Biden, Allies Frustrated With Media's Hawkish Coverage Of Afghanistan Withdrawal

[TomCADem]

After years of ignoring Afghanistan, many close to the Biden White House — and the president himself — feel some major outlets are adopting a pro-war stance. What is particularly notable, is that folks on the left who have argued that the U.S. should have exited Afghanistan long ago are ignored. For example, Bernie Sanders was in support of withdrawal for a long time, but you are not seeing the cable news giving him any interviews.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-media-coverage-afghanistan-withdrawal_n_612014d6e4b0c69681087cd7

Although the White House’s failure to foresee the rapid fall of the Afghan government and prepare accordingly has exacerbated the chaos of the U.S. withdrawal, Biden and his allies are furious with what they see as reporters’ and pundits’ unduly hawkish coverage of the exit.

“The media tends to bend over backwards to ‘both-sides’ all of their coverage, but they made an exception for this,” said Eric Schultz, a deputy press secretary under President Barack Obama. “They both-sides coverage over masks, and vaccines, and school openings and everything else. Somehow [the Afghanistan withdrawal] created a rush to judgment and a frenzy that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Matt Duss, a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the de facto leader of the party’s progressive wing and Biden’s rival in the 2020 presidential primary, offered a similar assessment.

“The extent to which the media is privileging voices who have gotten this wrong for years is ridiculous,” he said. “What we’re seeing is an attempt by the Washington foreign policy establishment to expiate its sins of over 20 years by putting this on the Biden administration.”

[LisaM]

1. Because it's partly the media's war.

They were the ultimate cheerleaders for the invasions back in 2001. I guess nothing has changed. I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now.

[treestar]

2. Yes. At the dawn of cable news

in 1991 they were cheerleaders for the first Gulf War. They were so excited and happy that we had a war going on! They made me ill.

[Mme. Defarge]

7. CNN was practically

orgasmic.

[TomCADem]

4. Sanders Supports Afghan Retreat - Even If Kabul Falls (2019)

For example, while the media parades critic after critic of the withdrawal, including Republicans who supported it under Trump, you are not hearing voices on the left who have long supported a withdrawal even if lead to the fall of Kabul.

https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2019-11-20/sanders-supports-afghanistan-withdrawal-even-if-us-backed-government-collapses

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Wednesday that his administration would withdraw from Afghanistan even if it precipitated the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

"Yes, I think it is time after spending many trillions of dollars on these endless wars, which have resulted in more dislocation and mass migration and pain in the region," Sanders said in response to a question about such a pullout from the 18-year-old conflict. "It is time to bring our troops home."

The senator from Vermont on multiple occasions has said that he would withdraw from Afghanistan, but it was not previously clear that he would follow through on that decision in light of the dire consequences. He added Wednesday that he would work with allies on withdrawing from the country.

But Sanders offered that as president he would not make such a decision through "a tweet" – a dig at President Donald Trump who has announced major national security and foreign policy decisions through the social media platform, including proposed withdrawals from Syria and reinstituting a ban on transgender troops serving openly in the military.

[spanone]

3. K&R

[leftstreet]

5. Meh. The media's giving the military industrial complex cover

I've seen this song and dance before. Counter the withdrawal efforts with a breathless narrative of failure and fearmongering and "global leadership" crap, and then politicians claim they can't afford to appear soft on terror or something.

Biden made it clear in his presser that the the US military and its hungry contractors are simply repositioning

"These are the mistakes we cannot continue to repeat, because we have significant vital interests in the world that we cannot afford to ignore"

[Hugin]

6. I just happened on to a piece that TFG and Newt are throwing together a contract for '22.

I'm guessing this time it's a contract on democracy in general since both of them lost their gigs.

It kind of put all of this Afghanistan horseshit in context. The contract is really probably a cut/paste of the Iran deal since they are both opposed to real work and haven't had an original idea since Reagan.

Now all they need is a Koppel.