Lost on Downing Street?

Robert Parry at Consortium News throws a wet blanket on the Downing Street Activists fire. He finds it a lost cause.

If American progressives think they have enough media clout to make a real issue of George W. Bush’s possible impeachment over the Iraq War, they should read the account of Rep. John Conyers’s rump hearing on the Downing Street Memo that appeared in the Washington Post.

He goes on to make his point using the tragic case of Gary Webb's expose on the CIA and Drugs to illustrate how the "Right" has developed their echo chamber into a forceful media machine that squelches any meaningful news that could derail their agenda. Their tactics aren't pretty.

Those of us who have covered Washington for years have seen the pattern before. A group without sufficient inside-the-Beltway clout tries to draw attention to a scandal that the Post and other prestigious news arbiters have missed or gotten wrong. After ignoring the grievances for a while – and sensing that the complainers have no real muscle – the news arbiters start heaping on the abuse.

It's a good point and his analysis is on target.

Certainly, any thoughts about impeaching Bush are little more than pipedreams given the reality of today’s national media. In that sense, the Post’s attacks on the Downing Street Memo hearing should serve as a splash of cold water in the face of the American Left.

While Web sites and progressive talk radio have helped puncture the image of Bush’s invulnerability, a much broader media infrastructure would be needed if issues, such as the Iraq deceptions, are to be forced consistently into the national debate.

Nonetheless, I think perhaps Parry is surrendering before the battle is even waged. The Left may be late in learning the lesson but we're quick studies on this side of the fence. It's a testimony to our newly acquired effectiveness that the Downing Street story is still alive after six weeks of concentrated effort on the noise machine's side to squelch it, first with indifference and now derision. Don't write us off yet.