Open Season on the War

The Bush public relations offensive notwithstanding, Howard Kurtz asks in today's Washington Post: "Have the media declared war on the war?" Now that most of the public agrees with the sense that the Iraqi war has become, at best, highly misguided or even an impeachable aggression against another country that has resulted in perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths, Kurtz surmises that we've reached a turning point that may be difficult for the Bushies to fight against. "What is undeniable," he writes, "is that the tone of much of the coverage matches the public-opinion polls showing that a majority of the country has turned against the conflict."

Will this be enough for Americans to support more aggressive reporting and journalism that ultimately could end the disaster and perhaps even remove Bush from office? It's unlikely. Americans don't like Bush now. But they may also hate the press with even more venom.