No, You Are Out of Touch Too

One of the more bizarre editorials I have seen lately.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Many awards presentations are accused of being out of touch with the public or even appearing to be popularity contests. But I contend that many of the Pulitzer Prizes, handed out on Monday, accurately reflected the nation's growing discontent with President Bush.

In particular, the awards presented to reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times, Dana Priest of the Washington Post as well as editorial cartoonist as well as editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution could be called a reflection of Bush's declining national approval rating.

How often do you see a Pulitzer given to a pro-Bush, or even pro-current administration writer? Pulitzers are always given to whomever comes up with the biggest scandal of the day, corruption, crime, secret government leaks, drug addicted babies... Real or imagined it makes no difference, but it is hardly a reflection of the popular will. James Risen, the NY Times reporter mentioned above, recently wrote a book on the "NSA wiretapping scandal" called "State of War", which isn't even selling well enough to appear on the bestseller list of his own newspaper. I had the misfortune of reading Dana Priest's "The Mission" last year, a book that universally depicted the US military as incompetent. It is now available used on Amazon.com for $1.65. President Bush is certainly not doing well in the polls lately, but anti-Bush journalists are hardly caught up in a swell of public sentiment.