Eric Alterman On Newsweek

For those following this whole Newsweek saga (I’m not one of them, thus why I’m so late commenting on it), Eric Alterman had a great column on the topic in June 20th’s The Nation. In it, he rejects ties between the Newsweek article about Koran flushings and rioting in Afghanistan, evidenced by quotes from Gen. Richard Meyers and Afghan Prez Hamid Karzai.

Alterman ends the piece on a note that rings particularly true.

The Bush Administration, in its campaign to eliminate democratic accountability, has consistently sought to undermine already faltering public confidence in the media, thereby further weakening the press’s ability to fulfill its essential role in our delicate system of checks and balances. The jihad against Newsweek, like that against Dan Rather and others, seizes upon honest media mistakes to discredit the very idea of neutral, reality-based reporting. The longer the mainstream media fail to awaken to this unhappy reality, the greater will be our collective impotence when they finally realize it’s time to fight back. For that reason–and despite its error–Newsweek’s fight is our fight too.

In the same issue, there is also an interesting piece (subscription req’d) by David Corn, talking about how stem cells could be a wedge issue for Democrats to exploit.

Meanwhile, the religious right–already furious that Republican senators had not nuked the judicial filibuster–accused antiabortion Republicans who advocate stem cell research of betraying the cause. Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council warned that his and other like-minded groups would no longer accord these Republicans 100 percent ratings. And the dust-up caused House majority leader Tom DeLay to return to Schiavo-style rhetoric. He called stem cell research–which uses cells extracted from leftover blastocysts (early embryos composed of 100 or so cells) stored in fertility clinics–”the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings.”

Dismemberment. mmm…. Tasty.