Doug Ross @ Journal

Bloodsport: Humiliating the Mainstream Media

Just when you thought the MSM couldn't possibly do any more damage to itself... in their zeal to find something, anything, with which to humiliate the President, AP and CNN are reporting that a US soldier has been captured by insurgent forces. Ooops, make that... a GI Joe doll has been captured. By fake insurgents. Holding a tiny, plastic M-16 rifle. With a backdrop composed of something that suspiciously resembles clip-art.

What do we get from the MSM? The proud traditions of Murrow, Cronkite and Rather? The legacy of careful news-gathering, analysis, editing and publishing? The crack investigative journalists, vetting every lead and running down every angle?

No, we get "fake, but accurate" memos and a freaking GI Joe Doll being held hostage in a toy store in Sheboygan. You know, it's not just the bloggers that are better news sources than the MSM these days. It's about anyone with a lick of common sense.

Taranto: "A group calling itself the Al Mujahedin Brigade claimed Tuesday it captured a U.S. soldier in Iraq and threatened to behead him unless prisoners are released," CNN reports from Baghdad. But some have raised doubts about the authenticity of a photo posted on an Islamist Web site: In the photograph, the assault rifle--either an M-16 or an M-4--is pointed at the man's head, said CNN military analyst James Marks. Marks, a retired Army general, said he has several questions about the photograph's authenticity. A flak jacket the man is wearing in the picture has an unfamiliar kind of piping or trim along its edges, Marks said. The man's open-legged pants, as opposed to gathered hems, seem odd, he said. Marks also questioned what appeared to be camouflage paint on the man's face. "We have not used camo paint with conventional forces serving in Iraq," Marks said. Based on the photos the Drudge Report has uncovered, we'd say this looks like the work of the archterrorist Muhammad al-Sluggo.

You read that last part right... in another shocking development, Mr. Bill also appears to have been taken hostage.

Bloodsport: Humiliating the Mainstream Media

Update: Rumor has it that the Senior Bloviating Moonbat from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Teddy Jo Kennedy, issued a statement *hic* condemning the capture of "Joe". He also promised to use every available means to convince the president to withdraw US troops from Iraq, within the next 30 days, in order to secure Joe's release.

Stop the presses, we have a Second Update: the AP and Al Jazeera are reporting that a US operative may have captured Osama Bin Laden. This grainy photograph is the only evidence thus far, but both AP and AJ are running with the story.

Third Update: One astute reader indicates that this news is exceedingly bad: it means Al Qaeda has linked up with C.O.B.R.A.!