Lick the Boots

What's with NPR lately? Yesterday Melissa Block does a wimpy interview with Fmr. Attorney General Ashcroft on the release of his self-serving book Never Again. Block lets Ashcroft get away with saying Bush is so underappreciated for his overarching committment to the civil liberties and Constitutional protections. She also has no reaction to his statement that his greatest regret not "selling" the Patriot Act more effectively. She never challenges him on kidnapping, renditions, torture--and when she meekly brings up the illegal surveillance program she doesn't even mention FISA courts and how explicit the law was on the need to seek court approval for the spying.

Then today John Hendren (the Pentagon guy at NPR) offers a puff-ball look at Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld who should be in the docket (with Tenet) for crimes according to HRW. Instead what we get is this:

"there is the confidently dismissive Rumsfeld"
"there is the humble Rumsfeld"
"there is the beleagured Rumsfeld swatting away the pesky doubters"

Then we get to hear about Rumsfeld from Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute who says, "if people want him gone they ought to stop criticizing him." The Lexington Institute is one where one featured articles describes Iran as having a "jihadist government" and another article tries to argue that the real secret about Bush is that he is "liberal."

What we dont' hear is what a criminal Rummy is. Instead it's all just accusations and "pesky doubters." Yuck...