I was going to write a diary on the
Associated Press wire story on the comments of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, on how we must add Headline Writers to the ranks of the conscripted brownshirts of the Right Wing Noise Machine, there to join the entire television news industry. That is, if I found the time.
Reading Ben Goshi's Recommended Diary made me find the time.
In preamble, I'm guessing many of you have altered your information gatheriong habits as I have, to emphasize the written form at the expense of network and cable televised news. We can just feel the creepy spinmeisters at work on TV. But, as our viewing patterns have shifted, the Republican agenda-pushers have chased us down. While they often cannot obfuscate the objective content in a written news story, they retain one trump card as corporate owner and editor:
they, not the writer of the story, write the headline.
Case in point below:
Here are various AP headlines you and I saw over the past 24 hours, related to Powell's comments concerning Bush's policy of warrantless surveillance of US citizens:
"Powell Supports Government Eavesdropping"
"Powell Backs Bush on Domestic Spying"
"Powell Endorses Eavesdropping Program"
Now, most progressives are educated and often preoccupied and multitasking, and many of us might skim headlines such as this without going to the story.
This is a mistake. Our next accomodation of the ubiquitous control of the RWNM is to remember not only to not trust TV news, but to not trust the headlines and to instead read the entire story.
Here is precisely what Powell actually said:
- It would not have been hard for Bush to get warrants.
- Powell, our Secretarey of State, was never told Bush was spying without warrants
- Bush should have gotten warrants to avoid the controversy.
- Eavesdropping should continue
- There was nothing wrong with Bush ordering eavesdropping.
With regards the nuances of points 4) and 5), my claim is this:
Powell never explicitly said he saw nothing wrong with warrantless eavesdropping, nor did he say that warrantless eavesdropping should continue. Powell himself interjected into the interview the notion the existing law made warrantless eavesdropping unnecessary.
Wingers want to presume he absolved Bush, but there is a leap involved.
The New York Times, to its credit, has a headline "Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program," and some papers have focused on what I consider to be the main news point of Powell's comments, namely point 1) above. Major kudos to the Bradenton Herald for headlining the story:
"Powell: Warrantless Eavesdropping Not Necessary"
Presumably, Harry Reid will soon have this talking point:
"Powell Denies Warrantless Spying was Necessary, Directly Contradicting Bush and Cheney."
In a more erudite society, we might also get:
"Bush So Devalues Diplomacy He Kept his Secretary of State in the Dark on Spying."