Dinner with Ellen Ratner (Fox News) and Paul Brandus (WTOP news) aboard Camp Fallujah

21APR2005 | nerdwithamachinegun

[nerdwithamachinegun]

This is only my second post. I apologize for any mistsakes with the topics, keywords or any other ancillary info.
If this is more appropriately posted in some other forum I apologize for posting it here.

Today the II MEF PAO asked for folks on Camp Fallujah to have dinner with radio personalities and reporters from around the US. Two places that caught my attention were Kansas City, Missouri and Washington D.C. I was born in the former and live near the latter. Normally I would not care to have any interaction with any reporters but given the controlled environment I figured it would be harmless. Besides, if things got boring I could throw out some conversational hand grenades like "McCarthy was right!" or "Let's drill ANWR!" or maybe even "I hear Guantanamo is beautiful year round". Alas, dinner was much more civilized than that.

I had the pleasure of having KBR chow, which is better than you might think, with Ellen Ratner of Fox News and Paul Brandus of WTOP News. I must confess that I'm more of a WMAL kind of guy and was hoping Chris Core or Michael Graham were going to be there. I wanted to say something smartalecky to Michael Graham like "You sound taller on the radio". I was seated with four Marines as well as Ms. Ratner and Mr. Brandus. One Marine was an Intel type, one was from the comptroller's office and two were from SJA. We all discussed our jobs with Ms. Ratner and Mr. Brandus. Mr. Brandus had heard of the biometrics system I support. Ms. Ratner had a lengthly discussion with a Marine involved in legal goings on about Guantanamo and detainees in this theater. She talked about what she would have done differently subsequent to September 11th and talked with us about what we would have done. I think it would be fair to say that all of us were politely evasive on that subject. She advocated a much more heavy handed approach to Afghanistan. Topics ranged from W's motiviation for coming to Iraq to the teetering House of Saud to contracting companies getting overpaid. On the contracting note I pointed out that many contractors work many more hours than they charge. DOD.gov gets over on this count. Mr. Brandus recorded greetings from us to our loved ones to be aired on WTOP. I thoroughly botched mine. Stupidly, I didn't say Hi to my Wife, reasoning that I'll see her in about two weeks when I back for my R&R break, I said Hi to my co-workers back in Manassasssssass. After dinner I walked with Ms. Ratner back to the Embark Tent area. She's the most pleasant neo-liberal I've ever talked with. It was possible to communicate. I enjoy talking politics with folks here on FR but nothing compares to talking politics with someone of the oposite viewpoint that actually sticks to the point and knows when to agree to disagree. We talked about W, Zell Miller and Robert Heinlein. She asked me if I voted for W. I answered that since there wasn't a conservative running W was the next best choice. She didn't even flinch when I mentioned Free Republic. I feel foolish for thinking she would. Other media people have expressed outright disgust. With them FR is a great conversation ending bomb to drop when the time is right. I asked her to say hi to Rich Galen for me. He and I shared an office in Baghdad with Ambassador Bremer's speech writer and the legislative affairs folks. He probably doesn't remember me though. Rich certainly reacted when I told him I was a member of the D.C. Chapter. I think he would have reacted better if I'd told him I was MS-13 or a member of PETA. He said something about speaking at a FR dinner sometime in the past. Back to the now. Ms. Ratner headed off to get some sleep and I ran into Mr. Brandus again outside the media tent. We chatted a bit more about the area and the biometrics system I work on and said good evening. I immediately came here to type this up while it's fresh in my mind. I've got some actual work to do but felt a responsibility to get this posted in case anyone might actually care.

I forgot to ask Ellen Ratner some questions:

1. Who is taller? Patti Ann Browne or Molly Hennenberg?
2. Is Steve Doocy always like that?
3. Does anyone realize that Brian Kilmeade looks JUST LIKE the Marine in Doom 3?
4. Did Steve Harrigan ever get a helmet that fits?
5. Is E.D. Hill the Katie Couric of Fox & Friends?

