It may sound like my tin-foil hat talking but it really is fundamental to the right’s authoritarian agenda to keep the country in a perpetual state of war. But evidence of their true intent is rarely so brazenly exposed as it was this week by the intentional manipulation of a story at Rupert Murdoch’s flagship U.S. newspaper:
[The New York] Post completely rewrote [an Associated Press] story to make it a hit on Dems — than ran the piece with the imprimatur of the AP and Espo. While papers are free to edit AP copy, this complete makeover is nonetheless extraordinary — and extraordinarily revealing.
The lede from the original AP story:
A historic veto showdown assured, Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.
‘No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration’s incompetence and dishonesty,’ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
The Post changed this to:
The White House warned yesterday that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s new legislation requiring the first U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 is a “death sentence” for millions of freedom-loving Iraqis.
The stinging comments from President Bush’s spokeswoman came just days after Reid declared the war is already “lost” and as negotiators for the House and Senate nailed down the details of the war bill, which also set a goal of completing the pullout by April 2008.
Dana Perino, the president’s spokeswoman, charged that Reid is in denial about the vicious nature of the enemy and about the U.S.-led plan to provide more security in Iraq.
Reid (Nev.) had earlier accused Bush of being in a “state of denial” about what’s happening in Iraq four years after America went to war.
Perino fumed about Reid, “He’s also in denial that a surrender date – he thinks it is a good idea. It is not a good idea. It is defeat.
“It is a death sentence for the millions of Iraqis who voted for a constitution, who voted for a government, who voted for a free and democratic society,” she added.
I thought I was unshockable by this crowd but they continue to amaze.