NYT's Nagourney: "I don't know why Nancy Pelosi wants to get involved in a fight with the CIA that is all now about her, questions about her credibility"
As Greg Sargent observed:
Whichever side of the torture debate you're on, it's a simple matter of fact that Nancy Pelosi's claims about what she was told and when about torture are getting far more intense media scrutiny than the CIA's claims are.
Simple fairness demands that both side's claims get treated with a similar level of skepticism. And they're not.
Multiple news accounts this morning report that Pelosi's credibility is in question after yesterday's press conference, in which she accused the CIA of lying about what they told members of Congress about the agency's use of torture. This theme was sounded by MSNBC, WaPo's Dan Balz, the New York Times write-up, and many others.
That's as it should be. But I challenge you to find a news account that stated with equal prominence that the CIA's credibility is also in question.
Let's briefly recap. Three senior Democrats - Pelosi, Bob Graham, and Jay Rockefeller - have all publicly claimed that the CIA didn't brief them about the use of torture in the manner the agency has claimed. Meanwhile, the CIA itself has conceded that its own accounting may not be accurate.
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I protest!
I have no issue with this particular media citation, nor do I protest any particular part of the item, but it's the screenshot that accompanies and heads this item that I protest!
I immediately saw adam nagourney's name in the title to the item, and I was drawn to the item for that reason... but the item is listed under the new category of Clips, and so I know that means I get to watch and see the media misinformation (in addition to just knowing it)...
But adam nagourney is not in the screenshot that heads the item!
I feel cheated...
I mean, if i was going to see the movie "The Creature From The Black Lagoon", not only would I expect to see that creature in the movie, I'd want to see him at the entrance to the movie theater too, on the movie posters and maybe even as a cardboard figure...
I demand that adam nagourney's picture be put on the screenshot of this item!
...every bit as much as I'd demand that I see the face of the Creature From The Black Lagoon, on any advertisement for him and his activities!
Just like Lon Chaney's Phantom, sometimes the anticipation of an uncomfortable wait to actually see the creature adds to the tension that a director wishes to instill in the viewer. By not knowing ahead of time what the creature looks like, the initial reveal of the monster to the other characters allows the viewer to more closely share their experience, and the result is a much more engaging experience.
I have to admit that in this case, the wait was almost unbearable, but the eventual revelation of nagourney was frightening nearly to the point of urination.
That's true, and Lon Chaney is the perfect example: he waited until exactly the perfect suspenseful moment in the film, to wheel around and show point blank his hideous face to the audience!
It was an awesome film moment!
There are some creeps we can wait to see their faces, and others we want our money's worth now upfront in Act One show us the creature's face NOW!
It's like as if you'd seen Lon Chaney's performance in that movie before, many times before, and so you want to skip right to that wheeling around horrific moment in subsequent showings...
I knew ahead of time on this one, what adam nagourney looks like... I wanted to see his face immediately, in the screen shot... I couldn't wait for the Second Act, or the final reel... I wanted to see The Creature From the Black Lagoon NOW right away immediately!
Steven Spielberg's shark too, I want to see it right away, I can't wait!
Come to think of it, put nagourney in a rocking chair, and...
Heck, now that I think about it, the withered dried corpse of Norman's mother, turning about in that chair to confront and scare us in the final reel, is a lot like Lon Chaney doing the same, as the Phantom of the Opera.
One master maybe borrowed from another.
None of whom were present at the briefings in question.