Something strange is going on here

in the early morning on Tuesday, the 1st of March 2005 by Chad

Looking around the skies finally nails it. There are less birds in the air.

Crows in particular. Because it looks like the New York Times has had to eat a lot of them.

Captain’s Quarters says it best, as usual:

The New York Times editorial board must have experienced considerable pain when they opined today on the momentum building throughout Southwest Asia for democratization. After all, after deriding the Bush administration for two years over its “neocon” strategies designed to do exactly what we now see, the board had to publish this:

Still, this has so far been a year of heartening surprises - each one remarkable in itself, and taken together truly astonishing. The Bush administration is entitled to claim a healthy share of the credit for many of these advances. It boldly proclaimed the cause of Middle East democracy at a time when few in the West thought it had any realistic chance. And for all the negative consequences that flowed from the American invasion of Iraq, there could have been no democratic elections there this January if Saddam Hussein had still been in power.

Of course you never know how the future will turn out… That is just impossible, unless you are really damn good with Tarot cards (like me!)
But attitude does count for a lot. And when you are a semi-major newspaper, some people tend to think your opinion is important for some strange reason. Why, I don’t know. I despise newspapers as a rule. Too insulated from the real world. Whenever they go around sticking microphones in peoples faces they aren’t talking to people, they’re interrogating them. But their negative attitude on the world is a shame.
They can balance out expectations and hopes maybe, or just have a wider range of opinion writers. But what happens is that all their writings must meet the the official angle, approved by commitee.
They need to change. Content shouldn’t be editorially regulated, just quality. Unfortunately they typically have it backwards.