Posted on 04/15/2006 5:27:53 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
April 15, 2006
Different day, different Today show anchor, different attitude. As we documented here yesterday, when Katie Couric hosted a segment on the matter of the retired generals calling for Donald Rumsfeld's ouster, she chose as her guest one of the generals calling for Rumsfeld's head. Her most notable contributions to the discussion were to invite her guest to take a shot at Pres. Bush as long as he was at it, and to ask why he didn't come out sooner with his criticism so he could have 'shaped public opinion far earlier.'
This morning it was Lester Holt's turn in the Today show host seat. Now, it might just be in the normal course of the news cycle that his guest was a former general who is opposed to Rumsfeld's departure. But there was no mistaking Holt's even-handed treatment of the issues, in stark contrast with Couric's cheerleading for the Rumsfeld-must-go crowd.
Holt set the tone with his introduction of retired U.S. Army general and an NBC analyst Wayne Downing: "To be clear from the outset he is not one of those generals calling for Rumsfeld's resignation."
Holt began with a two-part question. The first part put the fundamental issue in neutral terms, the second, interestingly, questioned the appropriateness of the generals' actions:
"Is the criticism of Rumsfeld valid, and is it appropriate for these retired flag-ranked officers to be calling for his resignation?"
Downing began by acknowledging "we all know mistakes were made after we started this war. I think there's no doubt about that and certainly that's something that retired guys and active duty guys talk about."
But then: "the second question, though, is a key thing. Is it appropriate to raise these issues in a public form by retired generals? I don't think it is. My comment to these generals is 'at ease'. At ease means, let's shut up, let's be quiet. This thing is serving no purpose. You have a stated thing calling for Rumsfeld to resign, that's not the issue. I mean, they know that Secretary Rumsfeld is not going to resign. He's not a quitter. They also know that this president is not going to fire him because that's not the president's style. He's intensely loyal to those who served him and who serve him like Rumsfeld does. The issues are other things."
Holt did press the matter in these terms: "Let's talk about those issues, though, because we know there have been missteps in this war, and many people would think, here are some officers who are directly involved in the war. Shouldn't we be valuing their input? Do they not bring something to the table that you may not hear in the usual partisan channels?"
Downing: "Lester, this is not the forum, the public press is not the forum because they know what they have called for is not going to happen."
Downing then made his most intriguing comments, implying that a number of the Rumsfeld critics have ulterior motives:
"One of these guys is writing a book. One or more of them have political aspirations. One of them has had his favorite program, the program that he worked on for the last three or four years while he was in the military, skewered by Secretary Rumsfeld. Others were not promoted for one reason or another."
Rather than attacking Downing's allegations, Holt recapitulated them: "So you're saying they could have axes to grind?"
Holt later offered up on his own a theory suggesting that the generals' criticism might have been motivated by something other than disagreement with Rumsfeld's military tactics: "General . . when Secretary Rumsfeld came into office as Defense Secretary, he came in forcing a new culture essentially saying the Cold War is over. We need a leaner, meaner, more lethal force. He brought that to Afghanistan. He brought that to Iraq with not the success that perhaps not the success that he expected. Is part of what we're seeing perhaps a sense of toes that were stepped on and a sense of folks who did not want to see those cultural shifts?"
Downing: "Well, not necessarily with these particular six generals. I think there are others that felt that way and there is some resistance to Secretary Rumsfeld because he has forced people to change and people don't want to change. I think it's very appropriate."
Concluded Downing: "He's done a lot of things right. There have been mistakes, Lester, but this whole thing of bringing this into a public forum, putting it all over the press, it serves the military profession not well nor do I think it serves the country well."
Holt's performance this morning was typical of his standards of down-the-middle journalism that others at Today and NBC would do well to emulate.
Are these fools are bright enough to realize that thay are giving AID AND COMFORT to the enemy in a time of war?
Lester Holt played it right down the middle during the invasion phase of OIF. He had this weird notion that people were watching to see the news, not how much he knew.
People, repeat, THIS IS ORCHESTRATED.
There was a leaked Dem strategy document for 2006 about 6 weeks ago. In it they explicitly said that the bare handful of leftist Clinton era generals available would be trotted out to trash the administration in whatever manner the DNC felt best.
This is all about November. EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN THE MSM FOR THE NEXT 7 MONTHS IS ABOUT NOVEMBER.
