People Like Us
Nov 27th, 2006 at 3:26 pm by Susie
I’m happy to see Glenn Greenwald deconstruct the whole media fascination with Jane Harman, because I’ve been too stressed and distracted to spell out what he said. He concludes:
There is nothing “credible” about Harman. Yes, she is smart and knowledgeable, but she has been wrong about everything that matters, particularly in the intelligence area. But she was wrong in exactly the same way that the Beltway geniuses and The New Republic and David Broder and Fred Hiatt were wrong. For that reason, they don’t want her to be repudiated and rejected because that would constitute a repudiation and rejection of them. So they build up and glorify the “credible,” responsible Harman because she represents them, and they hate Pelosi in advance for rejecting Harman for being wrong about everything because they feel rejected by that choice.
As a result, Pelosi and her opposition to Harman have to be belittled and removed from the substantive arena. Harman supported the most disastrous strategic decision in our nation’s history and repeatedly defended the administration’s worst excesses. That ought to be disqualifying on its face. But the Beltway media are guilty of the same crimes, so they want to pretend that Harman — just like Steny Hoyer — did nothing wrong and the only reason not to anoint her to her Rightful Place is because of petty, womanly personality disputes that have no place in the public arena.
For the same reason, they decree that Pelosi must prove that she’s a “responsible” and serious leader. How does she do that? By embracing the Beltway establishment types, including those — especially those — who have been so wrong about so many things.
That’s why the media has taken such an intense interest in the otherwise mundane matter of who will be House Majority Leader and House Intelligence Chair. Jane Harman, like Steny Hoyer, is the symbol of official Washington, the broken, rotted, corrupt Washington that propped up this war and enabled this administration in so many ways. Pelosi has to prove that she’s one of them, or else suffer the consequences of being mauled and scorned.
God, I hate these fucking people. Reading the news these days is very hard on an aspiring bodhisattva…
Another thing about Jane Harman is she caved to AIPAC under their threat of withdrawal of support and is now a staunch supporter of the two guys accused of receiving and passing on intelligence from Franklin about Iran to AIPAC.
[...] I don’t know about you, but I need to breathe into a paper bag after just reading that paragraph. I can’t imagine how Glen felt after writing it. And there’s much more such prose at the link, all of it equally electrifying. Meanwhile, feeding Jane Harman - the Democratic alternate to disgraced federal judge and current Congressman Alcee Hastings - into the wood chipper receives the grateful approbation from all around the left-hand side of the blogosphere. [...]