Negative Attitude Of The Media

There is talk about Obama’s “surge” in Afghanistan, compared to Bush’s “surge” in Iraq. The talk that PG has heard does not consider a key portion of the Bush surge. It is focused on military results, which is not the entire story.
There was a home front angle to the surge strategy in Iraq. Before, reports from Babylon were grim. The country was in civil war, and the American effort seemed to be for naught. Many on the right blamed the Democrats for causing this defeat. One especially putrid whiner, Mark Steyn, said on the radio that the Democrats had their banners and ribbons already ordered for the defeat celebration.
When the surge started, the talk in the press changed. Suddenly, we were winning the war in Iraq. Whether this was true or not, or whether the extra troops had anything to do with it, there was less violence in Iraq. And the media told us we were winning the war in Iraq.(One pundit compared this to a house burning down. When the house is through burning, the fire stops. When the people who practiced the wrong kind of Islam left their neighborhoods, they were no longer being killed.)
PG maintains that this happy talk in the press was a deliberate part of the surge strategy. And, there has not been a similar effort for the Obama surge in Afghanistan. The press is continuing in their negative attitude of printing the truth. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.