Totally Objective MSM Observation of the Day: Obama is "The Greatest Orator of Modern Times"

So says Politico's Chief Political Columnist Roger Simon.

Apparently, he doesn't pay much attention to politics. Either that or he is so deep in the tank for Obama, he'd get the bends if he ever came up for air.

Seriously - has Simon not noticed that this gifted orator has a strange knack for sending his audience off to dreamland?

More like the Greatest Snorator of Modern Times.

Even Lady GaGa is a more engaging public speaker. Just imagine if she had a decent speechwriter!

But don't worry. Simon assures us that the bloom is almost off the rose between Obama and the press. Almost. Soon, skeptical reporters will begin holding Obama accountable for what he actually says. No, really! Any day now.



Via Newsbusters.

Cross-posted.

They Think You're Stupid

This probably explains how Obama got elected. I wonder if these are the same 42 million who can't figure out how to get health insurance?

One reason for the decline of newspaper circulation is that 42 million Americans are illiterate and roughly 50 million more are semi-literate, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christopher Hedges says. What’s more, he adds, 80 percent of U.S. households last year did not buy a book.

Now besides obviously just pulling statistics out of his butt, he is using this as an argument to explain why newspaper subscriptions and readership are reaching all time lows, but who am I to argue with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist? If 80% of U.S. households didn't buy a book last year it is kind of hard to explain how so many conservative writers manage to stay on top the best sellers list or what has propelled writers such a J K Rowling of Harry Potter fame or Dan Brown of the Da Vinci Code to become household names. Maybe it is just liberals who don't buy books, which based on how well Nancy Pelosi's book did may be true.

The article then throws out a little anecdotal evidence like this:

Phillips went on to say that at the Media Reform Conference held in Minneapolis in June, 2008, a survey of 376 persons selected at random were asked their views about media today. “Ninety-nine percent agreed with the statement that corporate media has failed to keep the American people informed on important issues facing the nation. We get almost unanimous agreement on that point.”

99% huh? So I wonder who the one person was who felt they were being well served by the news media? What they failed to state was the reason most people feel that "corporate" media fails to inform us. Could it just be the quality of the reporting? When the latest Jon and Kate update trumps reporting on the peccadilloes of elected officials, when the hot item for weeks is the death of Michael Jackson rather then the nuclear ambitions of Iran, most people do feel like the media are out of touch.

The Phillips mentioned above is Peter Phillips, whom the writer of this article states is the Director of Project Censored. One problem with that. If you visit their web site and click the ABOUT tab it shows the director as being Benjamin Frymer.

Sometimes it is just too easy. Oh and one other thing about Project Censored, every year "Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. Current or previous national judges include: Noam Chomsky, Susan Faludi, George Gerbner, Sut Jhally, Frances Moore Lappe, Michael Parenti, Herbert I. Schiller, Barbara Seaman, Erna Smith, Mike Wallace and Howard Zinn."

One thing missing off of that list of criteria is fact checking, which given the inaccuracies in this article are not a priority.

I'm sure if I bothered to research the other names on that list besides the ones I bolded I would find a similar breed of far left liberals. In case you doubt they are a far left group just look at their list of Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009.

Not Content With Suck-Up Media, Obama Now Dictating To Reporters

Of course, since angering King Obama is a mistake, one can only wonder how long Brian Montopoli will be employed by CBS.

In remarks on his administration's proposed $17 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget this morning, President Obama was somewhat on the defensive against charges that his cuts don't amount to much considering that next year's total budget amounts to $3.4 trillion.

As Steve Chaggaris noted in Hotsheet's morning bulletin today, the news that the cuts totaled $17 billion "landed with a bit of a thud" in the media. Reporters stressed that the cuts made up "a tiny fraction" of the total budget and that they would be hard to push through; USA Today noted that the "proposed cuts are about one-fiftieth the size of this year's $787 billion economic stimulus package — all of which was added to the deficit."

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered "trivial" in Washington and stressed that "these savings, large and small, add up."

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are "significant" – a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage.

"It is important, though, for all of you, as you're writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant," he said. "They mean something."

Of course this is nonsense, and apparently some reporters are courageous enough to say so. A piddling $17 billion is chump change compared to the trillions Obama is throwing around.

