LAT editorializes on NIE

LAT editorial writers can't decide what to say about the NIE and Iran except that Bush and Cheney are bad. The LAT takes all sides on the issue and at one point says Bush is correct, but that was both before and after they said he was wrong.

NIE on Iran

The LAT has a piece in today's newspaper, by lined Greg Miller, on the intelligence agencies' flip flop on Iran. It's based mostly on anonymous sources so it's any one's guess how reliable it is. Still, it doesn't appear to be biased in any particular direction. It does leave the impression that the intelligence agencies don't know which end is up. One source in the piece said the recent report may be an indication of a pendulum swing, from overstatement of threats during the lead up to the Iraq war to understatement now. If that's the case, the NIE may be worthless. Whatever happened within the agencies, the flip flop does not inspire confidence in the NIE.

Levey is back

The LAT's Noam Levey, Democrat propagandist-in-chief, absent recently, alleges this morning in the newspaper that Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility while Republicans are the party of tax cuts. True in part but mostly untrue. Democrats hardly ever reduce spending and, in fact, consistently argue for government to do more, which means that government under Democrats has a constant need to raise taxes. Republicans, historically, have pushed for government to do less, to leave people alone, to stay out of there lives as much as possible. Republicans believe that government takes too big a chunk of people's income. It naturally follows that Republicans would push for lower taxes.

Negotiations on the AMT triggered Levey's piece. The AMT should never have been in the tax statutes. Most people agree with that. It could be argued that the federal government has been collecting an unlawful tax since 1969 -- well, perhaps not unlawful but surely mistaken. It should simply stop doing that -- collecting the AMT. If that means that expenditures must be reduced to prevent further increasing the deficit then Congress should get busy. The Democrats always argue for increases in taxes to offset the reduced revenue after AMT reform. Stalemate results and the AMT lives on.

LAT pro-Obama, anti-Giuliani

The LAT editorializes this morning about a supposed e-mail campaign that charges Barack Obama is a closet Muslim. It claims that Fox News repeated a false report that Obama once attended for four years in Indonesia a madrasa, or Islamic school. The LAT claims it knows the report is false because CNN said it is. But CNN has a reputation for false reporting.

In a separate editorial, the LAT argues that Rudolph Giuliani stretches the truth. The LAT knows this because the NYT said so. But the NYT is just as biased as CNN and the LAT.

On bloggers

The O.C. Register's Commentary section today has a piece by a guest columnist named Peter Sheer that argues bloggers ought to reveal themselves instead of posting anonymously. The writer has a point but misses another: It's dangerous to reveal yourself. Who's to say an angry reader won't hunt you down and try to kill you? Many years ago that might have been unthinkable. Nowadays, it's a reality.

LAT on Huckabee

In an apparent shift in tactics, the LAT reports today on Mike Huckabee, another GOP presidential candidate, and has some good words about him, like he's not a real Republican because some of his ideas are not reactionary.

LAT praises GOP presidential candidate, finally

Today, the LAT finally has some good things to say about a GOP presidential candidate. But it's Ron Paul, the candidate least likely to win the GOP nomination. The LAT must have felt safe.