Another Example that "Journalists" Need to be Beaten with a ClueBat™

The Heartless Libertarian links to this CNN report from a journalist embedded with the Marines in Falluja.

Read the whole thing, but pay special attention to the part at the bottom where the reporter is dumbfounded by the high morale and the eagerness to go back to the battle exhibited by all the Marines, especially the wounded.

On the same note, Michele whacks Ted Koppel about the head and shoulders with the ClueBat™ for his completely unbiased decision to announce the names of the soldiers killed in Iraq on Nightline Friday night. And of course the date selection has nothing to do with the fact that "Sweeps Month" starts Thursday and ends before memorial day.

That's right, it sweeps month, beginning on Thursday! Do I detect ulterior motives - say something besides altruism and patriotism - from the esteemed Mr. Koppel?

But wait! There's more!

Just what kind of impact is Ted trying to make? From where I sit, it looks like it's the kind of impact designed to fan the flames of anti-war sentiment.

Oh, and if you know of anyone who died in Iraq while defending freedom, but they did not die in actual combat, don't bother waiting up for the name to be read. There's no room for friendly fire or accidents in this sweeps extravaganza.

"I have always felt, and I said it when I was in Iraq last year, that the most important thing a journalist can do is remind people of the cost of war," Mr. Koppel said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Yes, and the most important thing a newscaster can do is to drive home those liberal talking points of hopelessness and defeat.

I'm not asking Koppel to do a two hour piece on Iraqis throwing flowers at the feet of U.S. soldiers. I'm just asking him to be honest in motives, and asking ABC to not take its viewers for idiots.

That's asking a bit much, Michele.

I don't plan to watch it, but if they run something similar on Memorial Day, I might. There's a difference between honoring the dead and using them. And there's a reason morale is high among the Marines in Falluja: They know that despite media and political protestations of "QUAGMIRE!" the majority of Americans support them, and that they're doing the right thing for the right reasons.

Koppel and the leftist media can keep preaching the Vietnam analogy as long as they want. We're not listening. And it's driving them nuts.