Friday, February 25, 2005
About Putin and Bush, Pots and Kettles, Beams and Motes
Yesterday Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin met in Slovakia. After a meeting between the two presidents, Mr. Bush made a speech to the people of Slovakia and to the world in which he extolled the virtues and benefits of democracy. In particular, he celebrated the freedom and independence of the American press and implicitly questioned whether Russian journalists have the same freedom and independence as that enjoyed by American journalists.
Today, to emphasize my point about pots calling kettles black, the Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece by Jonathan Chait, “George Bush’s Stepford Critics,” in which Mr. Chait cites several individuals who made critical statements about Bush and the administration’s policies, then recanted them the next day. The implication is that the Bush administration was able to exert effective pressure on them to make them recant and to utter statements that were the opposite of their principles. To read the article, go to latimes.com and click on “Op-Ed.”
My opinion is that Mr. Bush is in a poor position to criticize the Russians for failures to achieve the highest ideals of democracy and openness in news reporting.
Today, to emphasize my point about pots calling kettles black, the Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece by Jonathan Chait, “George Bush’s Stepford Critics,” in which Mr. Chait cites several individuals who made critical statements about Bush and the administration’s policies, then recanted them the next day. The implication is that the Bush administration was able to exert effective pressure on them to make them recant and to utter statements that were the opposite of their principles. To read the article, go to latimes.com and click on “Op-Ed.”
My opinion is that Mr. Bush is in a poor position to criticize the Russians for failures to achieve the highest ideals of democracy and openness in news reporting.
