Cenk Uygur: I think that, you know, one of the things that has not been discussed enough in this McClellan issue is, and these revelations, is the press' role. He said the press is an enabler here, but one thing we have not seen is a lot of mea-culpa from the press.
Michael Hirsh: Absolutely. Absolutely. No, I mean, that's, you know, I was inspired to write that. Because McClellan, I mean of all people Scott McClellan, the human punching bag, a zealous Bush advocate, as you can see now because of this sense of betrayal by his former colleagues in the White House you can hardly believe what he came out and wrote. But, you know, he himself has come and out and said, "You know what, this was a bad idea. This Iraq War was a misconceived strategy." And yes, you have these very prominent gentleman, and sometimes ladies of the press who have not been able to make an equivalent mea-culpa. And I point out that in my case, in my article, you know, I think example number one has got to be Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, who embraced what he called "a war of choice," which, you know, in my view is just the euphemism for a war crime. And he's never been held accountable for it. He continues to go from success to success, and best seller to best seller. And I find that somewhat astonishing. I mean, it's quite clear, it should be by now, that he had no idea what he was talking about. And, so, you know it's a little bit ironic to have Scott McClellan having made that journey, you know, to recognizing his errors, and yet we can't get these very prominent pundits. And to say, this is not just a matter of correcting the historical record, it's also a question of getting the debate in the country right. I mean, if a few more of these prominent pundits had stepped up and said, "You know what, we all got the war on terror wrong," people might be a little bit more clear in their own minds now why they think the Iraq War was a bad idea. Polls show that they do, but a lot of people still aren't sure why.
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