THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Or, more to the point, wants others to seek the answers. In its lead editorial today it urges the Democratic Congress to investigate and find the answers to all our questions about Our Dear Embattled Leader and his evil minions greatest crimes and failures over the last 6 years. The Times, in its best Grande Dame manner, calls for such things as, "We hope Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, enforces the subpoena of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss prewar claims about Saddam Hussein’s long-gone weapons programs." And "It is imperative for Senator John Rockefeller, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, to finish two remaining studies on prewar intelligence that his Republican predecessor,". It is good to hear a call for probing investigations but one point is sadly missing from all of this. Not once does the NYT mention its own failure to investigate many of these same questions. Some investigative reporting by the Times and others, if not finding the answers, could have done much of the initial spadework needed for successful investigations. Nor is there any apology for feeding us instead the lurid, and false, tales of Chalabi's girl Judy or the fatuous fluff of "La Bumiller" and don't get me started on AdNags.

The NYT may be on the right track in calling for answers, but the public also deserves some answer as well. And the best way to get those answers would be for the Times reporters to start doing some real journalism.