Category: howard kurts

Bang the Frum Slowly

Howie Kurtz is from Brooklyn and he knows a good street fight when he sees one. The Post's media masturbator does his thing this morning on David Frum's role as top bruiser in the righty gangland war over Harriet:

The fratricidal battle, as Frum describes it, goes to the heart of a conservative media establishment that, to outsiders at least, has long seemed to operate with enormous message discipline. But the new dissension raises a host of questions: Does the White House see journalists on the right as being on the team, and punish transgressors by limiting access? Do conservative media folks have a responsibility to challenge Bush when he deviates from their principles -- and if so, why haven't they done it until now? Are former administration officials expected to abide by an unspoken loyalty oath, and how long does it last?

The buzz around town for the last two weeks has been that Frum shouldn't take himself so seriously because no one else does: he left the Bush White House on less than stellar terms and has always had the "insider" status of the lucky nebbish who totes a hot chick to Studio 54.

Yeah, well, this is about as convenient a buzz as the Bush White House would now want to have generated about one of its wayward sons, especially when it's the loyalists who seem to be coming up short of proper explanations for themselves.

Whether friend or foe of Ms. Miers, many conservatives think she's toast before any confirmation hearing. I've heard a weepy "For the good of my country" withdrawal speech played out hypothetically more times than I care to remember this weekend.

So who's to thank or blame for that? --MICHAEL WEISS

On the Right, Caught in the Middle [WaPo]

READ MORE: SCOTUS , conservative faction fight , david frum , harriet miers , howard kurts , media analysis

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