Bill Bennett felt the need to distance himself from a statement he was quoting about abortion statistics, immediately followed that with a denouncement of that quoted opinion, and STILL found himself redacted in a way to bring a smear campaign down on his program as if that was his position.
Charlie Daniels probably isn't taking any chances. True he shouldn't have to defend himself before an attack, but when you understand how the media operates, it is best to anticipate their moves when you preach political heresy.
I disagree. We don't need to qualify ourselves - ever. The media can say what they want. We only do ourselves a disservice when we play along acting defensive.
I'm well aware of Bill Bennett's controversy when he spoke of the "reprehensible" idea of aborting more black children to reduce crime. BB felt the need to distance himself from even SPEAKING about it after he was admonished in a very public press conference by our self-described "compassionate conservative" president.
I think BB could have handled the media "outrage", but when President Bush used one of his I-can-count-on-one-hand moments to fight back he chose to slam one of his own, and Bennett had no choice but to back down.
The problem isn't the media as much as it is US thinking we have to qualify ourselves.