin for some reason that I still can't figure out. Having a friend whose mind has been ravaged by schizophrenia, I can never forgive the media for ignoring that issue and instead waste time attacking someone who had zilch to do with the crime.
I suggest you read the book.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the Democrats went after Governor Palin is the same reason they went after her and her family from the jump - because they see her as a political threat to exactly the ideology Goldberg is talking about.