Posted on 02/13/2015 8:08:19 AM PST by Kaslin
Editor's note: This column was co-written by Tim Graham.
Brian Williams' six-month suspension has fallen flat. His critics aren't mollified. His supporters are clearly dispirited. Everyone knows this one is not over -- though his tenure at NBC may very well be done.
The suspension isn't going to work for the same reason his apology went nowhere. It resolves nothing.
Hubris. So many celebrities -- be they politicians, journalists, artists -- refuse to accept that the cover-up and obfuscation is always worse than the crime. Time and again, when honesty and humility beckon, they are nowhere to be found.
So it was with Richard Nixon. Had he accepted personal responsibility, immediately, and then taken the steps, immediately, to investigate and resolve the matter, there would have been no Watergate scandal marring his legacy.
Ronald Reagan did address Iran-Contra immediately, personally taking responsibility and firing staff responsible. But the body language of his administration and supporters (we were in that number) was different: The Contra cause was noble (and it was), therefore the funding was, well, clever. Except it was illegal.
Bill Clinton both lied ("Ah did nah have sexual relations with that woman") and obfuscated ("it depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is") and deserved his impeachment, removal from the bar and should have been removed from office for perjury.
The Williams explanation in his "apology" was a farce. He "misremembered" being hit by an RPG. For the love of God. This might be true if he had subsequently undergone a frontal lobotomy, otherwise it was not just untrue, it was impudent. Let them eat cake. He then added a new falsehood, suggesting the RPG had hit the helicopter in front of him when no such thing took place. And no small arms fire. And not injuries to his pilot. And ...
Hillary Clinton is no different. She has yet to answer for Benghazi, hoping her media allies will help in the cover-up (which they've done diligently thus far). If forced to testify, she feigns anger, then tearful sorrow, all for the cameras and the evening news.
She still has to answer for the lies she told about Bosnia. More important, she needs to come clean about the insulting explanation she provided.
In a speech at George Washington University on March 17, 2008 she recounted the story about her harrowing experience at the airport in Tuzla during the Bosnian war. "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
It was beyond dramatic. It was pure drama. As Media Research Center sleuth Rich Noyes discovered looking at news footage of that trip, nothing of the sort had occurred. There she was, smiling, standing in front of schoolchildren lined up on the tarmac. Accepting their flowers.
How to explain this dishonesty? Why, with another dishonesty, and even that only when growing public outrage threatened to derail her candidacy. She told a friendly audience, smiling, laughing, that by golly that was a whopper, wasn't it? Yuk-yuk. She was tired. It was all because of "sleep deprivation." Yuk-yuk.
That was as dishonest as the original statement. Sleep deprivation can cause you to forget you were in Cairo when you stated you were in Cannes. Or that you met with Queen Sophia when it was Queen Elizabeth. But sleepiness does not cause a person to make up entire stories about ducking enemy sniper fire any more than misrememberance explains tall tales about RPG attacks.
Brian Williams lied. The honorable thing was to apologize, honestly and completely, and resign. His career would have been resurrected immediately. If he refused to, the honorable decision from Comcast/NBC was termination and a corporate apology (which they owed anyway). Neither happened. Instead it was a bizarre long-term suspension, and another self-inflicted wound, and more bleeding as the Peacock Network's credibility disintegrates.
I noticed the author completely missed any reference to Barack Hussein Soetero Obama.
Glad to see Williams go. He was dangerous. He looked and acted like a CEO, but is a hard core leftist.100% Obama suck-up. The left will find him hard to replace.
What Williams did (and routinely) is just the most recent, literal and crude display of what they all do and have BEEN doing for decades.
HE is the fall guy here.
I don't watch MSM news and haven't for a long time.
The ‘journalists’ are more and more like Hollywood wannabe’s all the time. Information (some of it not EVEN newsworthy) is delivered with a level of trite and sophomoric expression which is appalling.
An article in the Daily Mail claims “some people say” Katie Couric is in the running to replace Lyin’ Brian.
I agree with your comments, except for this one. The depth of their bench is almost bottomless. Like the Chinese when they attacked Korea. 2 more for every one you take out.
I aam sure that in the next few days, perhaps weeks, his Lawyer will negotiate a severance agreement with NBC and he will be gone.
I doubt it. The Leftist Media, unable to win an election at the ballot box, was going to have their coup - no matter what.
No, there are thousands more drones in journalistic propaganda school waiting to take his place
The difference is that no one died in Watergate
Shw would not have the impact of Williams, but she qualifies for the all-American looking leftist.
Americans seem to hold newspeople to a higher standard of honesty and integrity than we do our presidents.
First...... there is a contract
Second to dismiss Williams, it must be done in accord with the contract
Someone guessed that within 6 months, a reason for dismissal within the contract can be discovered, made known to the Williams lawyers, and with a little luck, an out of court settlement can be negotiated
Everything else is obfuscation
“I noticed the author completely missed any reference to Barack Hussein Soetero Obama.”
That’s because, as Liar’s go, Brian Williams & Hillary Clinton aren’t even in his league. Bill Clinton was probably better because he didn’t need as much Media protection and couldn’t play the Race Card whenever things got tough.
They didn’t dare do nothing because it would be an admission that the media operates by the rather standard of truth — “I believe you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.”
They couldn’t very well fire him. He’s tops in the ratings, and firing him would be admitting that h/e got to the top dishonestly, by lying, like a professional athlete using PEDs.
So they tried to find a middle ground.
This isn't casual lying. It's active contempt for his viewers. He thinks they're fools.
NBC thinks we're fools too. When the top person in a company steals, theft will run through the company.
When the top man is a liar - there will be lies and liars all though the organization. People take cues from their leaders - for good or ill. It's how human nature works.
NBC;s filled with liars, apologists and enablers. Watch - the filth start shaking out - up and down that company.
It’s active contempt for his viewers. He thinks they’re fools.....Why...Why..are saying we were grubered!?
He comes from a long line of liars, including his daddy the devil.
6 month suspension is the cowardly liberal PC way to fire someone. There isn’t Black or White with Liberalism, that’s why they fired him but didn’t.
All told, I'd rather have Bill Clinton lie to me than any of the other three. I knew he was a lyin' dawg, but at least he lied to me with that sweet Southern charm.
Williams is a cold fish. Hillary is screechy. Obama is ... I'll stop before the mods thump me.
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