I think Ellen Ratner should replace Allan Colmes. I don't watch H&C often because AC is unbearable sometimes and Hannity is just Hannity.

[nerdwithamachinegun]

I though she was Jane Arraf for a second but her hair was too nice. I was embarrased that I had to ask her name twice but she was nice about it.
She started paying MUCH attention to me when I mentioned that I had worked at Bremer's comms guy and personal support nerd.

I wonder why she ran away? Maybe she feels more secure in an environment where almost everyone is carrying a firearm?

[nerdwithamachinegun]

I think he's been watching Army of Darkness and is being influenced by Bruce Campbell.

[Doctor Raoul]

Don't know why she ran. Liberal stereotype that conservatives are violent, have guns? Actually, the only people to hit me or offer to fight in my adult life have been "peace" protesters.

[Doctor Raoul]

The woman who asked Al Gore a question about Juanita. She had just appeared with Lanny Davis and she smoked him in the debate on the topic.

[BillF]

Nerd, great post! Interesting.

Ellen Ratner is not the most horrible liberal around. That is, she's a nice person and was a good sport when DC Chapter saw her at our FReep of the Dem's Count Every Vote rally in Oct of 2002.

tgslTakoma took this great photo with (L-R) FreetheHostages, BufordP (not sure who the guy is behind him), Ellen Ratner, 3D-Joy, kristinn, Angelwood, BillF, and Doctor Raoul.

A few months after that, I almost fell out of my chair watching Ellen Ratner (ER) interviewed by Brenda Buttner (BB) of Fox News. Click here for facedown's excellent post on this, which included the following transcript:

Ratner: BB: You're basically saying that he's going to be reelected, I mean essentially unless the economy tanks...

ER: That is unless he messes up the war....my hope.

BB: Your hope?!

ER: Well, I don't want him to be reelected.

BB: Right, but I mean, 'mess up the war,' what do you mean by that?

ER: Do something that will make Americans say 'Maybe we shouldn't have done this.' You know, that kind of thing.

Ratner thus verbalized what many liberals were thinking, but few would publicly say. She wanted bad things to happen to this country in hopes that it would prevent President Bush from being re-elected. Ratner apologized a few days later, but she was insincere.

[BillF]

leadpenny posted, Ain't no way BufordP would ever say that about anything or anyone.

LP, you seem to think that the real BufordP has been kidnapped, but maybe this is the kinder, gentler BufordP?

I happened to mention a riddle to Buford in connection with a problem that I was having in transporting people and things at conflicting times. I said that my problem was like the farmer with a fox, chicken, and bag of corn.

The riddle is as follows:

A farmer has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river. He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other thing. If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will eat the chicken. If the chicken and the corn are left together, the chicken will eat the corn. How does the farmer do it?

Buford immediately solved the riddle, the right solution. The old Buford would have said that the farmer should use the boat's paddle to pound the fox to death, problem solved.

The way BufordP posts about Ellen Ratner reminds me of Senator Orin Hatch talking about his good friend Ted Kennedy.

If Buford starts admiring Alan Alda, we'll have to do an intervention.

[sauropod]

True to a misogynist's (sp?) form, Buford let Ellen RATner off the hook.

P.S. Allan Colmes is a nice guy too, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he is a liberal toady.

[BufordP]

CHEEZE LOUISE! What a way to wake up on a Friday morning. I asked for pics of Snoogy Poo...I mean Ellen...and there's a pic of ME, of all people, with my arm around her.

Did I ever tell you about my nice conversation with Alan Alda?

[BillF]

Nice conversation with Alda, but the old Buford would have used the boat's paddle.

[BillF]

In case the photo of Ellen Ratner with the DC FReepers is not viewable above (sometimes there are problems embedding those photos in other web pages), you can see it at the source by clicking on http://community.webshots.com/photo/52102875/52103733BkMBfO

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Askel5]

=== The bad guys know about this system and try to evade it. That means it's working.


I'd rather more good people knew about the database and how to avoid it.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[nutmeg]

Interesting... LOL!