Katherine Graham

who I greatly admire, is turning over in her grave. The Washington Post is my local paper, a paper I have read ever since I was a tiny tot. I started reading it before I went to elementary school. I was a scary kid. Ms. Graham led the newspaper for three decades. She personally made the decision to publish The Pentagon Papers. She allowed two young reporters to follow a thread beginning with tape over a door latch and ended with the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Over the past decade, but accelerating since Mr. Bush took the presidency, I have increasingly mourned the days when the newspaper that I used to count on became a tool of the right. While fine journalists remain, the editorial page is despicable. I have bitterly complained to anyone who would listen, but most folks, remembering the halcydon days, wave me off. Today Armando at Kos noticed too. Yes, Armando, WaPo has been an arm of Bush & Co. for some while now.

He points to an editorial today entitled Dangerous Days. Following this quote by Abu Musab Zarqawi

"The judicial court of the Organization of al Qaeda in Iraq has ruled that it is a duty to uphold God's law and kill those who have declared themselves God's partners in drafting this constitution."

the Post's editors say

"In a certain sense, this death threat should bring comfort to Americans fighting in Iraq and to the Iraqis struggling to finish their delayed constitution, which is supposed to be ready on Monday. Had al Qaeda set out to prove to a growing number of doubters that the war in Iraq really is about democracy -- and not about oil, hubris or imperialism -- its leaders couldn't have done so more clearly."

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we all know that Al Quaida was not in Iraq. The current administration has even stopped making this argument. I am again both disgusted and disappointed. How can they even pretend to be a serious newspaper when they make this kind error of fact on their editorial page? It is stunning.

How can we possibly get a free press that serves the needs of the people when the best papers seem to be jumping as high as they can to get in administration's pants pocket?