As he takes hits from Republicans, the president would rather see journalists stress the enormity of the $17 billion figure – and it's certainly huge when considered in a vacuum – as opposed to the fact that $17 billion looks paltry against the total cost of the budget. Such a direct appeal, however, is rare – and probably won't be particularly effective in light of relentless Republican rhetoric concerning irresponsible spending.

Still, I bet enough of Obama's media sycophants take him up on it. After all, they want to make nice to their boss.

Obama's Media Bailout

If you're a member of the enchanted Obama media, don't worry about your newspaper going under or your network being mired in the ratings basement.

You can always count on Barack Obama for a job.

• Warren Bass: Former deputy editor of The Post's Sunday Outlook now serves as an adviser and speechwriter for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

• Jay Carney: The former TIME Magazine Moscow bureau chief and campaign chronicler (and husband of ABC's Claire Shipman) now serves as communications director for Vice President Biden.

• Linda Douglass: Former Congressional correspondent for CBS and ABC and writer/editor at National Journal left journalism last year to serve as traveling press secretary for the Obama campaign. She'll help guide the administration's communications efforts during this summer's battle over health care reform, working out of the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House.

• Peter Gosselin: The former Los Angeles Times reporter now writes speeches for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

• David Hoff: The Education Week reporter and blogger started yesterday on the communications staff at the Education Department.

• Beverley Lumpkin: A former Justice Department reporter/producer for ABC and CBS, she left journalism, worked for the Project on Government Oversight and joined DOJ last month as press secretary, turning sources into colleagues.

• Geoff Morrell: A holdover from the Bush administration, the former ABC newsman became spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2007.

• Rick Weiss: Former Washington Post science reporter left for the Center for American Progress and now serves as communications director and senior policy strategist for the White House Office of Science and Technology.

• Jill Zuckman: The former Washington correspondent for the Chicago Tribune works with Ray LaHood as communications director at the Department of Transportation.

You know what happens when Obama is out of office, right? Well, they all go back to high-ranking media positions as (ahem) objective reporters covering a Republican administration.

I don't think MSNBC has to worry about losing any of their overpaid talent. They're already doing their job for Boss Obama.

Iraq Now 'The Forgotten War'

Except for the occasional grim milestone, the mainstream media and networks are now largely disinterested in covering events from Iraq.

The glaring lack of coverage of good news hasn't gone unnoticed by Ralph Peters.

LAST weekend's news coverage of our veterans was welcome, but deceptive. The "mainstream media" honored aging heroes and noted the debt we owe to today's wounded warriors - but deftly avoided in-depth coverage from Iraq. Why? Because things are going annoyingly well.

All those reporters, editors and producers who predicted - longed for - an American defeat have moved on to more pressing strategic issues, such as O.J.'s latest shenanigans.

Oh, if you turned to the inner pages of the "leading" newspapers, you found grudging mention of the fact that roadside-bomb attacks are down by half and indirect-fire attacks by three-quarters while the number of suicide bombings has plummeted.

Far fewer Iraqi civilians are dying at the hands of extremists. U.S. and Coalition casualty rates have fallen dramatically. The situation has changed so unmistakably and so swiftly that we should be reading proud headlines daily.

Where are they? Is it really so painful for all those war-porno journos to accept that our military - and the Iraqis - may have turned the situation around? Shouldn't we read and see and hear a bit of praise for today's soldiers and the progress they're making?

The media's new trick is to concentrate coverage on our wounded, mouthing platitudes while using military amputees as props to suggest that, no matter what happens in Iraq, everything's still a disaster.

God knows, I sympathize with - and respect - those who've sacrificed life or limb in our country's service. I just hate to see them used as political tools.

Read the rest.

After a full year of trying to undermine our mission and to cut off funding, it's was hardly noticed that we are now beginning the process of reversing the surge, with the first troops soon arriving home.

You figure this would be front page news, right?

Wrong again!

EL PASO, TX. - It is a moment anticipated by so many families: Troops are coming home from Iraq.

The 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Calvalry Division has been serving in Iraq for more than a year and a half. But Monday, 100 of those soldiers got to step on familiar soil and come home to their waiting families.

Seems to be a curious lack of interest in this positive news.

MSM Boobs Fall for Code Pinko Hoax

Like slobbering lapdogs, the buffoonish laughingstocks of the lamestream media fall hook, line and sinker for a prank press release from Communist front group Code Pink.

Michelle Malkin has the details here.

More also from FrontPage, Gateway Pundit, and American Thinker.

