John McCain: 'Fake News' a Fake Scandal

NewsMax ^ | 12/4/05 | NewsMax

[wagglebee]

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the Bush administration did nothing wrong in the so-called "fake news" scandal, where the Pentagon paid Iraqi newspapers to carry reports that paint the U.S. liberation in a positive light - as long as the stories are true.

"If these are accurate stories written by legitimate people then I don't think there's anything wrong with that," McCain told NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Arizona Republican's answer clearly disappointed MTP moderator-turned-Leakgate prosecution witness Tim Russert, who asked incredulously: "But here we are trying to teach democracy and freedom of the press and the lack of state-sponsored censorship, if you will, and we're paying Iraqis to print articles?":

McCain shot back: "If these are accurate stories then we should make every effort to get them out. We are in a propaganda war. This is a war for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people as well."

At that, an irked Russert interrupted: "But in principle you have no problem paying the Iraqis?"

McCain replied: "If that's the standard procedure in Iraq - if that's what you need to do to get a story in one of these newspapers . . . . then I'm not terribly offended by it."

[wagglebee]

For once, McCain is right. The American media has been reporting fake news for decades, all we are doing in Iraq is insuring that accurate news is reported.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

we are trying to teach democracy and freedom of the press

What Russert really means is, "We're trying to teach the Iraqi press to be as anti-American as the American press is."

[bnelson44]

Good for McCain!

[Txsleuth]

Yeah...McCain surprised me here...but, he may not have spoken with Warner and his little buddy Lindsay yet...

I won't be surprised if they agree to some kind of "investigation".

[wildcatf4f3]

russert is going to realize too late that he bet on the wrong horse

[mountainlyons]

CNN is the champ of fake news when they said nothing bad about Iraq so they could stay there. I am almost starting to like McCain.

[Cicero]

It's an aberration. McCain can almost always be relied on to say or do the wrong thing. It's not suprising that Russert was surprised by this response, because McCain almost always is happy to be a tool of the leftist media in exchange for constant favorable publicity.

[bdfromlv]

yes Julian on fox news was saying the same trash about paying for news and said it was against the news ethics to buy space in papers for stories. Where did he get the idea of there being ethics in journalism?

[HawaiianGecko]

The humor behind this entire story is the false premise that a "free press" is by itself a good thing and is all a people need for a good and fair democracy.

Is the free press in America doing a service to the American public? A very good argument can be made that the press is in fact in collusion with each other to tell only the bad news about Iraq, the economy and the President. They systematically avoid telling the good news, especially about the economy.

So the real question isn't about the merits of a free press, the argument is whether or not a free press actually exists or functions.

 

[sono]

Russert and the MSM are way off base here. One of AQ's most powerful weapons to date has been their use of the media. Up until now, our media have not only ceded this to AQ, they have been at best useful idiots and at worst a fifth column. It is imperative that we reclaim our advantage in the media war and I applaud Mc Cain as well as our military for recognizing this.

[goresalooza]

How much has moveon and the dnc donated to the media over all these decades to push REALLY FAKE STORIES upon readers? Didn't cnn "pay" Iraq off by covering up the scandal of torture and what really went on during the Saddam regime of terror?

The libnuts are dead wrong on this as they are on everything else. I wish Mcvain hadn't used the term "fake news". It's not fake if it's the truth. "Fake news" is the leftwing catch-phrase of the week now.

[AndyTheBear]

"But in principle you have no problem paying the Iraqis?"

Is Russel himself refusing a salary based on this principle?

[steve in DC]

And yet, we can still look up to the New York Times.

Take comfort knowing that there is no ammount of money you could pay them to write something positive about either George Bush or the US military.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Yes. But Russert did cajole McCain into admitting thet "mistakes were made" in conducting the Iraqi war operations. McCain just provided a valuable sound bite with which the Democrats will bludgeon GW and the Republicans in the 2006 election season. The second tier argument below "Bush lied, there were no WMD" is "Bush won't admit mistakes, the war was not prosecuted well". McVain can always be counted on to carry the ammunition for the Democrats.

[pointsal]

what a true summary of Russert's poisition

[manwiththehands]

This is troubling ... McCain has been on our side too many times over the last few weeks. What's up with that?

[fox0566]

These liberals like Julian Phillips are trying to compare apples to oranges when talking about this story. We have soldiers and civilians fighting for their very lives over there in Iraq, and all these pinko libs can find the time to worry about is "ethics". You can't compare their situation concerning the press and how it should operate to ours. Yesterday, by the way, Kiran Chetry was the only anchor who didn't have her panties in a bunch over this. She said she really didn't have a problem with it at all, which was in stark contrast to the opinions expressed by Mr. Phillips and Alisyn Camerota. And don't even get me started on Shep Smith's tirade on Friday! What a loon!

[Gumlegs]

Russert's opinion would appear to be that fake news is okay as long as the government isn't paying for it, but real news is tainted if the government has to put it out. (Did he object to Dan Ra^ther's fake memo story)? Does he object to PBS?

[rightwingintelligentsia]

As glad as I am to hear him finally defend the Administration on something, I'm a little suspicious as well . . .