The proper Freeper response to this kind of traitorous maneuvering is to recognize that all politics is local and tactics trump policy every single time.
Find vulnerable House districts and send money and volunteer your time to the GOP candidate in that district. That is the response that will hurt them most.
bttt
Thanks for the post.
The Dems using CIA/State employees and now the military to undermine US Policy is a Constitutional crisis.
They have crossed the line into disloyal opposition...Can we question their patriotism now?
Terrific report.
It says plenty about CBS that they would hire the lefty partisan Perky rather than an accomplished veteran journalist like Lester Holt.
What do they mean by mistakes? What mistakes?
This mantra is thrown out all the time but the "mistakes" are never identified. Failure of your crystal ball is not a mistake.
In all wars you go to school on the enemy and they go to school on you. And you adjust.
In arial combat their is a term. OODA loop. Coined by Col John Boyd USAF. It stands for observe, orient, decide, act.
..these sorry retired generals strike me as whiners with dubious motives.
Check it out... from Slate, no less.
Six Retired Generals Hate Rumsfeld
http://www.slate.com/id/2139847/
As ElRushbo so brilliantly observed,if this were the real desire of The Lefty,War-Hating Weenies,then they must be inordinately STUPID!By calling in such a public way for Rummie's resignation,they have made it ABSOLUTELY necessary for him to serve out the remainder of W's administration!!!Are they REALLY this stupid;I wonder???????????
I am in awe of your ability to find and then share so many instructive articles and blogger comments. You must be the speedreader record holder of all time. Thanks, and keep the info coming.
Certainly you can't. The claim was made that the sniping was hurting the effectiveness and the morale of the military. If we can't have decreased effectiveness and morale under this President, then we can't have it while under one with a D next to their name.
We'll never know because Clinton was risk averse.
That's a straw man argument. We don't know what he would do. Yes, he is more risk adverse than W. But then too so was Reagan. But both W and Reagan are superior to Clinton. But the fact remains, Free Republic would applaud a former general or admiral if they came out against Clinton or his sec of defense. If it's wrong under W it would be wrong under Clinton or any other D, especially if our claim is that these are unique times and we shouldn't be using television and the public press as the forum to discuss the shortcomings that have occurred during this war.
Joe,
There was some dissention on the floor of the house by Republicans while Clinton attacked 6 countries in a two year period. They said their piece and then moved on.
The entire political might and machine of the DNC has been thrown at undermining this war. A big difference. They consciously decided to crack a few eggs with the troops.
Our country is in trouble and we are in a weaker position now because of it. The Iranians and our advesaries know it.
Thanks, as always, Lancey. Makes you wonder why Holt's name more isn't in the mix for top positions?
I don't remember it as such. Throughout Bosnia, there were calls that it was simply something that was a police action. (Yes it was, but we were also trying to maintain the peace between various factions that would have broken into a civil war. Sounds familiar.) It was both congressional and our side of the talking heads. And remember all the wag the dog stuff? Yeah, it probably was, but it was still our military engaged in varioius duties and it still impacted effectiveness and morale. But we thought it was cool to discuss wagging the dog. ANd it was our side throwing full force at the other side.
I don't recall any movies being made to undermine the war from our side.
Movies and talk radio only points out that both sides use the methods they have strength in to put forth a position.
Nothing like the investment from the Dem machine...
Fahrenheit 9/11, Intelligence personnel systematically leaking classified, ABU GHARAIB on the front page of the NY times for 38 straight days, Recruiters protested, then you have the conduct of the DEMS Who largely voted for this war.
You have to remember except for Kosovo, Clinton never sought nor received Congressional approval or UN Resolutions for his military operations. He overstated the cleansing in Kosovo and even bombed civilian targets like the Serbian TV station killing civilians with NO MEDIA COVERAGE.
IF Bush had attacked six countries in two year without approval the Dems would burn the whitehouse down.
I don't remember fake Koran burning stories being generated and played 24/7 back then. In fact I don't beleive the american public even knew what was going on.
I've seen more stories about the heroism of John Kerry and Murtha than of the entire 800,000 troops who have rotated through Iraq.
THE DEMS control MSM media and it has been one 24/7/365 campaign to undermine the war to regain political power. The Generals using their military positions is just the next step.
