Download Download (h/t Heather)

The fallacy of "balance" in the media drives me nuts. Especially when they pair someone like Phil Donohue up with professional contrarian and annoyance Tucker Carlson, who couldn't come up with a compelling viewpoint to get anyone to watch his own show. Why is it necessary to bring on another point of view on when you have a guest like Donahue, who has spent the better part of the last year working on his documentary, Body of War, appearing to discuss the movie and how he perceives the occupation in Iraq to be going, especially when Carlson can bring no special background or knowledge to the discussion? The concept of honest debate of important issues gets lost in stupid semantic nitpicking ("how can you call Cheney a wimp for getting out of going to Vietnam?") that simply wastes airtime and prevents the public from hearing Donahue's perspective (which it should not have to be pointed out, has been right far more consistently than Carlson has). Luckily, host Dan Abrams gave Donahue the last word:

This war is not fair to the American troops. This war is a massive blunder and we still have people like John McCain who want to throw more young people on the sword because “we have to win, my friends.” What…you know, the way he talks, he’s going to find that last terrorist and go [points finger like a gun] bang! [blows on finger] Boy, I’m glad that’s over! That’s the way they’re talking. This is a nightmare. It is a (sic) endless quagmire that is going to cost more and more American blood while the American people are losing this. They have no focus on Iraq any more and our economy is tanking.