Joshua Marshall Upda…
Joshua Marshall Update: Still no word from Talking Points Memo about the CBS panel report on day 3 since it’s release. To TPM, it simply doesn’t exist or is unworthy of even a good snarking. However, in his defense, Josh did at least have the honesty to call those memos what they were; forgeries. (He even got some hate mail from a long time fan of his for noting that. That guy’s probably reading Kos now.)

However, that was Sept. 15, 2004, and not one mention of it since then, and, most notably of course, since the release of the report that put “myopic zeal” into the current vernacular. Instead most of the main page is devoted to determining who belongs to what he calls the “Fainthearted Faction” (Democrats who want to actually do something about the broken Social Security system) or the “Conscience Caucus” (Democrats who think that if it’s broken, why fix it). So I’ve decided to write to Josh and try to find out what the real deal is. Here’s the E-mail (links below are for your benefit, to see what posts I’m talking about):

I’ve noticed that Talking Points Memo hasn’t yet commented on the report from the panel investigating the CBS story on Bush’s National Guard service record. I don’t quite understand how such a big media story like this has dropped below your radar, especially since you did do the digging and found the time to comment on how a radio station in Brattleboro, Vermont dropped Rush Limbaugh for Air America.

Aren’t you concerned that this “myopic zeal” may be more widespread than this report suggests? Don’t you care about the accuracy of what the mainstream media reports as long as it’s bad for conservatives? I do give you credit for calling the memos what they were–forgeries–and taking heat from some fans of yours. That showed a glimmer of intellectual honesty, but that was 4 months ago. The panel’s report is big news for a media company that trades on its “objectivity”. Is that 200+ page report not worth at least -briefly- commenting on?

When the story first broke you were asking questions, looking into things, reproducing interview transcripts. You said there were a lot of outstanding questions about Bush’s record. However, when you came to the point on 9/15/04 that you thought the memos were forgeries, you stopped saying anything about the entire TANG story, let alone CBS’s irresponsible actions covering it. There are a number of possible explanations for this. Could this be a case of fear that the charge of a systemic liberal bias in the media could be true? Could this be a case of indifference to sloppy reporting against conservatives? Could this be a case of denial that anything is really wrong? Your unwillingness to even touch on this doesn’t speak well for you.

Given their reactions to this report, I consider Atrios and Kos “blind partisans” who can’t or won’t take an honest look at things that may put the Left in a bad light. Are you one of them?

Stay tuned.

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