Media credibility is at an all-time low, and the fact they're hoodwinked by this group of mendacious America-haters show they have little if any integrity left, especially at CBS.

They obviously learned nothing from the Dan Rather fiasco.

ABC at Qualcomm: Can Someone Start Rioting Please?

The lamestream media is desperately trying to create chaos out of a terrible situation in Southern California and the evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium lamentably aren't doing their part. The template has been set: We must create another Katrina.

This pathetic headline sums up the national media's futility to create panic and despair.

How Long Will the Good Vibes Last at Qualcomm Stadium?

Half a million Southern Californians have evacuated their homes in the face of vicious wildfires, and thousands of them have found refuge at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

But unlike the grim conditions faced by Hurricane Katrina evacuees at the Superdome in New Orleans, the evacuees in San Diego are whiling away the hours California style — with yoga, acupuncture, massages and even gourmet buffet tables.

They go on to tell some nice stories of human kindness, but that just won't do, apparently.

We need despair, damnit! Thank goodness local media in California isn't playing the game and is helping keep people informed with the facts, rather than creating chaos.

But I guess people behaving and keeping cool doesn't sell, And just who do these people think they are evacuating when told to do so and refusing to play the victim?

Meanwhile, CNN President Jon Klein, who sneered that a blogger who helped take down Dan Rather was "sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing," has decided to use the wildfires to help promote CNN propaganda.

I'm wondering whether Matt Drudge was in his jammies when he received this:

CNN MEMO: USE FIRES TO 'PUSH' 'PLANET IN PERIL' SERIES; DON'T 'IRRESPONSIBLY' TIE TO GLOBAL WARMING
Thu Oct 18 2007 14:11:42 ET

According to notes from CNN's Monday news meeting network president Jon Klein tells employees to use the California fire tragedy to "push" their "Planet in Peril" special, but warns reporters not to "irresponsibly link" the fires to "Global Warming."

NewsBusters exposes further media perfidy here and here, as the intellectual pygmies from MSNBC and CBS laughably try and connect the wildfires to global warming and Iraq.

Thankfully, Governor Schwarzenegger isn't playing along.

SHIPMAN: So, you think the comparison to Katrina that everybody's making in the back of their mind these days is a good one in terms of state and federal.

SCHWARZENEGGER: All you have to do is just look around here and see how happy people are. No one is screaming. No one is complaining about anything.

SHIPMAN: Well, you're saying everybody's working together, but you have heard there have been some complaints from officials. For example, in Orange County who say, 'If we'd only had more resources earlier, more planes, more firefighting resources, we might have been able to head off the fires ravaging Orange County right now.'

SCHWARZENEGGER: Anyone that is complaining about the planes just wants to complain because it's a bunch of nonsense. The fact is that we have all the planes in the world here. We have 90 aircraft here and they can't fly because of the wind situation.

SHIPMAN: At one point, he even employed a heavy weight grip to make his case. The point he was making, you have to be ready to fly --

[Schwarzenegger grips Shipman's arm and starts vigorously shaking it.]

SCHWARZENEGGER: Trust me when I tell you, you're looking for a mistake and you won't find it because it's all good news, as much as you maybe hate it, but it's good news. Trust me, okay?

Newspaper Circulation Plunging

The rapid decline in newspaper circulation continues, yet you'll notice an increase at the New York Post. Some of the damage is severe and while they may be able to argue online readership is increasing in some cases, the inescapable facts are they're losing readers due to a leftwing bias and the younger generation simply does not read newspapers as much as older generations.

Top 20 circulation numbers.

More at NewsBusters, NRO Media Blog, Pajamas Media.

Pali Speaker Calls for Exterminating Americans

Allahpundit has the video, which really shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention. That would, of course, exclude the lamestream media and the left, who aren't comfortable with the ugly reality. Do not expect to see this video broadcast by any network.

Condi Rice should also take note. We cannot work with people who want to exterminate us.

Global Warming Rallies Hampered by Bad Weather

Seems to be a pattern developing.

Cold, rain cuts short global warming rally

More than two dozen demonstrators braved cold, wet weather Saturday in Reno to attend a rally designed to draw attention to global warming.

The event was cut short by heavy rain and sleet, said organizer Lisa Stiller of the Northern Nevada Coalition for Climate Change.

“It’s kind of disappointing that the weather kept people away,” Stiller said. “But we still think it (climate change) is something that people should talk about.”

