The problem with 'journalists'

Peter Beinart penned a column claiming that the GOP is responsible for the rise of terror because the first Bush administration focused too much on state supported terrorism, which caused it to miss the rise of al Qaeda.

Beinart reminds me of Josh Marshall. What drives his columns is polemics. You start from the position that all problems need to be laid at the feet of the GOP, then you go about contructing an argument to do so. That's not reporting, or even editorializing. It's political campaigning.

Reporters report, and sometimes interpret, facts. They're not speech writers. Mickey Kaus is a Democrat. He has opinions and he's a blogger, but he has the sense to realize that you don't win by shining people on and making arguments that don't wash.

The main thing I remember Beinart for was his accusation in TNR that Bush had lied about the Niger yellow cake story to justify going to war in Iraq. No matter that Bush had chosen his words carefully to avoid a false claim and that the Brits stand by their intelligence; Bush was a liar. The problems with that is that fair minded people who read it are likely to figure out that it isn't fair.