Bob Schieffer: Don't Blame Media for Iraq Failures

NewsMax ^ | 3/12/06 | NewsMax

[wagglebee]

CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer lashed out at the U.S. military on Sunday, saying top generals need to "stop blaming the media" for negative coverage of the Iraq war.

Closing his broadcast Sunday with a commentary on reports that Iraq has descended into civil war, Schieffer urged: "What must stop is the ongoing government effort to sugar coat [the lack of progress in Iraq] - trying to blame it on the media or saying it's all going very, very well - as our top general Peter Pace did last week."

Appearing on "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Gen. Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the reason the public's support for the war seems to be ebbing is because the media is selectively reporting the negative news.

"What they’re seeing is the same bomb going off every 15 minutes on television, as opposed to having an opportunity to see all of what’s happening in Iraq," Pace complained. "I believe that the American people who are able to see all that is happening in Iraq would understand much better that progress is being made."

But Schieffer said that kind of talk was not productive

"The Iraqis hear that and take it to mean we believe their excuses and they'll continue to dawdle," he lamented.

[mainepatsfan]

Sadly many folks don't have much of a historical perspective so the great accomplishments of our soldiers goes unappreciated.

[Owen]

That may be, but the March casualty number to date are so extremely low in comparison to other months that it likely means something significant. The Iraqis are taking over their own security and those tribes in the west are killing AQ fighters without US forces being involved.

In other words, we're winning, and clearly.

[operation clinton cleanup]

"The Iraqis hear that and take it to mean we believe their excuses and they'll continue to dawdle," he lamented.

Yes Bob, the problem is the Iraqi's dawdling.

[falcon1966]

like 5 people watch that show.........

[Lexington Green]

Bob and his traitorous brethren have done everything they could to betray this war. American blood is on their hands.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"What must stop is the ongoing government effort to sugar coat [the lack of progress in Iraq] - trying to blame it on the media or saying it's all going very, very well - as our top general Peter Pace did last week."

What must stop is the ongoing government journalistic effort to sugar coat the lack of insurgents' progress in Iraq - trying to blame it on the media government or saying it's all going very, very well for the insurgency - as our top general Peter Pace did last week all our top journaists have been saying or insinuating since Bush declared 'major combat operations over' years ago."

[PISANO]

"The Iraqis hear that and take it to mean we believe their excuses and they'll continue to dawdle," he lamented

BOB Schieffer's "OPINION" and his dressing down of the IRAQI people as well as the CJCS, PROVES that HE IS NOT A JOURNALIST who REPORTS the DAILY NEWS but rather an OPINION MAKER who slants the reporting to fit his own world view.

He and his ilk in the MSM are nothing but leftist loving scum.

[KevinDavis]

Some quagmire...

[Cyclopean Squid]

Did Schieffer say this in the presence of General Pace last week, giving him a chance to respond? Or did he just wait until this week so it could be a monologue?

[SquirrelKing]

[Cyclopean Squid]

Um, nevermind...I guess it was on a different show. That ol' reading comprehension of mine is surely plummeting.

[SandRat]

Barn???? Don't old, decrepit, worthless Nags get sent to the glue factory?

[carlr]

"What must stop is the ongoing government effort to sugar coat [the lack of progress in Iraq] - trying to blame it on the media or saying it's all going very, very well - as our top general Peter Pace did last week."

Damn that General Washington,the troops are desperate in Valley Forge,starving and freezing.

Polls show that most British citizens here think this war was misguided and that we were led into it by false pretenses.</raging sarcasm>

[wagglebee]

Schieffer waited a week so there would be no response.

[the rightgirl]

"Ah, partisan Bobby boy does the old switcharoo. The media is not being blamed for Iraq failures. The media is being blamed for inaccurate, incomplete and unbalanced reporting. Half truths are whole lies, especially when told with the intent to mislead as part of a partisan effort to persuade and move the public in one particular partisan political direction."

Exactly! It's the same thing the media did for Bill Clinton - they kept saying he was being impeached for adultery, when he was being impeached for perjury. They got people to believe that and alot of people thought the impeachment was silly over something like "that", when it was LYING UNDER OATH.

[Cyclopean Squid]

I guess I got the setup wrong...Pace was never on Face the Nation, but rather Meet the Press...it's still true that the Media specializes in editorializing when there is no opportunity to respond.

[geezerwheezer]

If "Television Bob" had half of a brain, he would take it out and play with it. This a$$clown is not only a stooge for the far left, he's too stupid to know he is being used by them.

[SandRat]

You can't be stooge when you're a fellow traveler.

[kjo]

The MSM have done it to themselves. Almost nobody believes anything they say anymore. We know who they are (liberals with an agenda) and we know where they want to take the country: to socialism.

Has anybody in the MSM given Ronald Reagan ANY credit for ending the cold war? How about the Reagan/Bush economy handed over to Clinton to try and destroy.

These are the same guys who tried with all their might to put Gore, than Kerry, and now Hillary into power. They aren't fooling anybody.

[plain talk]

"What they’re seeing is the same bomb going off every 15 minutes on television, as opposed to having an opportunity to see all of what’s happening in Iraq," Pace complained. "I believe that the American people who are able to see all that is happening in Iraq would understand much better that progress is being made."

But Schieffer said that kind of talk was not productive

Oh. I get it. Telling the truth is not productive to CBS's agenda.