According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been “massively scaled back this year.” Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The “CBS Evening News” has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC’s “World News” and 74 minutes on “NBC Nightly News.” (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)

CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq, where some 150,000 United States troops are deployed.

Tell me how again how wearing a flag lapel pin will makes our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq feel less forgotten? Tell me again how it’s unpatriotic for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer or Nightline to silently scroll through, or read aloud. the name of dead servicemen and women? Tell me again the reason why the Department of Defense refuses to release pictures of the flag-draped coffins of our servicemen and women?

We feel sick too.

• I’m bitter that the news most people watch and the news most people read chooses to report on ill-chosen words of one presidential candidate rather than the disastrous foreign policy views of another (Oh, really, John McCain, Sadr’s “influence has been on the wane for a long time?” And is he a Sunni or a Shia, sir?).
• I’m bitter that the news most people watch and the news most people read chooses to report on ill-chosen words of one presidential candidate rather than the Bush administration’s deliberate attempt to cover their torture-monkey asses with legal briefs.
• I’m bitter that my government chooses torture over moral superiority.
• I’m bitter that five years ago “major combat operations” were declared over.
• I’m bitter that only 28 percent of Americans know the number of American casualties in Iraq.
• I’m bitter that no one knows the real number of Iraqi civilian casualties.
• I’m bitter that as the war in Iraq rages on, the guys in charge choose to represent “significant progress” with charts and graphs while ignoring the carnage on the ground.
• I’m bitter that 17 of the nation’s 50 largest cities have high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent.
• I’m bitter that 1 in every 100 Americans is incarcerated.
• I’m bitter that we spend $435 million a day, $3 billion a week, $12 billion a month, on the Iraq war and nothing to improve the education or the lives of our citizens.
• I’m bitter that I can’t be critical of our government’s policies and leaders – you know, the people that work for us – without being told that I should love my country more or move to Cuba.
• I’m bitter that I can’t get close enough to Dick Cheney to wag my finger in his face in response to “So?”
• I’m bitter that more people in Tennessee, including some legislators, choose to care about the integrity of the lottery instead of the integrity of our elections.
• I’m bitter that we’re still lagging behind (“studying the science?) instead of leading on global climate change.
• I’m bitter that there are still some adults in this country who believe it better to attack those who ask the hard questions about race rather than have meaningful conversations.
• I’m bitter that these adults have radio and televisions shows where they get to spew their nonsense to millions of people.
• I’m bitter that people have such short memories that Fox News can get away with this s**t.

And so, is it surprising then that I cling to my martinis and my Constitution and my antipathy towards a government who doesn’t represent my values as a way to deal with my frustrations?

UPDATE: Thank you, Robert Reich (and hat tip to Freddie), for being more eloquent than I and spot on with your blog post, “Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and the Old Politics.”