NBC Trumps Rice With Anti-Bush Widows (Matthews suggests sodium pentathol for Bush)

[misunderestimated]

Who are the most important judges of the investigation of what went wrong before September 11? The media elite have provided one consistent answer on who is in the political driver's seat: the relatives of the victims. But not all of them.

In recent weeks, the networks have interviewed a selected set of 9-11 widows and other relatives, and most have focused the lion's share of their outrage at the Bush administration. Viewers at home might assume that a poll of 9-11 families would find they almost uniformly blame Bush more than the terrorists and want him to lose in November.

Minutes after National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice finished testifying, Tim Russert told Tom Brokaw live on NBC: "But the real issue will be, how did the families of the victims of 9-11 respond to this testimony? They have been the driving force for the commission, for information from the White House, for Dr. Rice to testify under oath."

On this morning's Today and for multiple segments in a 90-minute post-Condi Hardball special on MSNBC, only four widows were singled out as judges of Rice?s testimony. The four were celebrated in the April 1 New York Times as "nonpolitical." NBC has emphasized Kristen Breitweiser, who has appeared in four Today interviews in four weeks.

Mrs. Breitweiser insists that she voted for Bush in 2000, but has wildly declared that "Three thousand people were murdered on Bush's watch." Times arts editor Frank Rich also noted how she tartly complained that a Showtime 9-11 docudrama failed to display President Bush reading to school children "while people like my husband were burning alive inside the World Trade Center towers" because it would have been contrary to "Karl Rove's art direction and grand vision." She's hardly "nonpolitical."

In fact, these widows are liberal lobbyists against the Bush team, even as they claim to speak for all 9-11 victim families. Even Tim Russert linked the widows and John Kerry as two forces who will now press the White House for a complete declassification of the much-discussed August 6 presidential daily briefing. (One weblog even urges Kerry to pick Breitweiser for veep.)

In their front-page widow story, the New York Times noted that liberal Senators Ted Kennedy and Charles Schumer were advising the widows to demand Bush and Cheney also answer commissioner questions (and speeches) on live TV. Print accounts have also noted these widows tried to get the 9-11 commission's director, Philip Zelikow, fired for being too close to Condi Rice.

(NBC wasn't all alone today in the anti-Bush widow department. On ABC's Good Morning America, widow Beverly Eckert was charging "Everybody's basically been covering up, I think, for the administration, this whole Washington scene.")

In March, 9-11 relative Ernest Strada sounded a different note, telling Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball that "anybody can be a Monday morning quarterback." Strada says he told Bush at a memorial event: "Mr. President, you are on the right side of the issues. We're with you 100 percent. Forget what the media says, the country believes in you." Is it any wonder he didn't get to debate the Kristen Breitweiser crew on this important occasion?

[Republican Wildcat]

Indeed. In addition to attacking Bush in the quotes noted above, she also attacked Congress, singling out the "House Republicans." Her claim to have voted for Bush or any Republican is simply not credible. She is using a tragedy for partisan political purposes.

[OMalley]

Was a copy of the letter posted on FR?

It might help if some of us used the letter to the editor sections of our paper to get it printed.

I cant even stand to watch the news anymore-doesnt seem to matter what channel i have it on its pure garbage. If not the guest, then the host.
I began to worry my neighbors might think im insane with all the yelling i was doing at the tv. If i didnt have FR and had to watch all this theyd have to haul me away to the funny farm;)

They are always twisting facts, but after Condi's testimony today and reading what the media is saying, I have to wonder if we even live on the same planet!

She was awesome:)

[misunderestimated]

Yes, he specifically stated "sodium pentathol" should be used when interrogating Bush and Cheney. I'm waiting for the transcript to be posted (if MSNBC has the balls to post the entire transcript including that part). It came towards the end of this Hardball special with the widows.

.

[Tuxedo]

"I recommend a lobotomy for Chrissy Matthews" How about a golf ball enema!

I would recommend using basketballs. Perhaps 4 or 5 ought to do it.

