Iraq - Journalist Replies To Memory Hole

Last week I posted about the media's memory hole when it comes to Iraq. I was posting about this article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch by Sylvester Brown Jr. wherein he stated "I don't recall any prewar speeches about delivering democracy to the Middle East." In that post I said this:

Notice Brown is clever enough to say "I don't recall" and not pronounce that there were none. Brown either has a terrible memory or, more likely, he has a selective memory and wants to promote the Democrats "Bush lied" theme.

In addition to the post I emailed Brown, noted my concerns and gave him several links to speeches where Bush indeed spoke about "delivering democracy to the Middle East". Today I recieved a reply from Mr. Brown.

Sounds to me like you want us to buy into the Democrats ?Bush lied? lies. I notice you say ?I don?t recall?. Ever hear of Google, Mr. Brown?

I'm not asking you to buy into any Democratic mind set. If you noticed I said, "I don't recall," why are you suggesting I use Google. "Don't recall" means don't recall, don't remember. It doesn't mean "I couldn't find" or "there's no record." Perhaps if you stop letting "Instapundit" do your thinking, you'd see there's no logic in your insult. Oh, and by the way, Bush pushed the war based on Saddam's WMDs not "delivering democracy in the Middle East." -- SBJ

Here is my reply back to Mr. Brown:

Thanks for replying Mr. Brown.

I predicted on my blog on April 15th that you used “Don’t recall” as a clever cover for a selective memory.

“Notice Brown is clever enough to say "I don't recall" and not pronounce that there were none. Brown either has a terrible memory or, more likely, he has a selective memory and wants to promote the Democrats "Bush lied" theme.”

I suggested you use Google to refresh your memory, it’s called research – something Bloggers do and journalist used to do.

Bush gave several highly visible speeches giving his reasons for going to war in Iraq, including one at the UN - WMDs were just one of those reasons. You would have us believe that a journalist who opposes the President and the war in Iraq did not watch that speech, as well as the others, and did not read the transcripts in intimate detail. Further, you would have us believe that you “don’t recall” the world’s most powerful man speaking about his reasons (note the plural) for taking the world’s only superpower to war. Put simply Mr. Brown, we don’t believe you. That is called credibility – something journalists used to have.

Oh, and by the way, if you read the examples of Bush’s speeches I sent you, you will see that Bush did indeed push “delivering democracy in the Middle East”.

In a remarkable display of how out of touch you are, you asked this question in your email to Instapundit:

“When did the United States become the chief exporter of democracy to the Arab world?”

That would be 9/11 Mr. Brown, 9/11.

Now I put it to you, as someone so out of touch, with such a bad memory, poor research skills, poor reading skills and no credibility, is journalism really the right career for you?

One more thing Mr. Brown, as this email attests, I’m quite capable of reading, researching and thinking on my own and I’m just a blogger.

Sincerely,

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