As demonstrated by Steve Kroft of CBS’ “60 Minutes” in his contentious interview with President Barack Obama, a key role for the mainstream news media is to enforce whatever warmongering “group think” dominates Official Washington, such as today’s perceived need to escalate U.S. military involvement in Syria and hit back against Russian President Vladimir Putin.I happened to view some excerpts from this interview, and I immediately saw this as a carefully designed attempt to goad the Obama administration into attacking Russia forces. This would have shocked me a decade ago, but the use of corporate media to currently shape American consensus toward objectives corresponding to those of right-wing forces has become so obvious to anyone who follows independent media.
However, it occurred to me that this hostile attack on the current restrained policies of the administration might signal an attempt by the lunatic right-wing in the US to take control of the government's imperial policies. And maybe the recent admissions by government officials of gross "mistakes" in training and equipping "Syrian rebels" might also be such an effort to undermine support for the "moderate" section of the ruling class directorate. Let us pray that this isn't so.
[Late addendum] Also, see this article "The GOP’s Benghazi scam is exploding in its face: Why the latest stunning revelations will only make Republicans more extreme" posted on Salon.