Paul Krugman Says Nicholas Kristof is 'Wrong'; Media Chose to Ignore Iraq
Paul Krugman just put up a post that's a pointed rebuttal to a statement made by Nicholas Kristof in a blog post of his own today.
Kristof argues that one of the reasons the media snoozed on the pre-invasion Iraq story is because Democrats didn't really attack Republicans on it. Without a fight in Congress, it's a tough story for the media to comprehend.
Krugman responds saying that that premise is "wrong":
Mainly, though, I’d like to question the premise. A majority of Democrats in the House voted against the authorization of force. It’s true that only 21 Democratic Senators voted against, but here’s a list of the “no” voters:
Sens. Akaka (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), Wyden (D-OR).
This doesn’t sound like an obscure group of backbenchers to me.
There were also huge antiwar demonstrations, which received stunningly little coverage.
So this whole business about there not having been a controversy, so the media had nothing to cover, is wrong. There was a controversy — but the news media by and large chose to ignore it.
Krugman has it right. Amazing that Kristoff's memory is so short. Millions marched in the US against the Iraq invasion, while tens of millions marched around the world. The US senatorial line-up against the war held many eloquent heavyweights. The US MSM gave all this opposition short shrift, on TV & in print. The NYTimes was, notoriously, virtually a conduit for the CheneyBushRumsfeld narratives that we now know were utterly false. No apology yet from the NYTimes.
Thankyou, Mr. Krugman, for reminding us of what happened in the pre-war months. The Feb 15th demonstrations in NY City were astounding. Lexington Ave was solid people, chock-a-block, you couldn't move. Cops on scooters tried to get through and there was no room it was so jammed.
Not a photo or a word about it in the NY papers.
I was among the demonstrators, too, and ASTOUNDED that even the NY Times downplayed the actual numbers, and the fervor of the crowds. The media should be ashamed at their complicity in this mess.