Posted on 03/01/2005 8:27:15 PM PST by bitt
Maureen Dowd's column on Sunday was full of the usual hyperbole and ridiculousness, but one phrase in particular stood out:
"This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names..."
I'm confused. Every day Scott McLellan steps into a room filled with big-name journalists - some, like the now-retired Helen Thomas, with political leanings every bit as far to the left as Gannon's were to the right - who ask their "hardball questions." It may be a bit of an overstatement to say the White House press room is a hostile environment, but it certainly isn't a Bush-friendly one.
Dowd's remark brought to mind a recent observation made by Thomas Sowell that "media bias does not consist in having liberal or conservative opinions but in how you do your job -- or don't do it."
Sowell went on to outline the most egregious case of softball journalism we've seen in a while (of which Ms. Dowd and her well-respected paper played a big part): the pass given to John Kerry for not fully releasing his military records.
Here is how the game of softball has been played. In April of last year, Tim Russert asked Senator Kerry about releasing his military records:
MR. RUSSERT: Would you agree to release all your military records? SEN. KERRY: I have. I've shown them--they're available to you to come and look at. MR. RUSSERT: But you'll make all your records public. SEN. KERRY: They are. People can come and see them at headquarters and take a look at them.
Both of these responses were demonstrably untrue. Yet Kerry was never called to account on these falsehoods by members of the press, nor was he pressured into signing Form 180 (the document that gives the government permission to release all military records to the public) even after the Swift Boat Veterans raised questions about about Kerry's service later in the year.
On January 30, 2005 Kerry pledged on national television he would sign Form 180:
MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180? SEN. KERRY: But everything, Tim... MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180? SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim--everything we put in--I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports. And I'd call on those who have challenged me, let's see their records. I want to see the records of each of those people who have put up a challenge, because some of them have some serious questions in them, and it hasn't been appropriate.. MR. RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well? SEN. KERRY: You bet.
What you didn't see reported by the "journalists with real names" is that the day after Kerry appeared on Meet the Press and called for "those who have challenged me" to release their records, John O'Neill executed a Form 180 and released it to the media authorizing the "total voluntary release of all records to anyone interested"
Jerome Corsi, the co-author of Unfit For Command, did not serve in the military and thus has no records to release. Senator Kerry's office didn't return phone calls asking for the names of other people Kerry would like to see release records.
But the point is moot. On February 7 Senator Kerry not only repeated his pledge to sign Form 180, he said he would do so irrespective of whether others released their records. "I’ll sign it anyway" Kerry told radio show host Don Imus.
Kerry has been stalling for more than a month now, using the canard that he needs extra time to get things "clarified with the military." Not a single "journalist" has thought to question this patently bogus excuse. Executing Form 180 is so simple even a witless columnist from the New York Times could do it in less than 10 minutes.
What conclusions can we draw from all of this? First, Kerry's unwillingness to sign Form 180 means it most likely contains damaging and/or embarrassing information. Second, it is inconceivable that the mainstream press would stand for such behavior if John Kerry was a Republican. Anyone who can't admit that is fool or a liar (or both). And last but not least, we can safely conclude that Maureen Dowd doesn't know the difference between hardball and softball. - T. Bevan
I wonder how many Swift Vets have done it? More pressure on Kerry.
Be thankful he is what he is. And nothing more.
'What you didn't see reported by the "journalists with real names" is that the day after Kerry appeared on Meet the Press and called for "those who have challenged me" to release their records, John O'Neill executed a Form 180 and released it to the media authorizing the "total voluntary release of all records to anyone interested"'
Why don't you stop this crusade against Kerry? Haven't you fascist conservative had enough? :)
I say no. And keep up the good work.
sKerry needs to sign (form 180) I have faxed the forms I know others here have , and if this was President Bush the press would be having twin cows.
CPAC 2005: 02/18/05 Courage Under Fire Award (Story AND Audio Link)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1347932/posts
Rear ADM. Roy Hoffman asking the questions
that Main Stream Media should be asking!
Both Right and Left!
02/18/05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346397/posts
"Mary Beth Cahill getting it for referring to"discredited" swiftboat vets.
Challenged anyone to come up with anything that has been "discredited"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346397/posts?page=113#113
Tainted media [Kerry's 'honorable' discharge?]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1345874/posts
"Some of the public have begun to wake up but more need to do so.
Many in the media also need to wake up to what they are doing, or failing to do,
when their politics taints their work."
TownHall.com ^ | February 18, 2005 | Thomas Sowell
For those who say the GOP can't acknowledge Swift Boat Vets,
they are wrong.
Karl Rove also exposed the false testimony by Hanoi Kerry in 1971
Rove Credits Swiftvets With 'Energizing' Bush Vote (Thank You Karl Rove!)
"...Rove recalled that his uncle had done several tours of duty in Vietnam.
I've never been able to think of Colonel Verhi as somebody who would have
'raped and pillaged in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan,'"
a reference to Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony where he accused Vietnam veterans
of committing widespread atrocities."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1345603/posts
Viet Nam Vet Ollie North nailed Hanoi Kerry on his false 1971 testimony.
"Kerry testified under oath before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 that Americans in Vietnam had "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war."
Set aside the horrific and defamatory nature of these accusations and ask this: Did he witness these atrocities? Did he try to stop them? If not, was he held accountable for dereliction of duty? If he knows the perpetrators, did he ever see that they were brought to justice? If not, why?"
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ollienorth/on20040220.shtml
And FR's own Interesting Times nailed Hanoi Kerry for his lies in 1971
AFFIDAVIT OF STEVEN J. PITKIN combat veteran of the Vietnam War
(Kerry pressured him to give false Winter Soldier testimony)
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff
Now can anyone name 1 so called MAIN Stream Right Wing Media
personality
(we know Russert on tv and Imus on radio from the Left have)
that has asked,
in 2005,
these questions?
"Asked Kerry when he will sign Form 180.
(Even though President Bush signed his Form 180)
Or how could Kerry have a top secret clearance,
and access to US intelligence
WITHOUT revealing ALL his military records to the US Senate
Who in the US Senate has seen ALL of Kerry's military records?
Who, in the US Senate, gave him his top secret clearance?
Or why Kerry is still in the US Senate.
This is in violation of
U.S. Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 3
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html
Or when Kerry will set the record straight
on his false testimony in April 71"
BUT he's still attacking President Bush in '05
Kerry Trashes Bush in Baghdad Jan '05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315333/posts
Kerry: Bush Still Hiding His Guard Records Feb '05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341323/posts
Distribute these url's in e-mail, Vet boards, Conservative boards, etc.
EXPOSE HANOI KERRY!
MUST SEE WEBSITE!!!!
http://www.kerrystreason.com/index.html
Full details on these url's!
http://tonkin.spymac.net/hanoikerry1.html
There is a backup site
if the 1st url is unavailable.
http://stophanoikerry.150m.com
forgot to ping you!
I know you like a good Kerry update...
I have a 'lying traitor' ping list going, that is an adjunct to Tonk's and a few others...anyone wants on or off, ping me........
Kerry is a sniveling coward! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY! JOHN BOY!
Bump.
Thank you for that :)
who'se the chick?
LOL...LOL...LOL!!!
bttt
Thanks for always being on top of things, and for the Ping, BTW.
who is that pretty woman in your post 11?
That's Catherine Zeta Jones. Any thread which mentions Maureen Dowd requires a picture of CZJ.
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