On The Media

I was steaming listing to Bob's interview with John Miller. "This was not a sales job. We had to show what we had." Oh, really. If this was a complete report, was there a shred of exculpating material in the DOJ presentation? It looked to me like indictment, trial, and conviction without benefit of judge, defense counsel, and cross-examination. Therefore, it was a sales job.

The trouble is we don't have law and politics anymore, we just have sales jobs. Look at the intimates of Nixon, Bush, and Bush and you a pack of PR types.

I was steaming as I listened to Bob's interview with John Miller. Miller says it wasn't a selling job, that DOJ/FBI "had" to present what they had. Was a shred of exculpating material given in that presentation. It looks like indictment, trial, and conviction without judge, defense counsel, and cross-examination. Therefore it was a sales job.

Ever since Nixon brought in PR types as principal staffers, we have seen politics and law devolve into sales.

I thought this was OTM at it's best: Good, tough questions from Bob, and good, tough answers from John Miller, and we (like K.M. Davies) get to decide.

It was refreshing to not have OTM simply call on, say, a reporter from The Nation to say, "Oh, of course you're right, Bob."

Nice job.

I'm a new listener to the show and have so far been very impressed with your coverage. So I was surprised when during the coverage of the FBI's case against Ivins, it was described multiple times as "strong."

If anything, the case is far from strong. It is entirely circumstantial and there has been increasing criticism since their revelation regarding their information, especially the scientific methodology used to trace the anthrax back to the lab in the first place. To me, the circumstantial evidence would not be enough to get a conviction by a longshot. By revealing only limited information, it only makes me question the FBI's motives more. It also seems to me like this is the bigger story in the media's coverage, as it's gradually started to chip holes in the FBI's theory.

In most other respects, the interview was good. However, I expect this kind of additional analysis from OTM and I was disappointed to see what felt like an endorsement of the FBI's case.

In an odd coincidence, CBS aired a repeat episode of Criminal Minds which characteristically begins with a quote from a famous author and the quote the week of Ivins' suicide began, "Suicide is confession....” However, is it or is it a case of law enforcement harassing a suspect to death?

Miller paints a convincing picture but he is a PR specialist, a really authoritative voice of reason. Still, he is also the voice of damage control because, obviously, something has gone woefully wrong with this investigation at every turn and no one will ever be satisfied that it has been successfully completed.