Posted on 07/14/2006 5:50:57 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein on July 14, 2006 - 08:26.
Israel might be defending itself on two fronts this morning, but that might not be enough. The Today show was attacking on at least three. And in a brief but telling moment, Andrea Mitchell gave away the blame-Israel game with a spontaneous shake of the head.
Here's the gist of Today's reporting:
* Israel's offensive against Hezbollah is based on a 'pretext.'
* The Bush administration has dropped the diplomatic ball. It should have sent higher-level people in to mediate sooner. In the meantime, despite the concerns of America's European allies, the Bush White House has given Israel a dangerous 'green light' to attack.
* The Bush administration is not responding effectively to the crisis because it is 'overwhelmed' and spread too thin by involvement elsewhere.
* With ghoulish glee, Today wasted no time speculating on the possibility of $100/barrel oil resulting from the heightened tensions.
Here are the details. After a report from Richard Engel on the ground in Lebanon, Matt Lauer interviewed Andrea Mitchell. Claimed Mitchell:
"Diplomatic sources say Israel was waiting for a pretext to clean out Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanaon that have been firing rockets into northern Israel. But the European Union called Israel's response dispor and only the US voted to veto a UN resolution to condemning Israel's Gaza incursion. Instead, the administration is focusing on Syria and Iran's role in the crisis."
That's when Mitchell passed along criticism that the US should have sent a higher-level envoy sooner. To bolster her argument, she played a clip of one James Steinberg, who blistered as 'inexplicable' the administration's failure to be more directly involved. The screen graphic identified Steinberg by his University of Texas affiliation. But a quick Googling reveals that he was the Deputy National Security Advisor . . . in the Clinton administration. Truth in packaging, Andrea?
Mitchell passed along more criticism of US policy: "The administration has given Israel a green light to go after Hezbollah and Hamas. The concern though is that events could spiral out of control." Andrea, have you considered the dangers if Israel doesn't go after the terror groups?
That's when Matt took his shot: "How much of the US response now is dictated by a lack of clout in that region following the war in Iraq?"
Mitchell: "That certainly is certainly part of the problem with the US spread so thin in Iraq, Afghanistan and the continuing nuclear stalemate with Iran." Mitchell also tried to portray as bi-partisan the criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the situation, though the only Republican critic she could identify was Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel. Does that count?
When you want to criticize Bush foreign policy, what better source than Madame Secretary herself, and sure enough Lauer quoted Madeleine Albright to the effect that crises around the world have produced 'a perfect storm.' Springboarded Matt: "Is there a sense in the diplomatic world that the administration's a bit overwhelmed?"
Mitchell: "There is a sense the administration has not focused on the Israel/Palestinian issue," and that everything else hinges on that.
An aside: at one point during the Lauer/Mitchell exchange, Matt passed along breaking news that Israel had again bombed the Beirut airport. Andrea responded spontaneously with a brief-but-disapproving shake of the head.
Today wasted no time in bringing the conflict to the home front, tying it to a favorite recurring theme, high gas prices. Interviewing market reporter Ron Insana, Ann Curry could barely contain her glee in speculating about "$80, $90, $100/barrel" crude oil. Curry seemed disappointed when Insana suggested it would take Iran's entry into the conflict to really send oil prices soaring. "Would it take that to get to $100/barrel?", she asked.
Come on, Ron, give us some apocalypse now!
>>>That's when Mitchell passed along criticism that the US should have sent a higher-level envoy sooner. To bolster her argument, she played a clip of one James Steinberg, who blistered as 'inexplicable' the administration's failure to be more directly involved. The screen graphic identified Steinberg by his University of Texas affiliation. But a quick Googling reveals that he was the Deputy National Security Advisor . . . in the Clinton administration. Truth in packaging, Andrea?<<<
Everyone in the world now knows Clinton hired incompetent boobs for his administration (under the assumption their incompetence made him look brighter). So naturally a Clinton-apologist like Mitchell would try to cover up Steinberg's association.
> The Bush administration is not responding effectively to the crisis because it is 'overwhelmed' and spread too thin by involvement elsewhere.
And the Left certainly has done all they can to make Bush's task easier, haven't they?
Thanks, GL.
p.
