Nethercutt takes some unfriendly fire

Supporters of Washington's Republican U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt rushed to the ramparts last week to defend their man from the dastardly liberal media.

One of Nethercutt's defenders called me Friday, irate about a Maureen Dowd column in our opinion section that morning.

In her trademark wicked style, Dowd had figuratively dragged 3-inch nails across Nethercutt's exposed skin. In the course of a column mocking the administration's attempts to counter bad press on Iraq, she wrote:

"On Monday, Rep. George Nethercutt Jr. (R-Spokane), who visited Iraq, chimed in to help the White House: 'The story of what we've done in the postwar period is remarkable. It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day.' The congressman puts the casual back in casualty."

That was a dirty trick, my caller complained. He heard about it on talk radio. Nethercutt's quote was taken completely of context. It was twisted in the newspapers. The News Tribune has no business letting Dowd get away with that.

I'd look into it, I told the gentleman. And here, dear readers, is what I learned.

Nethercutt, who will challenge Murray for her Senate seat next year, did indeed say those words when he spoke on the University of Washington campus Monday. But that was not all he said.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer and quickly bounced around the country on the news wires and the Internet. Anti-Bush Web sites also had a field day with Nethercutt's remark, trumpeting it as a blatant and clumsy example of the administration's latest spin campaign to counter the bad news coming out of Iraq.

A P-I columnist reminded readers how Murray had been vilified by Limbaugh and Co. as "Osama Mama" last winter. Murray caught conservative hell for suggesting that Osama bin Laden's benevolence in building day-care facilities and other services in Muslim countries was a lesson the U.S. could learn from.

But when Nethercutt committed "a major sensitivity stumble," P-I</> columnist Joel Connelly noted, the talk-show crowd had nothing to say. A P-I editorial called Nethercutt's comment "a ham-handed attempt" at putting a positive spin on the war in Iraq

Stung, Nethercutt's office quickly rushed out a press release insisting his remark had been "mischaracterized." He repeated his insistence that American forces' "successes on the battlefield and in winning the hearts and minds of the average Iraqi are woefully underreported by the media."

The talk-show conservatives counterattacked, accusing the P-I of "truncating" Nethercutt's statement. Another dirty deed by the press. April Gentry, Nethercutt's D.C. press aide, Friday provided this version of her boss' comment, based on a radio replay of his talk.

"It's a bigger and better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day, which, which, heaven forbid, is awful."

Nethercutt went on to talk about how horrible it is to lose any troops in Iraq, Gentry said.

So, did the press and Maureen Dowd, or at least the P-I, do a dirty one on Nethercutt? Let's go to the tape.

Unlike the talk to a high school class that got Murray in trouble, Nethercutt's appearance at the UW was taped by TVW, the state's public-television channel.

The tape was broadcast Friday evening. Mary Lane, Nethercutt's Senate campaign coordinator, provided this transcript:

"So the story is better than we might be led to believe - I'm - just - indicting the news people - but it's a bigger and better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day which, which, heaven forbid, is awful."

Nethercutt went on to acknowledge that it's not all smooth sailing in Iraq: "So there's great stories, there's great information. There's also troubling information. This is a tough venue. The security in Baghdad is still high, but we're doing that because we want to protect our people. We don't want to lose any more soldiers."

Bottom line: Yep, Nethercutt put his foot in it. No, the P-I story wasn't inaccurate; its story noted that Nethercutt "added that he did not want to see any more soldiers killed."

I don't believe for a minute that Nethercutt doesn't care about the soldiers in Iraq. I do believe that for a moment, Nethercutt got too caught up in being a good foot soldier for Team Bush.

Nethercutt found a truly lousy way to say that the cost of freedom is indeed high. As I've no doubt he knows, he should have done better, should have shown more respect for those who've died.

But Murray uttered patent ridiculous falsehoods, and subsequently was obfuscatory and unrepentant. It's clear to me who I'd rather have in office.

p.

" don't believe for a minute that Nethercutt doesn't care about the soldiers in Iraq. I do believe that for a moment, Nethercutt got too caught up in being a good foot soldier for Team Bush."

And of course, by blowing up the silly statement, the left glosses over and completely blows away the statement that things are going better than noted in Iraq.

We have to stop playing the left's game folks.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.