The Latest October Surprise: Lynne Cheney

Wolf Blitzer attempted to sandbag Lynne Cheney today, but that the former Chair of the NEH wasn't buying any of it. Incredibly Blitzer drags the Second Lady of the United States into the dust-up over the novels of James Webb, airing Webb's defense which wrongly drew a comparison between his novels and Lynne Cheney's novel. Blitzer even goes so far as to read the DNC talking points to Cheney, who had been booked to discuss her new children's book, The 50 States. Cheney's outrage is obvious, as is Blitzer's recognition that he had crossed a line which he ought not to have crossed.

The entire interview will air next hour, but with just this clip CNN is already again exposed as a reliable purveyor of DNC spin. I will post the transcript as it arrives and play it on the air, but if the base needed more motivation, seeing this ambush will provide it. I don't know the circumstances of the invitation tendered to Mrs. Cheney, but it sounds as though CNN had booked her to talk about her book, and then used the time for other purposes.

If you post on this interview, send me a link. Disgust at MSM bias has been mounting throughout the election season, and this is just another though very high profile example of why that disgust exists.

WB: Democrats are now complaining bitterly in this Virginia race. George Allen using novels, novels that Jim Webb, his Democratic challenger, has written, in which there are sexual references. And they’re making a big deal out of this. I want you to listen to what Jim Webb said today in responding to this very sharp attack from George Allen.

WB: I want you to respond. This is in the news today, and your name has come up, so that’s why we’re talking about it. But listen to this:

James Webb: There’s nothing that’s been in any of my novels that in my view, hasn’t been either illuminating the surroundings, or defining a character, or moving a plot. I’m a serious writer. I mean, we can go and read Lynne Cheney’s lesbian love scenes if you want to, you know, get graphic on stuff.

LC: You know, Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of sexually explicit references to incest, sexually explicit references…well, you know, I just don’t want my grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning, Imus was reading from the novels, and it’s triple X rated.

WB: Here’s what the Democratic Party put out today, the Democratic Congressional Senatorial Campaign Committee. Lynne Cheney’s book featured brothels and attempted rape. In 1981, Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne, wrote a book called Sisters, which featured a lesbian love affair, brothels, and attempted rapes. In 1988, Lynne Cheney wrote about a Republican Vice President who dies of a heart attack while having sex with his mistress. Is that true?

LC: Nothing explicit. And actually, that is full of lies. It’s not…it’s just absolutely not true.

LC: I think our segment is like 15 minutes long, and we’ve now done ten minutes, so…

LYNN CHENEY IN CNN SITDOWN, SLAPDOWN: DO YOU WANT AMERICA TO WIN?
Fri Oct 27 2006 18:29:49 ET

Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, took on CNN Friday evening during an interview with anchorman Wolf Blitzer.

Transcript:

CHENEY: You made a point last night of a man who had a bookstore in London where radical islamists gathered. Who was in Afghanistan when the Taliban were there. Who went to Pakistan. You know, I think that you might be a little careful before you declare this as a person with clean hands.

WOLF: You are receiving to the CNN "Broken Government" special. This is the one John King reported on last night.

CHENEY: Right there, Wolf. 'Broken Government.' What kind of stance is that? Here we are. We are a country where we have been mightily challenged over the past six years. We've been through 9/11, we've been through Katrina. The president and the vice president inherited a recession. We are in a country where the economy is healthy. That's not broken. This government has acted very well. We have tax cuts responsible for the healthy economy. We are a country that was attacked five years ago. We haven't been attacked since. What this government has done is effective. That's not broken government. So, you know, I shouldn't let media bias surprise me, but I worked at CNN once. I watched a program last night.

WOLF: You worked on CROSSFIRE.

CHENEY: ...And i was troubled.

WOLF: All right. Well that was probably the purpose, to get people to think. To get people to discuss these issues. Because --

CHENEY: Well, all right. Wolf, I'm here to talk about my book. But if you want to talk about distortion --

WOLF: We'll talk about your book.

CHENEY: Right, but what is CNN doing? Running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans. I mean, I thought [Rep.] Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question, and you didn't answer it. Do you want us to win?

WOLF: The answer of course is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There's no doubt about that.

CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?

WOLF: Well all do respect, this is not terrorist propaganda.

CHENEY: Oh, wolf.

WOLF: This is reporting the news. Which is what we do, we are not partisan.

CHENEY: Where did you get the film?

WOLF: We got the film, look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue we reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully-considered decision why we did that. And I think, I think --

CHENEY: Well I think it's shocking.

WOLF: If you are a serious journalist, you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn't so good.

CHENEY: But wolf, there's a difference between news and terrorist propaganda.

Cheney also took on Virginia senate challenger Jim Webb.

JIM WEBB: There's nothing that's been in in of my novels that in my view, hasn't been either illuminating surroundings are defining a character or moving a plot. I'm a serious writer. I mean, we can go and read Lynne Cheney's lesbian love scenes if you want to get graphic on stuff.

CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of, um, sexual explicit reference to sex. Sexually explicit references to, well, I don't want my grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning Imus was reading from the novels. And it's triple X-rated.

END
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm

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