I have done occasional dive bombings of what the Telegraph wrote when the war was going well; but of course the standard of jingoistic hubris on American television is immeasurably higher. These quotes — not just from Fox, but CNN, PBS, Washington Post reporters — actually do a great deal to explain how we got into this disaster. Here is the USA talking to itself in the voice of a ten year old boy showing off in the playground. One treasure among many — a television host on the First of May 2003:
“We’re proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who’s physical, who’s not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who’s president. Women like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It’s simple. We’re not like the Brits.”
(picked up from Rafe Colburn’s link blog )