[sport]

I suggest cyanide for matthews.

[NeonKnight]

That same wry, irreverant inflection is why I loved watching David Brinkley read the news all those years ago.

Watch it!!! You're making me feel old.

[leadpenny]

I hear ya, but the powerful keep listening and keep coming back. I do think Imus is being honest when he expresses his concern for the situation in Iraq. I get wobbly at times. You have probably seen it but here is a quote from this morning's program (off of MSNBC's/Imus' website):

MSNBC Analyst Pat Buchanan: "We made a mistake. The United States should not have gone into Iraq. Saddam Hussein was no threat. He had no role in 9/11. He didn't want to go to war with us. He did not threaten us. We had 1,200 UN inspectors running around this country who couldn't find a thing. It was an unnecessary war. It was a war of choice. I opposed it. I said at the time that we are going to wind up with a big Lebanon or a big West Bank of our own. That's what we've got. We've got something worse now. We are on the cusp of making a decision as to whether or not we are going to need more troops in there if we want to "win this war."

[freekitty]

"They have been the driving force for the commission, for information from the White House, for Dr. Rice to testify under oath."

I don't believe this at all. It was the media and Dimwits.

[teeman8r]

i bet the widows can be broken down into two groups... those whose hubbies didn't have enough life insurance and those that did...

these ladies are milking the system because they need to

teeman

[Arpege92]

"My sympathy for these families has totally drained away."

My sympathy for some of these families has drained away as well.

"They are using these deaths to push a political agenda, become celebrities and line their pockets."

I can understand the families of the 9/11 victims wanting to know what went wrong on that tragic day. We owe it to them. Some maybe using this situation to push political agenda's or line their pockets, but I suspect that they are clueless has to how the Democrats are using their pain to try and inflict damage on the Bush administration.

"They seem to think that they're the only ones who were attacked, the only ones with any standing to have an opinion on the matter."

Just remember that not all of the victims families feel as these four wives do.

"They revel in their misery. They disgust me."

I try to place myself in their situation and I can't even imagine myself as a whole human being without my hubby. My heart would probably never heal from that kind of pain. Try not to judge these four wives so harshly....even if they irritate you. Save your disgust for the liberals who are using these ladies in such a grotesque manner.

[ladyinred]

Did Peter say that Condi confirmed everything that Clarke said like all of the rest of the no good media? This is exactly why the left insisted that Condi testify on TV. I believe this was all a set up.

[zook]

I couldn't disagree more with Buchanan. And if Imus is giving his "honest" opinion, then he seems to me to be little more than a shell into which can be poured his flavor of the month. Yet, I have heard him be thoughtful and I don't doubt he loves this country.

[nutmeg]

Enjoy your dinner, nutmeg. Even "The Sheeple" can see through this fog. Condi will resonate.

I hope so. I used to be one of "The Sheeple" many years, ago, so I still remember how easily swayed these uninformed voters are by the likes of Dan Blather, et al.

I'm afraid I can't use your tagline... unfortunately I've voted for a few RATs in the past. Ronald Reagan helped me see the light! :-)

[nutmeg]

We need a new Spiro Agnew. We need Republicans to speak up and expose the mainstream news media for what it is--camp follower of the Democrat Party.

All I can say in reply to that is thank God for Fox News and for conservative talk radio...

[get'emall]

Ronald Reagan was the best there ever was. That was a great place to start.

Keep the faith.

[cyncooper]

Here it is:

NYERS: CLARKE'S GAIN, OUR PAIN

Sad to say, I see even here at FR it got little notice.

[beaversmom]

Matthews has gone rabid.

[leadpenny]

I hope you're watching or listening to the I-Man this morning. Matthews, who Imus has said he likes, is getting slammed, big time, for his performance on Hardball last night.

[The Wizard]

little Chrissy has committed TV suicide....no one with a brain will watch him after last night....

[7thson]

Heaven forbid we use methods like this on terrorists and their sympathizers in Gitmo, but let's use it on the President of the United States. Sick, sick people.