You and the rest of the main stream have timed things well. Let the President rise a bit, then flood the airwaves and papers with bad news. Leave anything positive about the war on terrorism on deep, inside pages in 2-point print. Let Kerry make a great comeback.

No, Mr. Fineman, the President doesn’t sound desperate. He sounds like a candidate. He sounds full-throated and eager. His pathetic performance in debate one–so reminiscent of his dad’s in debate 2 in 1992–woke him.

CBS News is reporting that someone in Iraq was casing American elementary schools for God knows what hideous reason. The information is on disks confiscated this summer in Baghdad. There’s the Saddam-Terror connection.

The time of your story is interesting. With three weeks and two debates remaining, and Kerry tied at best, it seems that Kerry, not the President, is in trouble. I think Kerry peaked on Wednesday of this week. We shall see.

Nonetheless, you have practically admitted that MSNBC’s editorial decisions are determined by what hurts the President: “Good things are happening in the war on terrorism — the voting in Afghanistan, for example — but they are all but unnoticed in the rising flood of stories from and about Iraq.”

Don’t think the blogosphere will ignore your confession.

Cordially,
Bill Hennessy

Hennessy's View

Open Letter to Howard Fineman

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