More than two dozen people? Wow. So how many more? Was it 25 people, 30?

Why does such a paltry gathering rate media attention?

More boobs:

A regional rally for a global problem

WILMINGTON -- A mix of snow and fog at the foot of the Whiteface Mountain toll road made it a white-on-white world Saturday as 15 people -- and two dogs -- started the 2,500-foot ascent to the top.

The group was skiing up the state's fifth-highest peak -- which was wrapped in early spring snow -- to call attention to the damage that global warming could bring to the Adirondacks.

Sponsored by the Adirondack Mountain Club and Adirondack Explorer, a monthly magazine covering recreation in the mountains, the climb was among more than 1,300 events held nationwide to mark Step It Up 2007, a global warming awareness day that was the brainchild of naturalist and author Bill McKibben of Vermont.

This regional event had 15 people and it garners media attention?

Previous idiocy: Global Warming Trek Begins With Snowstorm

Surrendering The War on Terror

Adam Brodsky points out the obvious today. Many seem to want to give up the fight against the Islamofascist monsters without acknowledging that the enemy is not quite ready to stop fighting.

Ever.

The War on Terror is over. Or, at least, the West seems to be declaring it so.

We've had enough.

There's been too much hostility. Too many lives lost; too many civil liberties trampled on. Too many Muslims offended.

So we're pulling out. We'll just have to "dialogue" more - and fight less.

Who sees any chance of winning militarily, anyhow? We'll have to work things out "politically" instead - offering "flexibility" and a willingness to compromise with the enemy.

Just one little problem: The enemy has yet to sign on to ending the war.

They have no desire to compromise or stand down - and no intention to do so.

We may declare the war over - but they won't. Ever.

Therein lies the main obstacle to ever achieving peace in our lifetimes. We face a bloodthirsty enemy hellbent on destroying us while simultaneously battling the left and the media who think if we just talk to them enough, they'll understand we all want to sing Kumbaya and they will lay down their arms.

Never going to happen.

They say so openly. Repeatedly. And backs up their words with horrific proof.

Still, we pretend - at our peril - that we can just withdraw and declare the war over. Consider the West's record of the past few weeks:

* Democrats keep setting surrender dates in Iraq, even as they fail to provide funding for U.S. troops there. As if our retreat won't plunge the Middle East into disaster - with consequences for America soon to follow.

* House Speaker Nancy Pelosi treats with Syria, a chief sponsor of terror. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) says he's dying to yuk it up with the thugs in Iran.

* Tehran, meanwhile, holds 15 British sailors hostage for two weeks - and Britain, once the greatest naval power on earth, does . . . nothing.

* Italy gets Afghanistan to release five Taliban captives in exchange for an Italian journalist, signaling that kidnappings pay. (After the Italian's released, the butchers slit the throat of his Afghan colleague.)

* Congress greenlights millions in funding for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - even though he has partnered with Hamas, a ruthless terror organization.

* President Bush brags about "progress" in blocking foreigners from illegally entering the country, even though - five years after 9/11 - tens of thousands continue to hop the border every month.

* Mike Bloomberg - the mayor of the city where the World Trade Center towered, until terrorists siezed [sic] those aircraft on 9/11 - says there's nothing wrong with retaining a city human-rights commissioner who's actively aiding the attempt by "the flying imams" to deter Americans from reporting suspicious behavior.

* A report in Britain says teachers there are scrapping lessons on the Holocaust and the Crusades, so as not to offend Muslims who deny the historical record.

* A former U.S. national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, argues in The Washington Post that damage caused merely by the phrase "War on Terror" is "infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks."

* Iran announces (maybe falsely, but who knows?) that it can now enrich uranium at an industrial pace - and the world yawns.

* Israel considers the release of scores of Palestinian prisoners, even ones with blood on their hands, in exchange for an Israeli soldier.

These strong signs that we're losing the will to fight are sure to encourage terrorists and boost the odds that they'll launch new strikes against us.

If a Democrat takes the White House in 2008, no doubt he or she will signal further willingness to have dialogue with our enemies, who will only laugh and attack us further.

We must unleash the full fury of our military might against the enemy worldwide and utterly destroy them. Until we do, we face a bleak future.

