Media Shame (with Update)

Four years ago, our so-called news media knew
that the Swift Boat Veterans Against Kerry were
lying in their now-notorious ads, but pretended
an "objectivity" that allowed them to treat these lies as
a legitimate controversy, which not coincidentally
gave them something hot to flog and increased
their ratings. As a result of this shameful dereliction
of journalistic duty, we lost four more years, thousands of
lives and billions of dollars in Iraq. We almost lost the future.

Now the Republican candidate himself, John McCain,
has approved a TV ad with multiple lies, and with a
few exceptions (Keith and Rachel of course, but also Andrea
Mitchell and Jonathan Alter to a degree), our so-called
journalists are letting him get away with it. Along with
his other lies, mistakes and cover-ups. Another day of
shame for American journalism.

Update: The Washington Post has exposed the McCain
ad lies Tuesday, as has factcheck.org. Marc Ambinder
at the Atlantic blog sees this ad as part of a McShame
campaign trend, and quotes USA Today on an earlier
McCain ad: "Even by the elastic standards of political ads,
this is more than a stretch. It's baloney. It's also a marker
on the path toward the kind of simplistic, counterproductive
demonizing that many expect will poison the fall campaign."