A Haditha Marine Father Has a Question for Alan Colmes [Update at post 216: Colmes Apologizes!]

Defend Our Marines ^ | February 11, 2007 | David Allender

[RedRover]

On the February 9th broadcast of Hannity & Colmes, Alan Colmes made an outrageous and poisonous statement that was not corrected on air.

Speaking to Oliver North, Colmes supported Congressman John Murtha's ugly and destructive lie that, "no question about it", Marines in Haditha had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood".

Defending the indefensible, Colmes told the viewers that there have been "confessions and convictions" in the Haditha Marine case.

Now Darryl Sharratt, the father of a Haditha Marine has a question:

"I would like to ask Alan Colmes where he got his information. There have been no convictions. There have been no confessions."

On the February 10th broadcast of Kit Jarrell's The Front Line, Mr. Sharratt stated, "Evidently, he is not doing the research to be on national television. He comes out in front of millions of people and makes this statement and it is 100% wrong."

So what now, Fox News?

If Mr. Colmes' false assertion continues to be left uncorrected, Fox News will contribute to a tainted jury pool, cause additional pain to the families, and mislead supporters and potential donors to the Haditha Marine defense funds. Through his statement, Mr. Colmes reached millions of people with the message that guilt has already been established.

Fox News and Alan Colmes must make amends...

1. Fox News owes its viewers the opportunity to hear from Darryl Sharratt or other Haditha Marine family members to set the record straight. None of the Haditha Marines have yet faced a hearing. Anything that is known about the case or the investigation has been leaked by prosecutors and politicians. The media has been complicit in this and it must stop now.

2. Alan Colmes owes the Marines and their families an apology. I suggest he make it in the form of a donation to any of the Haditha Marine Defense Funds. (For Mr. Colmes' convenience, all the information he needs about fund donations is here).

These are fair requests to make of a news channel long supported by patriots. Now it's up to Alan Colmes and Fox News.

David Allender
Defend Our Marines

PS. If you have a blog or post online at military websites, please help spread the word. We will keep you posted.

[RedRover]

LOL! Thanks, xzins! That is a great e-mail. Now I know who to call on for firepower of the written word.

[Velveeta]

Thank you for the update.
I'm so thankful that our Marines know we support them.

[Grampa Dave]

I wonder how many freepers and Sean himself still think that Colmes is a nice guy?

[Grampa Dave]

Sean, too many freepers and so called conservatives have allowed Colmes to be a left wing A$$hole.

Sean, should apologize and stop appearing with Colmes. Sean does great work for the families of our warriors and fallen warriors. Then, he stands by and allows his liberal a$$hole buddy, Colmes, to smear our Marines.

[pandoraou812]

Great news...but I am not writing him back....Red. lmao

[RedRover]

Sorry I missed your post last night.

Welcome to Free Republic!

[Chickenhawk Warmonger]

I was wrapped up in "24" and running after the grandbaby and missed H&C. Thanks for the update. That's great news!

[jazusamo]

Very well said, Chaplin. All of it!

[RedRover]

I missed the broadcast as well. Thanks for everything you did. Hopefully, we did something to turn back the media onslaught against our Marines.

[smoothsailing]

Red, here's the pertinent part of the lexis nexis transcript of last night's H&C.:

START...........

COLMES: I want to say, I misspoke the other night. I made a mistake. I was talking about convictions...

HANNITY: You said you made a mistake?

COLMES: You have it on tape now. I said there were convictions and that there were guilty verdicts. And I gave the impression that I was talking about Haditha, because I was talking about it in the context of Murtha. And I misspoke.

And what I should have taken the time to point out was that I was conflating Hamdaniya and Mahmoudiya, and that's where there have been some convictions and, in fact, a confession. And I gave the impression that that was about Haditha, and I want to make it very clear that I regret that was misunderstood.

HANNITY: We're on the air, both of us, four hours a day. There are going to be times you misspeak.

COLMES: Yes.

HANNITY: And you know what? I've done it before.

COLMES: Did you ever -- did you say you made a mistake?

HANNITY: No. But you know what? It always -- we're in an unforgiving environment right now.

COLMES: Right, right.

HANNITY: But you know what? We talk a lot, and I didn't articulate it as well as I should have. And I apologize.

HANNITY: Stay on point. You made a mistake.

COLMES: Thank you.

HANNITY: That's it.

COLMES: You want that to be our last word tonight.

And that's all the time we have left this evening. Greta Van Susteren is up next. She is here to go "On the Record." Have a great night.

END........

Red, here's the link to lexis nexis:

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100007214&docId=l:570772042&start=6

[RedRover]

And what I should have taken the time to point out was that I was conflating Hamdaniya and Mahmoudiya, and that's where there have been some convictions and, in fact, a confession. And I gave the impression that that was about Haditha, and I want to make it very clear that I regret that was misunderstood.

Of course, Colmes got it wrong AGAIN in his apology. And Hannity was no better. The point is not about someone making a verbal flub because they're on four times a day. The point is fairness toward the accused.

But I'm moving on. This is as much as we're going to get at this point. We'll fight again to get the Haditha Marine families heard.

BTW, Hannity gave me a new tagline.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the post and ping, Smooth. He could have gone a little further in his apology but I give him credit for making it.

I believe it will make him think about making off the wall statements about our Marines in the future which is a good thing.

[smoothsailing]

HANNITY: But you know what? We talk a lot, and I didn't articulate it as well as I should have. And I apologize.

I just noticed this, the transcript attributes this statement to Hannity, which makes no sense, it was Colmes who said it.

This part is telling,(with the correction to transcript)

.............:

HANNITY: We're on the air, both of us, four hours a day. There are going to be times you misspeak.

COLMES: Yes.

HANNITY: And you know what? I've done it before.

COLMES: Did you ever -- did you say you made a mistake?

HANNITY: No. But you know what? It always -- we're in an unforgiving environment right now.

COLMES: Right, right. But you know what? We talk a lot, and I didn't articulate it as well as I should have. And I apologize.

HANNITY: Stay on point. You made a mistake.

COLMES: Thank you.

HANNITY: That's it.

COLMES: You want that to be our last word tonight.

.............

Hannity DIDN'T want Colmes to apologize, just say he "misspoke".

Red, if you post the apology somewhere else, remember to make the transcript correction. When I initially cut and pasted it here, I didn't notice it.

[RedRover]

I neglected to say thanks for the post, smooth.

So thanks, smooth!

[jazusamo]

Yes, it was Colmes who said "And I apologize." They were both speaking at that time but I distinctly remember Colmes saying it.

[lilycicero]

Thanks for the post and I agree to move on. Just for fun, could one of you be Anna's baby's father? That would get you on air.

[RebekahT]

Please add me to the Haditha Marine Ping List. Thank you.

[smoothsailing]

LOL!!! Not me, no way!

[RedRover]

Thanks for the correction, smooth. I'll post it tonight on the site in its corrected version.

I really don't get Hannity treating this so lightly. He could at least have said how important it is to report the truth about our Marines. I hate the way he chimed in about being on four times a day as if that is an excuse for screwing up the facts. You'd think the more you're on the air, the greater your responsibility to get the facts straight.

Also, if you go back to the original discussion, Colmes said there were confessions and convictions and that proved John Murtha was right! Why won't Colmes just admit Murtha was wrong to say what he said, and it always be wrong regardless of the outcome of the judicial process?

So there's plenty of reason to be unsatisfied but, as said above, I'm happy there was some response. So victory is ours. Now we got other fish to fry.

[lilycicero]

Shucks.