Piling on Imus

I have little use for Don Imus, but this has reached the vaunted feeding frenzy level the liberals always love to invoke. How ironic they're doing it to one of their own. Really though, does this deserve the coverage it's getting? Imagine if this guy actually had some ratings?

Wait until they find out that just by the Rutgers campus there are two roads named Hoes Lane and Old Hoes Lane.

Never one to be outdone, The Pantsuit chimes in a week late, right after The Prophet. As if she'd ever do a live, unscripted interview.

Ann Coulter has Ho Ho Ho, Merry Imus!

The only person happier than Larry Birkhead about the big announcement that he is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby is Don Imus. By the way, what's the word for a woman who gives birth to a child of uncertain paternity?

English speakers in America need a rule book to tell us what people can say what words when, and under which set of circumstances. The rule book will be longer than the Patriot Act and will require weekly updates as new words and circumstances are added. Perhaps a Nasdaq-style ticker would be more efficient.

Depending on which TV show you tune into, what Imus said was wrong because: (1) His show goes out on FCC-regulated airwaves; (2) he regularly interviews people like Sens. John Kerry, John McCain and Joe Biden; (3) he spoke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner a few years ago; or (4) he's not black.

More from Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Ed Driscoll.com, Stuck on Stupid, The Sandbox, Sister Toldjah, Captain's Quarters.

Cheney Was Right

Much was made of Vice President Cheney's appearance with Rush Limbaugh last week. Ray Robison points out what he said about al Qaeda and Iraq was correct.

Of course, so does Rush.

The liberal media can't handle the truth.

How a Bogus Story Became Page One News

The Washingtown Post jumps off the deep end into Daily Kos and Olbermann-esque conspiracies today.

Well, the author does have a book to plug.

Another Rovian Conspiracy shreds this junk from beginning to end.

Howard Kurtz: Lazy Media Relic

In typically lazy drive-by media fashion, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post selectively goes after Little Green Footballs for a couple of comments which the commenter himself quickly regretted while minimizing the vile hatred emanating from the Huffington Post.

In recent weeks, some of those who post comments on the conservative blog Little Green Footballs have said they wished that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had succeeded in what the Gitmo prisoner says was a plot to kill Jimmy Carter. And some who posted comments on the liberal Huffington Post have expressed regret that the suicide bomber at a military base in Afghanistan failed to take out the visiting Dick Cheney.

No corner of the Net is safe from this bile. The Washington Post's Web site has been grappling with a surge in offensive and incendiary comments.

The really gruesome stuff represents a tiny minority of those online. But is there a way of policing the worst stuff without shutting down robust debate?

The comments about Cheney at the Huffington Post included: "You can't kill pure evil." "If at first you don't succeed . . . " "Dr. Evil escapes again . . . damn." Founder Arianna Huffington wrote that "no one at HuffPost is defending these comments -- they are unacceptable and were treated as such by being removed."

The comments about Mohammed and Carter at Little Green Footballs included: "Can we furlough him -- just so he can realize the Carter plot? Please?" and "Even this schmuck had some good ideas."

The site's founder, Charles Johnson, wrote on Little Green Footballs that such comments "reflect only the opinions of the individuals who posted them" and doubted that they "rise to the level of hatred that showed up in Arianna's readers' Cheney-related comments."

Read for yourself: Here is the LGF thread Kurtz notes.

Kurtz doesn't even mention more recent comments this past Friday at Huffington Post about Tony Snow.

Pajames Media notes Huffington was sanitizing history.

Michelle Malkin had Assassination chic, Cheney edition.

Just last week, there was yet another deluge of hatred toward Cheney. Does this comment sound rational?

I would like to take a sledge hammer to Cheneys foot......then tell the fucking terrorist bastard ''now you know what if feels like'. Then shove a .45 in his mouth and blow his fucking brains out.

By: PissedoffVietVet on March 20, 2007 at 06:57pm

Why doesn't Howrd Kurtz mention this? Is he too lazy?

Again, I do not minimize the fact that some commenters at LGF have on occasion stepped over the line. But to even make a comparison between commenters there and at the Huffington Post is intellectually dishonest.

UPDATE: Charles Johnson fires back. More also today from Michelle Malkin.

Media Catching Up With Gore

John Fund notes that the print media is finally discovering the rank hypocrisy of The Goracle. It's about time.

