CHANGING THE IRAQ NARRATIVE
KRUGMAN: The War President

From the New York Times courtesy of BuzzFlash, Princeton economist Paul Krugman on why the media must address how Bush lied in order to get his war going:

But they're wrong: it's crucial that those responsible for the war be held to account.

Let me explain. The United States will soon have to start reducing force levels in Iraq, or risk seeing the volunteer Army collapse. Yet the administration and its supporters have effectively prevented any adult discussion of the need to get out.

On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic.

We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.

The good news is that the public seems ready to hear that message - readier than the media are to deliver it. Major media organizations still act as if only a small, left-wing fringe believes that we were misled into war, but that "fringe" now comprises much if not most of the population.

Click here for the rest.

Indeed. I'm not holding my breath, but I still think there's an outside chance that if the news media starts doing its job, this country could be radically different three years from now. That is, if what's actually happened since 9/11 becomes achingly clear to the US public, the House and the Senate could conceivably see Democratic majorities after the 2006 elections. Under pressure from the press, the Democrats would then convene numerous show-hearings, maybe even get some impeachment procedures going for everyone from Rumsfeld to Rice to Cheney to Bush. In the aftermath, a demoralized American population swings left: "my god; what have we done?"

Like I said, I'm not holding my breath.

UPDATE: This fantasy scenario in my head, with Democrats taking both houses in '06, is not as far fetched as it might seem. Bush's disapproval rating among the all-important swing-voting independents is a whopping seventy five percent, and that's pretty much without the press doing its job. It seems to me that there is a very good chance that disillusionment with the White House could turn into Democratic votes for Congress. If only the Dems can keep from shooting themselves in the head again.

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