The MSM and the DPRK

Philosophical sympathy between the MSM and Kim Jong-il seems to be fresher and more blatant than I'd imagined. John Hinderaker over at Powerline has done a superbly thorough fisking of Barbara Demick's outrageous LA Times article that I won't even attempt to summarize. Go read it. Meanwhile, Hugh Hewitt has assembled a truly impressive set of links and resources that could turn this into a firestorm of outrage virtually overnight. Based on my recent reading about the abuses of the DPRK regime over the past 60 years, such outrage is well deserved - a far better use of time and energy than many of the petty domestic political squabbles that are dominating the news of late. Quick synopsis: the Demick piece could pass for a North Korean press release - if only we'd stop being angry at this well-intentioned leader, everything would be OK. Yeah right. Where have we heard this before?