Outfoxed: The Memos

You may have heard about Outfoxed, the documentary about the Fox News Channel that said news channel are trying to block or at least discredit. Fresh on the heels of the controversy, the makers of said documentary have released to DC gossip blog Wonkette a nice selection of the memos that were sent out from the top levels of Fox News to the troops, guiding them on the editorial slant they should take. Some of these have been seen before, but some of them are new - and make hard reading:

The president is doing something that few of his predecessors dared undertake: putting the US case for mideast peace to an Arab summit. It's a distinctly skeptical crowd that Bush faces. His political courage and tactical cunning are worth noting in our reporting through the day.

Hogwash. Bush has made nothing more than a token effort towards peace in the Middle East, unlike most of his predecessors. It's obscene to claim that he is to be patted on the back for his "efforts." I mean, before the abortive "roadmap" last year he basically ignored the issue for two years.

The so-called 9/11 commission has already been meeting. In fact, this is the eighth session. The fact that former Clinton and both frmer and current Bush administration officials are testifying gives it a certain tension, but this is not "what did he know and when did he know it" stuff. Do not turn this into Watergate. Remember the fleeting sense of national unity that emerged from this tragedy. Let's not desecrate that.

Right. Let's not trouble our post-9/11 patriotic feelgood hug-a-thon with examining what went wrong or how we could prevent it next time.

Thursday update: the pictures from Abu Graeb prison are disturbing. They have rightly provoked outrage. Today we have a picture -- aired on Al Arabiya -- of an American hostage being held with a scarf over his eyes, clearly against his will. Who's outraged on his behalf?

Well we've been through this argument time and again on this site... Nobody expects terrorists to play nice. People expect better from us. Remember? We're the good guys.