JIM RUTENBERG’S NO-NAME OFFENSE: Jim Rutenberg has his knickers knotted about those 9/11 commissioners. On the front page of today’s New York Times, the gentleman details their crimes:
RUTENBERG: Democrats and Republicans alike have raised concerns about the degree to which commission members are discussing their deliberations on television and, even, in newspaper columns—to the point that they are spinning their views like the politicians that many of them are.
Yikes! According to Rutenberg, the commissioners are “spinning their views” on TV—behaving “like the pols they are.” And you know that the scribe’s critique is fair. After all, “Democrats and Republicans alike” have been making the troubling charge.
But there’s only one problem with Rutenberg’s piece, which stretches to almost 1400 words. He doesn’t cite a single Democrat who has made this complaint about the conduct of the commissioners! And this is hardly a major surprise, since the complaint which Rutenberg describes is a current Republican spin-point.
Readers, go ahead—read right through this lengthy piece in search of a single Democrat! Rutenberg claims that such people are all over DC—but he fails to cite even one. He quotes Senators Arlen Specter (Republican, Pennsylvania) and Mitch McConnell (Republican, Kentucky). He quotes a TV commentator, conservative Tucker Carlson (Republican, CNN). But he never cites a single Democrat, either by name or on background. And the reason for that is fairly clear. Late in the piece, he finally touches on the obvious—he’s discussing a conservative talking-point:
RUTENBERG: The Sept. 11 commission has come under attack from conservatives in the last two weeks, in particular, for what they say has been undue criticism of the Bush administration. Those assertions concern more than the members’ public appearances; they take issue with the members' questioning of witnesses.
Duh! In the past few weeks, it has become increasingly clear that the commission will find fault with Bush’s flawless performance. As this has happened, conservative spokesmen have begun to attack the commission as a self-serving, partisan enterprise. The claim of partisanship is especially odd; the commission is equally split among Reps and Dems and the commissioner, Thomas Kean, was selected by Bush himself. But no matter! Criticism of the commission’s conduct has become a widespread conservative line. Rutenberg, though, has a better idea. He says the criticism is coming from “Democrats and Republicans alike.” But he forgets to name even one Dem who has put forth the complaint he describes.
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh041504.shtml
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