The Media's Impeachable Offenses - Utne Reader

[groovedaddy]

The Media's Impeachable Offenses
Why doesn't the media report on the specter of impeachment?
—By Brendan Mackie, Utne.com

August 16, 2007 Issue

The possibility of impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney has been regarded by the media as a touch less crazy than sporting a tin-foil hat or insisting that you just saw Elvis in the deli line at the local supermarket. The issue is largely ignored by the media, and when the rare report on the subject surfaces, it's usually regarded as an opportunity to score some laughs. For example, as Extra!'s Cynthia Cooper points out in an survey of the mainstream media's treatment of the issue, when presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich made his case for impeaching Cheney in April, the Washington Post simply made fun of the Ohio representative for being short.

Despite the media's dismissal of the topic as a fringe movement's pipe dream, impeachment of the president is a popular issue. A recent Gallup poll reported that 36 percent of Americans believed that Congress would be justified in initiating impeachment proceedings against Bush. Why, then, does impeachment so often get ignored? Perhaps reporters see it merely as a dead-end story, one with a tired story line, based on "old news."

Or they could be taking their cues from the Democratic line on impeachment. In a recent Washington Post column titled "The Dumbest Move the Dems Could Make,"

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2007_312/news/12735-1.html

[Triana]

1. I don't get the double-standards and hypocrisy myself...

..If a Dem does ANYTHING (even in his personal life that's none of anyone's damn business) he's impeached. If Republicans wipe their asses on the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and blatantly break every law, treaty, agreement that ever existed in the past 200 years, impeachment is off the table?

:wtf:

[OneBlueSky]

2. OT question . . . how's the Utne Reader these days? . . .

I was a subscriber years ago, but haven't been in touch in some time . . . is it still a top-notch publication? . . . thanx . . .

[groovedaddy]

4. Obviously I like Utne Reader

but I rarely get the print edition. They send out a weekly version through email. Sign up at their website, if you're interested (on the left side of the home page):

http://www.utne.com/

[OneBlueSky]

5. thanks . . . will do . . . n/t

.

[depakid]

3. Tomasky (the author of the Post piece cited)

has proved himself clueless time and time again- despite his position with the American Prospect.