Don't forget the mileage from the Body Armor shortage either. It didn't exist after 8 Clinton defense budgets and these Generals were responsible for preparing requirements during the annual budget drills. Apparently, they were too busy flying around like rocks stars in Gulfstream V's to recognize the need for armor.
Ok, so you've got Fatboys movie. But inteligence folks leaking information, hey that's fair game for coverage. It gives all a better understanding as to what and why happens. And were those folks who leaked punished? ABU GHARAIB is also fair game. It should have never happened. For all that coverage, we have had some convictions for the crimes that were portrayed and written. ABU GHARAIB should never have happened and if it hadn't happened, it wouldn't be published. As for the dems who voted for the war and then turned, yes that's a problem. They didn't vote the courage of their convictions. However, if this war had gone like Desert Storm, they would have had mud in their face. The public and many others expectations were that this war would go very similar to Desert Storm and be quickly dispatched. That hasn't happened. And after long denying mistakes, the administration now admits that mistakes have been made, even early on.
You have to remember except for Kosovo, Clinton never sought nor received Congressional approval or UN Resolutions for his military operations. He overstated the cleansing in Kosovo and even bombed civilian targets like the Serbian TV station killing civilians with NO MEDIA COVERAGE. There was coverage. Our side of the congressional leaders were making noise. Our side of the talking heads was making noise. All about we shouldn't be the policemen of the world. Well now, we're the policment of the world, and lovin it.
IF Bush had attacked six countries in two year without approval the Dems would burn the whitehouse down.
Again, our side did make the same noise and was virtually inviting the rank and file of our side to come to the whitehouse with pitchforks and torches.
I don't remember fake Koran burning stories being generated and played 24/7 back then. In fact I don't beleive the american public even knew what was going on.
It was. There just weren't as many injured or killed soldiers in that still ongoing military action to be splashed across the screens. Everyone had heard of Milosovich. Doesn't mean it soaked in. For that matter, simply because they can't remember the stories, sort of goes hand in hand with they can't name who their senator is or congressional rep.
I don't remember fake Koran burning stories being generated and played 24/7 back then. In fact I don't beleive the american public even knew what was going on.
I don't think the media ginned those Koran burning stories. They may have repeated them. And yes, they may have even relished repeating them. But while the actual stories were fake, they claims were real. And besides , at first ABU GHARAIB was downplayed by our side as fake, overplayed....
I've seen more stories about the heroism of John Kerry and Murtha than of the entire 800,000 troops who have rotated through Iraq.
Selective filtering. I've seen many stories on the heroic efforts of our troops. Unlike Vietnam, these guys are still true heroes to the folks here at home. I traveled in February and had troops come by in the airport while waiting on flights or making connections. To a person, they were applauded. Many offerred to buy their lunch. It was wonderful to see the support still so strong.
THE DEMS control MSM media and it has been one 24/7/365 campaign to undermine the war to regain political power. The Generals using their military positions is just the next step.
Funny, but I thought that was the old media that had little impact. For something that has become irrelevant, we seem to have a lot of worry over it.
But that being said, that same MSM has become the home to Limbaugh and Hannity. Limbaugh is carried on the ABC owned and operated stations in NYC, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco. He's carried on the CBS owned and operated stations in Saint Louis. He was in Pittsburg, but that changed when his syndicator switched the affiliate to a station owned by the syndicators parent. It was ABC that gave him his home for his nationwide rollout.
Hannity IS syndicated by the MSM (ABC) as well on virtually all thier owned and operateds. Now Mark Levin is becoming rolled out on those same ABC MSM owned stations. ABC in San Francisco has a station dedicated to conserative talk.
If they are so interested in controlling us through disinformation, then why do they work so hard for Limbaugh and Hannity to succeed. These guys are the heavy weights and could do it on their own, but it's the MSM that supports and pushes them as a product every day.
Don't forget the mileage from the Body Armor shortage either. It didn't exist after 8 Clinton defense budgets and these Generals were responsible for preparing requirements during the annual budget drills. Apparently, they were too busy flying around like rocks stars in Gulfstream V's to recognize the need for armor.
Funny, but I thought the budget was set by the Congress. At least that's the story when Reagan couldn't get balanced budgets. Same for W. Seems we had Republicans in control of the purse strings since 95 or 6 of Clinton's 8 years. And remember, our side was promoting the peace dividend after Reagan and Bush I doing such a good job bringing communism to its knees. We were told that we didn't need that type of military any more. That was our side speaking.
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