Another oldie by Raum...
PRAVDA ON THE POTOMAC
On Saturday, Raum wrote an AP story about (Michael) Moore’s remarks. Incredibly, this was his full account of the controversy about Bush’s service:
RAUM (1/17/04): The exchange recalled a controversy that was an element of the 2000 presidential campaign.
Bush served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard from May 1968 to October 1973, mostly flying F-102 fighter interceptors. He did not go to Vietnam.
Bush spent most of his time in the Guard based near Houston, but in May 1972 he received a three-month assignment in Alabama with the 187th Tactical Recon Unit in Montgomery while he worked on a political campaign in the state.
Retired Gen. William Turnipseed, a commander at the Alabama base, said during the 2000 presidential campaign that he never saw Bush appear for duty for that unit’s drills. Bush maintains he was there, but records have never been produced to document that Bush was there.
Incredibly, Raum’s readers have now been told that there is only a three-month period at issue. Since he wrote the official AP account, Raum’s report almost surely ran in newspapers all over the country.
Does the corps tear up all the hopefuls? As we noted a few months ago, the corps fled from this topic during Campaign 2000, and totally dropped it after that (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 11/26/03). Now, Raum presents a baldly inaccurate account of the matter, and Broder’s account—while technically accurate—is as friendly to Bush as it can accurately be. After November 2000, the press corps never made the slightest attempt to sort out the issues involved in this story. No, Virginia, they don’t go after all the hopefuls. And do you see why it takes a fool to assert that they’re gripped by that vile liberal bias?
http://tinyurl.com/kd3uk
Another one...
AP Reporter: Bush White House Uses "Slash-and-Burn Assaults On Its Critics"
Just in time for Halloween.
- October 2005 -
In an October 19, 2005, article, veteran Associated Press reporter Tom Raum claimed (emphasis added),
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's CIA-leak inquiry is focusing attention on what long has been a Bush White House tactic: slash-and-burn assaults on its critics, particularly those opposed to the president's Iraq war policies.
"Slash-and-burn assaults"? This sounds more like something out of a Chucky or Halloween movie.
Apparently, this is the AP's idea of "news analysis." Yet at least one place on the Web, Raum's article appears as being just another newswire story. At CNN.com, for example, Raum is not even given a byline, and the piece does not carry any kind of "News analysis" or "Commentary" heading.
Another example of the increasing blur between "news" and "analysis"? It appears so.
Hat tip to Brit Hume's Political Grapevine at Fox News Channel.
http://tinyurl.com/ewd9z