Blogger Who Blamed Halliburton for Iraq Rains on U.S. Economy’s ‘Parade’
David Wallechinsky gives gloomy look at American dream in weekend magazine.

By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
April 24, 2006

     A liberal blogger who blamed “war profiteers,” “neo-conservatives,” and “supporters of Israel” as three “real reasons” for the war in Iraq was Parade magazine’s choice to ask “Is the American Dream Still Possible” in the April 23 edition of the magazine.

     On HuffingtonPost.com Nov. 23, 2005, David Wallechinsky argued that “It is a simple fact of life that when there is a war, there is money to be made.” In short, “War is great for business … if you happen to be Halliburton,” he railed, echoing a persistent attack line of far-left critics of the Bush administration.

     Wallechinsky’s HuffingtonPost bio describes him as “a contributing editor to Parade magazine” who “writes about dictators, the federal budget and other topics.”

Apparently, casting a gloomy pall over the strong American economy and misrepresenting study data are among those “other topics.”

     Wallechinsky cherry-picked poll results from his magazine’s own “survey of middle-income Americans about their financial outlooks.” He left out of his write-up how 84 percent – the vast majority – of respondents said “it is still possible to achieve the American Dream” and 74 percent said “they take responsibility for their own financial success or failure.”

     Ignoring that, Wallechinsky’s story focused on survey results showing 83 percent complaining of having little money to spare after paying the bills or 81 percent who believe businesses don’t make decisions based on “what is best for their employees.”

     Although most of the families Wallechinsky found were optimistic about their personal circumstances, Parade editors selected negative quotes for the insets, including the charge by Richard Oden of Conyers, Ga., that “for most Americans, the traditional American Dream is a pipe dream.” Oden heads his own consulting firm and admitted he believes he will recover from a financial setback he suffered a few years ago.