Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 13 July 2003

Various big media television networks ^ | 13 July 2003 | Various Self-Serving Politicians and Big Media Screaming Faces

[Alas Babylon!]

The Talk Shows

Sunday, July 13th, 2003

Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:

FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and, Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA).

FACE THE NATION (CBS): National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Senator Bob Graham (D-FL).

THIS WEEK (ABC): Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and retired General Wesley Clark.

LATE EDITION (CNN) : Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah; National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice; Sens. John F. Kerry (D-MA), Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) and Carl M. Levin (D-MI); former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger; former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; and authors A. Jay Cristol and James Bamford.

[maica]

Thanks very much for the details. So much to learn, so little time.

[cyncooper]

Clifford May in this National Review Online article speaks of Wilson.

Excerpt:

It also would have been useful for the New York Times and others seeking Wilson's words of wisdom to have provided a little background on him. For example:

He was an outspoken opponent of U.S. military intervention in Iraq.

He's an "adjunct scholar" at the Middle East Institute — which advocates for Saudi interests. The March 1, 2002 issue of the Saudi government-weekly Ain-Al Yaqeen lists the MEI as an "Islamic research institutes supported by the Kingdom."

He's a vehement opponent of the Bush administration which, he wrote in the March 3, 2003 edition of the left-wing Nation magazine, has "imperial ambitions." Under President Bush, he added, the world worries that "America has entered one of it periods of historical madness."

He also wrote that "neoconservatives" have "a stranglehold on the foreign policy of the Republican Party." He said that "the new imperialists will not rest until governments that ape our world view are implanted throughout the region, a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking, smacking of hubris in the extreme."

He was recently the keynote speaker for the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, a far-left group that opposed not only the U.S. military intervention in Iraq but also the sanctions — and even the no-fly zones that protected hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds and Shias from being slaughtered by Saddam.

And consider this: Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Wilson did believe that Saddam had biological weapons of mass destruction. But he raised that possibility only to argue against toppling Saddam, warning ABC's Dave Marash that if American troops were sent into Iraq, Saddam might "use a biological weapon in a battle that we might have. For example, if we're taking Baghdad or we're trying to take, in ground-to-ground, hand-to-hand combat." He added that Saddam also might attempt to take revenge by unleashing "some sort of a biological assault on an American city, not unlike the anthrax, attacks that we had last year."

In other words, Wilson is no disinterested career diplomat — he's a pro-Saudi, leftist partisan with an ax to grind. And too many in the media are helping him and allies grind it.

I know there's another post about his bio. I'll try to find that.

[cyncooper]

Found the link (thanks to PhiKapMom for her research) to the post about Wilson's bio:

AMBASSADOR JOSEPH C. WILSON, IV

Ambassador Wilson is CEO of JCWilson International Ventures, Corp., a firm specializing in Strategic Management and International Business Development.

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton’s historic trip to Africa in March 1998.

Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During “Desert Shield” he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of “Desert Storm.”

Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Bureau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982.

In 1982, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad.

Ambassador Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate of the Senior Seminar (1992), the most advanced International Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He speaks fluent French.

Ambassador Wilson holds the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners.

[Jorge]

"To refer to the British NOW is not "Clintonesque", it's stating the facts as they were presented from the beginning."

It depends on what the meaning of is, is.
You still sound like a lawyer or used care salesman.

This is pretty funny coming from someone who can only parrot inane cliches and Clinton oneliners.

He's obviously your hero.

I notice you dodged the question. He he...

He he...He he...He he. (what a moron)

I'm an Inspector for Northrop Grumman. You ever heard of them? They are the company that built the USS Ronald Reagan...the newest aircraft carrier which was commissioned on Saturday.

Of course it doesn't make any difference since you are totally incapable of articulating your position on this topic, but need to resort to inane personal attacks on people you don't even know.

[maica]

Thanks again for your posts. Look how his 'lecturer for hire' webpage states his job status

Ambassador Wilson serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. Wilson is an expert on doing business in an increasingly global community.

Since that page had a copyright of 2002, I thought that meant the he was working for the administration in office in 2002. Silly me, I just did not realize that someone asking for lecture work would 'misrepresent' his CV so blatently.

Here is your post for comparison *which makes so much more sense!*

I am going to become bonded to the computer if you keep finding all this great info. Thanks again.

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998.

[Jorge]

Appears to make her small and unsure. I hate to think it was intentional.

I like Rice and think her answers to the recent Dem accusations have been excellent.

But I've noticed more than once that she does tend to appear a bit shakey in controversies and high pressure situations.

[OldFriend]

That is really the untold story here.........our CIA is not to be trusted. But then neither is our State Department and certain cabals in the Pentagon, the Justice Department.........oh heck.....the entire place is riddled with america haters.

[OldFriend]

The other morning I turned the TV on and saw Tony Snow (a repeat program) remark that President Bush was sounding like Clinton when he said 'move on'.

Snow makes me ill.

[MEG33]

Your analytical skills are breathtaking.

[OldFriend]

Graham knows 'stuff' but he can't tell us.......Dean says he KNOWS there are things we don't KNOW.........

These people are assume we are all numb and dumb.

[MEG33]

How did Graham think he had a prayer of getting the Dem nomination?He has the charisma of a squash.

[OldFriend]

Rummy was really enjoying his little visit with Steffie.

This is the first time I watched the show. I usually rely on Freepers to fill me in.

[MEG33]

Here is the thread.

[section9]

OMG.......Blitzer is actually quoting Maureen Dowd to Condi Rice? Has the world gone mad???

You are kidding, aren't you? What was Condi's response to the mendacious little prat.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[swheats]

I haven't seen those moments. She tends to handle the press very well. Unfortunately with so many out to twist every idle word spoken, it would cause some degree of shakiness.

This issue won't be put to rest until President Bush personally come out and speak to it. How many times will Tenet drop the ball before there's major change in intelligence gathering.

At the moment, it seems, the president has to gather his own intelligence before he can be sure of it. JMO

[rmgatto]

Congratulations. The votes are in. As one who's been around for a while, you'll appreciate the award of an "Eschoir" for your disgraceful performance on this thread.

Your propensity for unnecessary personal attacks--and your shallow thinking which appears at times desperate to exhibit a glimmer of intelligence--transforms your annoying waste of bandwidth into another kind of waste entirely.

Using your own nasty metaphor, you appear to lack the character and intelligence to sell used ideas much less cars. I'll bet you have no idea how poorly you fare in the discourse above. You might look up "dialectic" before trying to develop an argument in the future.

[MEG33]

#269...And here I was so impressed!

[Jorge]

To Dave S;Your propensity for unnecessary personal attacks--and your shallow thinking which appears at times desperate to exhibit a glimmer of intelligence--transforms your annoying waste of bandwidth into another kind of waste entirely.

His responses to my posts were just brilliant.

I'm still waiting for him to articulate a coherant position.

[Jorge]

How did Graham think he had a prayer of getting the Dem nomination? He has the charisma of a squash.

Thank you. Notice how all his attacks on Bush manage to come out sounding totally flat and boring.
Could he possibly be any less inspiring?

[RobbyS]

If we waited for statistical validity we would never make any decisions about war, peace or getting married.