Posted 7:00 AM by Blah blah

Comedian Adam Felber: My Favorite Warblog

Heard this witty and funny show on National Public Radio, called Wait Wait---Don't Tell Me! (you may listen to the show here on RealPlayer). They have a bunch of smart, articulate, and funny people who play a quiz show about the current news. People who actually need to know what's happening in the world, for a game show. What a concept! I love it.

One of the panelists is Adam Felber. According to NPR, he "writes and performs for screens of all sizes and resolutions, and spends almost every night on some stage or another. He comprises exactly one half of the Irwin Smalls Trio, a sketch comedy duo. His writing credits include PBS' Wishbone, and his first screenplay, Women Are From, is currently in development at Paramount/MTV Films. Felber has been improvising comedy all over the world for the past 15 years, but he can quit any time he wants to."

Adam writes this blog, Fanatical Apathy. I've been sick of all the deadly serious, Christian conservative, right-wing Republican blogs out there that seem to dominate most of the shrill discussion about this war. Oh my God---Adam is a breath of fresh air. He's not only witty and sharp about the news, but he's MISCHIEVOUS and FUNNY, like Jon Stewart is on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Adam is my new favorite warblog!

He writes, and I love this post:
__________________
Journalism

I'd thought that the blogosphere was going to be a great place to keep track of the war and follow the debate over its coverage, a place where the actual events in Iraq would be dissected for their political and tactical ramifications. Unfortunately, it looks like the Hour of the Blog has passed, with its finest hour (the fall of Trent Lott) now a footnote.

The problem is that many of the so-called "warblogs" simply won't come to the table. Even the flagships of the genre, like Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit and Andrew Sullivan's site seem to be laboring under the weird delusion that the real war is being fought right here in America. They spend their days constructing bizarre longhaired straw men and knocking 'em down with a level of high-handed rhetorical smugness not seen since the Clinton impeachment hearings.

This would be a great service to our country if their cowardly and irrational foes actually existed, or existed as anything larger than a handful of left-fringe freaks. To the warbloggers, the entire anti-war movement is under the misapprehensions that Saddam isn't such a bad guy, that appeasement was the only answer, and (most bizarrely) that America is not going to win this war. Taking easy potshots at these caricatures is their daily focus, fulminating against these phantom anti-American forces, gloating that they'll get what's a-comin' to 'em.

The mainstream right simply refuses to engage in any sort of dialog with the mainstream left, so you'll see little rational discussion of diplomacy's failure, the consequences of over-selling America's military might, the strategy and timetable for war, or the risks inherent in presenting the Islamist world with a single, easily-identifiable target. Perhaps the taxing requirements of daily writing makes fighting cartoon foes the easiest strategy, but the internet's conservatives seem to have alarmingly little interest in the reality of a pro-American left. And only passing interest in the war itself.

For an antidote to this and a look at how blogging on the war ought to be done, drop by Atrios' worthy Eschaton. Note the prevalence of entries about the war and analyses of mass media's coverage thereof. If the pro-unilateralist right could muster up a few guys to deal in this arena, it'd be a boon to all of us. But I suppose that reading and analyzing just isn't as easy and fun as sneering.

The Little Three

CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC are (of course) locked in a struggle for the hearts and minds of concerned Americans, and their daily contortions to find the precise combination of reportage and bias that'll bring in the Nielsens is a glory to behold. The most horrifyingly amusing bloodsport is the hourly race to find the most telegenic relative of an American POW and see if they can moved to tears before the other networks get there. Here's your handy Viewers' Guide:

CNN - "Do you like victims? So do we! Wounded folks on both sides of the battle lines, the families of the dead, the grim tolling of the bell that signifies the awful costs of war... we got 'em right here! Weep along with ever-slower and ever-sadder Aaron Brown (why, sometimes he's too Deeply Affected to even speak!) every night, and keep your clicker on the network that brought you Gulf War I. CNN - We Know War."

Fox News - "Smirk if you got 'em, boys! The technology of 2003 plus the zeitgeist of 1956 equals battlefield boffo! Watch Real American Brit Hume make the simple even simpler for you, and thrill as our men stick it to those Rooskis - er - Iraqis. Don't miss our nightly serious, fair, balanced debate forum, "Screaming at Faggy Eggheads." Fox News - We Report, You Tie 'Em Up and Drag 'Em Behind Your Truck."

MSNBC - "What chance do our primitive foes have against our technical superiority and highly-trained elite forces? We're talking, of course, about CNN and Fox - they don't stand a chance! If you want to hear all about how we're covering the war better than those guys, you've come to the right place! We provide 24 hours a day of the the best, most balanced coverage of our great coverage. How did we get an HDTV feed with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound onto the front of an American tank outside Basra? Find out! MSNBC - the REAL winner of the second Gulf War."