TheDailyBanter.com

The lies of John McCain

By Ben Cohen

Joe Klein writes a scathing piece on John McCain's problem with the truth, calling him and out and out liar. This is strong language from the Main Stream Media, a sure sign that McCain is pushing the boundaries of acceptability.

Here's a video debunking most of his outrageous accusations:

Joe Klein grows a spine

By Ben Cohen

I've ripped on Joe Klein for his subservience to conventional wisdom, but was mightily impressed with his honest article in Time Magazine slamming the Jewish Neo Cons responsible for providing the intellectual rationale to invade Iraq. Klein also fessed up to making a grave error when advocating the invasion of Iraq on Tim Russert's show 'Meet the Press' back in 2003, and was alarmingly balanced on his views about Israel and the Palestinians. Perhaps Klein is finally cleansing himself of the Washington muck he has rolled around in for the past two decades, and embarking on something resembling intellectual honesty and journalistic integrity. I don't want to jump to conclusions too soon, but his article is a very good start in the right direction.

Chomsky on acid

By Ben Cohen

I'm developing a bit of an obsession with Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone, and have tried to read as much of his commentary as possible. Taibbi is the perfect antidote to important but boring analytical writing, as his acerbic style of journalism is great fun to read. He is basically Noam Chomsky on acid.

Economic issues are probably the most important to understand given they effect 90% of the population on a daily basis, and Taibbi lays it out in a way that makes it easy to digest. Taibbi also has a talent for lampooning Beltway pundits, a sport that should be regarded as public service.

I have spent a fair bit of time ripping into Joe Klein (perhaps the most prominent Washington hack of the past two decades), but Taibbi has written a far lengthier account of his pretentious hackery that is definitely worth reading. Be sure to check out the horrendous photos he links in his article of the devastating after effects of agent orange on the Vietnamese. It is truly horrific, and a reminder that war has lasting effects that can destroy generations of people (something Klein does not seem to be bothered about).

For more of Taibbi's political journalism, check Rollingstone.com for his campaign coverage.

Joe Klein gets it right about Joe Wilson

By Ben Cohen

I'm not a big fan of Joe Klein, and berated him for his verbal gymnastics over the Iraq war, but he's certainly got it right about Clinton supporter Joe Wilson. He writes in Time Magazine:

"I also have some residual respect for Amb Joseph Wilson, who told the truth about Niger and yellowcake uranium. But this is garbage. Especially this:

Claims of superior intuitive judgment by his campaign and by him are self-evidently disingenuous, especially in light of disclosures about his long associations with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko.

Clinton's slim hopes of winning the nomination are not helped by this. They are hurt. In fact, let me amend what I said in the first paragraph: If her campaign persists in peddling this sort of kamikaze stuff--and make no mistake, this sort of op-ed is usually vetted by the campaign--her judgment should be called into question."

Hack Watch: Joe Klein

By Ben Cohen

Joe Klein is the most sophisticated of political hacks, a sharp minded analyst with no fixed values and a thirst for relevance. Apparently a Democrat, Klein has spent most of his career advocating the 'Third Way' for his party. A major player in the 90's, selling out to the business community and adopting right wing national security policies was the order of the day, and Klein reveled in lecturing Democrats on giving up their core values.

Glenn Greenwald  on Salon.com recently bashed Klein for his support for government wiretapping, provoking others in the blogosphere to hammer him for his continued dedication to triangulating on the issues.

Not to be left out, The Daily Banter did some digging on Klein, and surprise surprise, we found an even deeper commitment to political hackery.

In a brilliant expose earlier this year, Arianna Huffington took Klein to task for revisionist journalism when the political pundit pretended that he had opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. Wrote Huffington:

"While offering his Time blog take on the Sunday show appearances of John McCain, Chuck Hagel, and John Edwards, Joe Klein once again made the claim that he opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. Speaking of McCain he said: "I disagreed with him about going to war in 2003..."

"But here is Klein on Meet the Press in February 2003:  "This is a really tough decision. War may well be the right decision at this point. In fact, I think it--it's--it-it probably is." When Tim Russert presses Klein on why he thinks Iraq is "the right war," Klein responds, "Because sooner or later, this guy has to be taken out. Saddam has -- Saddam Hussein has to be taken out... The message has to be sent because if it isn't sent now, if we don't do this now, it empowers every would-be Saddam out there and every would-be terrorist out there."