SmithAntics

More bang-on-the-money media analysis from Eric Alterman:

The group of liars and miscreants who make up Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were able to dominate the news and possibly turn the tide of the election despite offering false information against a decorated war hero, to support two war-avoiders who let others fight and die for a cause they professed to support, for two reasons. The first is the existence of an ideological movement that masquerades as a respectable segment of the media. This mass movement is dedicated to preserving power for the combination of wealthy corporate executives, religious fundamentalists and neoconservative ideologues who make up the Bush Administration's base, with little, if any, regard for the truth of its arguments. Its members include Fox News talking heads like Brit Hume, who said, "There's a thread here that one might trace through the criticisms of John Kerry and his behavior, even in this campaign, and that is the sense of somebody who is an absolutely incorrigible opportunist"; embittered Republican politicians turned pundits like Bob Dole, who claimed, "He's got himself into this wicket now where he can't extricate himself because not every one of these people can be Republican liars"; traitorous political operatives who masquerade as pundits, like Robert Novak, who termed the Swift Boat liars "the real patriots to rise to the surface this election year"; and is rounded out by Matt Drudge, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Washington Times and other right-wing apparatchiks.

But, second, to point exclusively to the dishonest machinations of the right-wing media would be to miss the significance of the so-called liberal media (SCLM). Their willingness to treat scurrilous slander as mere "politics as usual" abdicates the most fundamental responsibility of journalism: to ascertain, as best as one can, just what the truth of a given situation may be.