Lies Of Brian, Part Two

By Miss Kubelik

One of the aspects of the Brian Williams saga that irritates us cats the most is that the transgression that kicked off his scandal last week dates from the fraudulent Iraq invasion of 2003.

We will never forget (or forgive) the media joining the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived's rah-rah "Mission Accomplished" club. While we can understand politicians getting boxed in by the Bush/Cheney rhetoric, for the press there are no excuses. If they don't do their jobs, all is lost. In 2003 and beyond, they didn't do their jobs.

And the more we read about Brian Williams and his behavior over the years, the more repugnant it becomes. It seems that Brian has a childish yearning to play soldier himself — not just inflating his stories but nauseatingly adopting Pentagon-speak ("RPGs," "our bird," "some four-star") in his reports and appearances to imply he's one of the boys, the king of derring-do. He even told Jon Stewart, "Any time you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me."

This gives us the cheaps. We understand that current news anchors and reporters do not have a World War II to get killed in, or a Vietnam War to call bullshit on and also get killed in. But to cheer on the Iraq invasion, barely cover the nonexistence of WMDs, and go on to pretend to be some sort of military he-man is just revolting — especially when so many journalists (who don't get paid $10 million a year) are in real danger around the world today.

Murrow boys like Walter Cronkite understood that you're either a newsman or a celebrity. A reporter or a stenographer. You can't be both. We cats hack up a hairball in Brian Williams's perfect hair, and then we HISS.

(PHOTO: No computer. No smartphone. Just a spiral notebook and a nose for obfuscation, hypocrisy and mendacity. We miss you, Walter.)