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:: 12.09.2003 ::
Several people have forwarded this Spinsanity article to me that characterizes The Daily Mislead as partisan spin. And, well, I'm afraid I have to take exception to several of the article's arguments.
The first thing I checked can be found under the heading "Bad facts and bad logic": The November 25 Mislead analyzed the situation in Iraq and accused Bush of dishonesty because "President Bush yesterday said that we 'put the Taliban out of business forever' - taking credit for supposedly ridding the world of the terrorist regime." It also spoke of "The President's declarations that the challenges in Afghanistan are over." But in the November 24 speech quoted in the Mislead, Bush made clear that the Taliban is still a threat and that challenges remain in Afghanistan, saying, "We are fighting the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other parts of the world so we do not have to fight them on the streets of our own cities." Bush is clearly acknowledging the continued turmoil in Afghanistan, which consists in part of fighting remnants of the Taliban regime. Actually, he does not talk about the Taliban continuing to be a threat, since that would directly contradict his claim that the Taliban was now "out of business". He does talk about continuing to fight terrorists in Afghanistan, so that part of Ben's argument does hold water, and I also agree with the rest of that section.
Moving up the page, I found this: ...the October 24 Mislead implied that a Bush pledge to crack down on corporate leaders who violate the public trust was broken by an internal memo at military contractor Haliburton, which is obviously not proof of deception by the administration. I have to completely disagree with this statement. The memo shows Halliburton is trying to combat negative publicity by encouraging employees to write letters to the editor; the Daily Mislead argues that the memo's suggested talking points do not seem to be borne out by the facts. Further, the major point of the story is that the Halliburton subsidiary that was awarded the no-bid contract has a history of overbilling - which does seem a contradiction of the President's "aggressive corporate reform agenda" - and SURPRISE is now being accused of overbilling.
[edited for clarity]
More as I update...
:: Deb 6:34 PM :: permalink ::
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