AddieStan

You'll recall, mes amis , your blogstress waxing poetic on a most fascinating forum called "Why Media Matters," hosted by David Brock and his watchdog organization, Media Matters for America , and featuring Al Franken, Helen Thomas and Eleanor Clift. As promised, herewith a link to the video highlights .

Your blogstress has gotten weary of the excuses made for Colin Powell, former U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Powell remained in the administration for the entire first term, despite numerous momentous actions by Bush he is said to have opposed. The latest to revisit us is his assertion, reported here by Bloomberg , that he had recommended that the U.S. invasion of Iraq be carried out with many more troops than it was. Why do the media insist on giving this guy a pass, pretending that he acts solely from a place of honor -- a soldier honoring the chain of command? Because Powell appeared to be a moderating force in the administration (he was not), many grew attached to the retired general as evidence that the Bush administration fell short of embodying absolute evil. And after the Viet Nam disgrace, liberals tend to bend over backwards to try to prove their respect for the military. Further, as one of very few African-American generals, he is ad...

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting recently-appointed White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten's stated raison d'être : ''What the change does provide is an opportunity for the White House to step back, refresh, re-energize at a time when we're 5 1/2 years into an administration -- normally a slow point, a low point, in many administrations -- and a chance for us to get our mojo back, to go back more on the offensive and to get people within the White House to look at our operations, re-energize them for the next six months up through the election, the next 1,000 days through the end of this president's term,'' Bolten said. According to the AP, with his appointment of Fox News personality Tony Snow as the new White House Press Secretary, Bolten is considering the elimination of the daily White House press briefing, which has become ritualized in the era of the 24-hour news cycle. The article notes that the briefings throw light on reporters' noto...