And I am being kind in the title only because I didn't want to write, "Fucking Ignorant, Arrogant Motherfucking Jackass."
Having just watched the Bill Moyers documentary, Buying the War, I was reminded why I despise so-called "liberal hawks" like Beinart.
(For those viewing the video, Beinart's primary comments occur about three-quarters of the way through Part 4.)
Moyers exposes Beinart for the asshole he truly is in this documentary. No one -- and I mean no one -- comes off looking worse in this indictment of the mainstream media's performance in the run-up to the war than Beinart.
And that's saying something because there are certainly plenty of bad actors in this story...
(more)
Beinart's stammering, deer-in-the-headlights performance in this interview tells you all you need to know about just what a bunch of hollow, spineless, cowardly asswipes the "liberal hawks" really are.
I am posting the transcript, but simply reading the words does not do the interview justice. Moyers, in his inimitable, quiet way, pins Beinart to the carpeting like a drosophila pinned to a poster board for a grade school science project.
Here is the transcript from Moyers interview with Beinart:
PETER BEINART: (CNN 4/29/02) I mean, I really think the reason the United States has a bad reputation in the Arab world is that we have been on the side of dictatorships. We've been on the side of very corrupt, very backward governments.
BILL MOYERS: Peter Beinart became editor of THE NEW REPUBLIC at age 28. During the run-up to the invasion he was one of the hottest young pundits in town, a liberal hawk, accusing opponents of the war of being "intellectually incoherent" and echoing the official line that Hussein would soon possess a nuclear weapon.
PETER BEINART: (CNN 4/29/02) We need a little bit of logistical support, but we don't need the moral support of anyone, because we're on the side of the angels in this.
BILL MOYERS: Had you been to Iraq?
PETER BEINART: No.
BILL MOYERS: So what made you present yourself, if you did, as-- as-- as a Middle East expert?
PETER BEINART: I don't think that I presented myself as a Middle East expert per se. I was a political journalist. I was a-- a columnist writing about all kinds of things. Someone in my-- in my position is not a Middle East expert in the way that somebody who studies this at a university is, or even at a think tank. But I consumed that stuff.
I was relying on people who did that kind of reporting and people who had been in the government who had-- who had access to classified material for their assessment.
BILL MOYERS: And you would talk to them and they would, in effect, brief you, the background on what they knew?
PETER BEINART: Sometimes, but--
BILL MOYERS: I'm trying to help the audience understand. How does-- you described yourself as a political-- a reporter of political opinion, or a journalist--
PETER BEINART: Yeah.
BILL MOYERS: --political opinion. How do you-- how do you get the information that enables you to reach the conclusion that you draw as a political journalist?
PETER BEINART: Well, I was doing mostly, for a large part it was reading, reading the statements and the things that people said. I was not a beat reporter. I was editing a magazine and writing a column. So I was not doing a lot of primary reporting. But what I was doing was a lot of reading of other people's reporting and reading of what officials were saying.
BILL MOYERS: If we journalists get it wrong on the facts what is there to be right about?
PETER BEINART: Well I think that's a good point, but the argument in the fall of 2002 was not mostly about the facts it was about a whole series of ideas about what would happen if we invaded.
BILL MOYERS: What I'm trying to get at is how does the public sort all of this out from out there beyond the beltway. Far more people saw you, see Bill Kristol on television, than will ever read the Associated Press reports or the Knight Ridder reporters. Isn't there an imbalance then on what the public is going to perceive about a critical issue of life and death like, like war.
PETER BEINART: I think it's important for people, look, would it be better if television were not the primary medium through which people got their news? Yes. That's why I'm not, I do television, but I'm primarily in the business of writing and editing because I believe ultimately that words can convey more, richer information than television. Wouldn't we be a better society if people got most of their news from print rather than television, yes I think we would.
How laughable. "Words can convey more."
Not your words, asshole. You spent most of your words attacking the very people who knew better than you did that what the administration was peddling was pure, unadulterated bullshit.
I knew better and I am not a journalist. But I could read. And I knew the history of PNAC and the neocons.
Yeah, I know, Beinart is "repentant" now.
Too fucking late, Pete. How many people have died as a result of assholes like you? And guess what? None of those dead people are coming back. So your "repentance" doesn't mean jack fucking shit to the families of the folks gone forever.
What is particularly repugnant about assholes like Beinart is that they attacked their own side. The George Wills of the world have always been the lapdogs of Republican administrations. Idiots like Bill Kristol and Richard Perle never made any secret of their insane, misguided dreams of overthrowing regimes in Iraq, Iran and Syria.
But they loved having guys like Beinart on their team; guys who would tear down the war's opponents from the inside, demonizing and name-calling those who saw through the lies.
And what price did an ignorant fucking jackass like Peter Beinart pay for being so horribly wrong on Iraq? I'll let Bill Moyers tell you:
BILL MOYERS: It's true, so many of the advocates and apologists for the war are still flourishing in the media.
Bill Kristol and Peter Beinart, for example, are now regular contributors to TIME magazine, which has been laying off dozens of reporters.
It's called "falling up."
And I feel like throwing up... all over Peter Beinart.
So to you, Pete, I quote our esteemed Vice President:
Go fuck yourself.
Being wrong on the biggest issue of our time disqualifies you from having anything worthwhile to add going forward, whether you've apologized or not.
Sorry. In this case, I'm not into forgiveness. I can remember the name-calling.
Go watch the series if you haven't. It's a great piece that should be required viewing at every journalism school in the nation.
And it makes the best case ever for breaking up the major media conglomerates/monopolies that put profit and regulatory favor ahead of getting to the truth.
The same media conglomerates/monopolies that fire real reporters in favor of know-nothing, motherfucking jackasses like Peter Beinart.