Cursor's Media Patrol - 08/25/05

Completing a trifecta, President Bush said in a speech that "So long as I'm the president, we will stay" in Iraq, and a senior U.S. commander "said American planners were preparing for a 'long war' with Islamist militants who may move on from Iraq and Afghanistan if those countries stabilize."

Iraq's draft constitution is called "a time bomb that will explode as soon as it's enacted," and "a recipe for separation based on Shiite and Kurdish privilege."

Referencing two recent columns by Paul Krugman, Robert Parry traces the U.S. media's role in "building a protective cocoon" around the Bush presidency back to Florida in 2000, when "they bent over backwards to concoct hypothetical situations in which George W. Bush might still have won the presidency."

As the homeland popularity gap between two leaders widens, Lloyd Hart uncovers a White House strategy based on 'Turning Chavez Into Noriega,' with a little help from the media.