Most of them think they are experts in virtually everything. and therefore qualified to do an instant analysis on any topical issue. Their blather is mostly biased and superficial.
Because they have the same goal -- the destruction of the U.S.
Their tactics may be different, and certainly their post-U.S. vision is radically different. But their goal is the same, and their enemies are the same -- Israel, and conservative America.
Folks, we have a winner, you can stop calling the station now.
Good post. Nice insight into the liberal mindset.
[She sits in a chair a reads what ever comes over the teleprompter.]
This is something everyone should always keep in mind for ALL these anchors...they are nothing more than news READERS, they also use ear buds for backup's. If the prompters go down and the ear buds fail...they are brainless robots.
From updated version of NewsBusters story:
Responding to Lauer's question as to how far the US would go in backing Israel, Mitchell stated: "This is a fragile situation. It could really undermine this fledging democracy in Lebanon which the U.S. Is trying to point to as a show place for the Middle East."
The view of Lebanon as a fragile, fledging democracy is widely-accepted. However, when I interviewed Jed Babbin - former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense in the Bush, Sr. admin - on my TV show 'Right Angle' last evening, he offered another perspective on Lebanon. Babbin, author of a book warning of a likely war with China, pointed out the Hezbollah terror group is an official part of of the Lebanese government. In Babbin's view, it is more accurate to think of Lebanon as akin to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority.
Great report! And Andrea Mitchell continued her "Blame Bush" theory on Imus. He even asked why she would go after our president at a time like this. Oh, she prefaced her criticism with "critics would say....", but that was totallly and obviously just a ruse to cover her own opinion.
Almost 10 am. oh goodie, almost time for The Joe and Val Show. I'll watch it on C-Span, but I do wonder if the networks will break from regular programming to show it live. (just kidding, I'm sure the networks will do it for them)
sure hope, If the Wilsons take questions, that you can give them to us. MSM quesstions will be far more interesting than the Wilsons' answers.
should read: "I'm sure the cables will do it for them"
9/11 initiated World War IV. The "Clash of Civilizations" about which experts like Huntington warned, was on us. The problem with people like Mitchell is that they cannot conceive of the actions occuring in Lebanon and Gaza as part of a single tapsestry being woven by Islamists. It stretches from Indonesia through Somalia to the Holy Land into Europe and the United States itself. They are still convinced that "diplomacy" can resolve individual clashes. The events in Israel today allow the Democrats and their parasites to lash Bush and play a card that is anti-Israel and verges on the anti-Semitic. That Mitchell (a Jew who along with her husband Alan Greenspan would surely hang from a lamppost in Gaza if they lived there today) falls so eaily into this trap, is as Democrat senators like to say, very disturbing.
My most heartfelt wishes for Andrea and the rest of the main-slime media:
May the bleeding piles beseige them. May they get the seven-year-itch, but it last for 49. May their tongues cleave to the roof of their mouths and swell to three times normal size. May their children become Orthdox Jews, Evangelical Protestant, or conservative Catholic. May they fall in the outhouse as a Ukranian regiment finishes a prune stew and 12 barrels of beer. May a beet grow in their stomachs and they pee borscht. May all their teeth fall out of their heads, except one, and that one should get a toothache. And when they are old and feeble, and total wrecks, may their spines fall through their a-holes and break their effing necks!
Well stated.
Alan Greenspan - who used to be an Ayn Rand groupie.
Go figure.
He's someone I often use to bolster my argument that the older most people get the softer in the head they think. Greenspan went from Objectivism to Democrat - a long road to travel.
/inane moonbat logic>
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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Despicable is too good a word for these media whore traitors!
As bad as things are right now in the Middle East how much worse would it be if Saddam was still in power in Iraq?
East Coast Fee Range: $20,001 to $30,000
West Coast Fee Range: $20,001 to $30,000
This idiot gets paid this kind of cash to speak her anti-American BS?
Oil futures for August (the nearest futures available) hit $79.45 at the open today, but have pulled back to $77.25, still up $.55.
Futures for February and March reached $81.24. All futures for 2007 which have traded today are currently over $80 a barrel.
I hate to say it, but $100+ per barrel is most certainly a possibility in the near future.
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