The media are finally catching up with Al Gore. Criticism of his anti-global-warming franchise and his personal environmental record has gone beyond ankle-biting bloggers. It's now coming from the New York Times and the Nashville Tennessean, his hometown paper that put his birth, as a senator's son, on its front page back in 1948, and where a young Al Gore Jr. worked for five years as a journalist.

Read the whole thing.

Media Bias Alive and Well

Just confirming the obvious.

The vast majority of American voters detect the presence of political bias in the mainstream news media, according to a Zogby poll released yesterday in conjunction with the George Washington University Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet.

Sentiment is strong: 83 percent of likely voters think bias is "alive and well." Of that number, 64 percent said the press leans left, while slightly more than a quarter -- 28 percent -- said there was a conservative bias.

Naturally, there's a partisan divide, and a pronounced one. Among Republican respondents, 97 percent said the press was liberal. Two-thirds of political independents agreed with them, with less than a quarter of the independents -- 23 percent -- saying there was a conservative bias.

The antique media responded by scoffing at the poll and calling the public stupid. But we'll have the last laugh.

Meanwhile, the Zogby findings also revealed a trend that may sober the enthusiasm of broadcasters, magazines and newspapers that have rushed to establish an Internet presence, complete with snappy blogs, message boards and interactive features.

Cheney Derangement Syndrome

Dr. Krauthammer diagnoses the problem.

If there's a diagnosis to be made here, it is this: yet another case of the one other syndrome I have been credited with identifying, a condition that addles the brain of otherwise normal journalists and can strike without warning ? Bush Derangement Syndrome, Cheney Variant.

UPDATE: More from Sister Toldjah.

Not So Grim Milestone

Funny how you don't see the AP bodycount so much any longer, nor are the babbleheads talking about grim milestones. Probably why the Democrats would rather talk about something else, like a nonstory about U.S. attorneys.

Baghdad security crackdown seriously curbs killings of US soldiers (Via Drudge)

The rate of killings of US troops in Iraq has been on the decline, down by 60 percent, since the launch of the new security measures in Baghdad, according to statistics revealed by the Multi-National Force-Iraq Combined Press Information Centre.

Only 17 members of the US military in Iraq have been killed since February 14 till March 13, compared to 42 from January 13 to February 13; the rate was on the decline during the first month of the security crackdown, compared to a month before.

Two of the 17 soldiers died at US Baghdad camps of non-combat causes.

The remarkable decrease in killings among the US troops came at a time when more of these troops were deployed in the Iraqi capital, especially in districts previously regarded as extremely hazardous for them such as Al-Sadr City, Al-Azamiyah, and Al-Doura.

Meanwhile, US attacks on insurgent strongholds north of Baghdad curbed attacks against helicopters. Before the new security plan, many such craft were downed leaving 20 soldiers dead.

The US army in Iraq had earlier said that sectarian fighting and violence in Baghdad had dropped sharply, by about 80 percent, since the launch of the plan.

Meanwhile, the Party of Defeat presses ahead.

WASHINGTON - Democratic-backed legislation to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq cleared an initial Senate hurdle Wednesday, but Republicans confidently predicted they had the votes to defeat it. President Bush backed them up with a veto threat.

UPDATE: Be sure to check out the guest milbloggers at Michelle Malkin this week, and see some great photos via Blackfive.

Peters: Viva Bush

Ralph Peters has an excellent take on George W. Bush's trip to Latin America and the media spin that follows. I find it laughable how the press tries to put a two-bit thug like Hugo Chavez on equal footing.

AS our president arrived in Brazil last week, the U.S. media made it sound as if Latin America had erupted in flames. TV news featured flying tear-gas canisters; a typical newspaper headline read, "Angry Crowds Rally Against President in Brazil."

Message: Bush is hated. He's ruined our relations with the hemisphere. Nobody loves us anymore - and it's all his fault.

Well, venceremos, muchachos, and no pasdaran!

If you bothered to read the reports below the headlines, you learned that 6,000 Brazilians had gathered in Sao Paulo to protest Bush's arrival in their country.

Wait a minute - wasn't that 600,000? Or at least 60,000?

Nope. Just 6,000 outraged citizens. Out of Brazil's population of 200 million.

Shucks, down here in Washington you can rally 6,000 activists at a moment's notice to march for equal rights for prairie dogs.

Couldn't Cindy Sheehan have flown down to pump up the numbers a little? (Or Jack "I'm a hero!" Murtha? He'd look studly in a Speedo on a Rio beach . . . )

Read the rest.