Peter Daou

05.14.2006

As Reporters Suck Up, Laura Bush Slaps Them Down

As reporters continue to suck up to the White House, Laura Bush slams the press and denies the polls: "First lady Laura Bush said on Sunday she does not believe opinion polls showing her husband's approval ratings at record low levels.... Mrs. Bush complained that when her husband's popularity was high, newspapers did not put that on the front page.

Now it was low, they took great delight in highlighting the fact. Asked if she thought the media had been unfair, Mrs. Bush said: "No, I don't think it's necessarily unfair. I think it's just, you know, I think they may be enjoying this a little bit."

Laura Bush's remarks are par for the course for any rightwinger. Attacking the media is second only to demonizing liberals in the rightwing playbook. Facts don't matter. Laura could refresh her memory by reading Eric Boehlert's Lapdogs or Media Matters' description of the fawning coverage of Bush's aircraft carrier photo-op.

Recently I've been writing about the dangers of being lulled by Bush's Nixonian poll numbers, arguing that those who think the media will stop brown-nosing are in for a rude awakening.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/a...