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MyDD: Beltway Journamalism and the Public (4/2/07) by Matt Stoller
Washington Post reporter Jonathan Weisman joins the long list of pundits and journalists who think it's dangerous for Democrats to take positions that are strongly supported by the public. Calling Weisman exceptionally "obvious about what he wants to say and fishing for quotes and sources to help him say it," Stoller debunks his unsupported characterization of Democratic attempts to "quickly close the prison at Guantánamo Bay [and] reinstate legal rights for terrorism suspects" as "politically risky efforts."Note that Weisman supplies no evidence that any of these are politically risky.... A few Google searches leads me to evidence to the contrary. There's this ABC News poll on Guantánamo Bay (which is confirmed here):... "more than 70 percent of Americans oppose imprisoning suspects there indefinitely without charges."... Most of the article is consumed with Weisman quoting insiders discussing how terrorism is scary and how Democrats need to be wary of appearing to knuckle under to terrorists. There is no evidence that the public shares these apprehensions, or that the public has any role in the political process.
Note Weisman's reference to the Democrats' "politically risky efforts to...reinstate legal rights for terrorism suspects." Actually, "terrorism suspects" haven't had their rights taken away from them; everyone lost their rights when the Bush administration declared that they can imprison anyone they want to without trial. The media-promoted notion that rights only protect criminals has contributed greatly to the erosion of these rights.
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