Franken Accuses Hume of "Obscene...Trivializing" of Troop Deaths

MRC ^ | Friday September 26, 2003 | BrentBaker

[Not A Snowbird]

"Someone tell me, why do I keep doing the job I do?"

Because, Old Sarge, it's the right, moral, and courageous thing to do. And few are called to do it.

Semper Fi,
Sandy
Capt, USMC, Retired

[Huck]

Looks like some fuzzy math.

[Egregious Philbin]

The fuzzy math belongs to Hume (or whoever wrote the copy).

"Two hundred seventy seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, which means that, statistically speaking, U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California which is roughly the same geographical size. The most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2,300 homicides each year, which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they're incurring about 1.7 deaths, including illness and accidents, each day."

As Franken says, there are 34 million people in California. There are more than 2,300 homicides each year in California, 6.6 a day. It comes out to about 1 homicide for every 15,000 citizens. There are 140,000 troops in Iraq. 277 have died. They've been there for 160 days. That comes out to about 1 death for every 250 troops.

[UncleJeff]

Franken is dumber than a good quality rock BUT Hume was being quite deceptive, equating geography (in California) with population (our troops). To say that our troops face less risk in Iraq than Californians do at home trivializes what our soldiers are up against, and what they do on a daily basis, and is unworthy of ANY serious news organization.

[muawiyah]

Franken's only point is to politicize the death of American fighting men.

[UNGN]

277 is total deaths. That's Car accidents, falls, construction acidents, etc.

The Rate of Service men killed in Iraq thru hostile action is actually VERY CLOSE to the Murder rate of 15-27 year old Black men in California.

Do the math.

[AngryJawa]

It's really nice of Franken to take time out of his busy schedule at Christmastime to entertain the Fedayeen and AQ troops. Wadda guy...I can't wait to see the pictures of 'ol Al holding an RPG launcher and mugging with the brave terrorists.

[Egregious Philbin]

Franken's only point is to politicize the death of American fighting men.

Franken's point was that that was Hume's point, I think.

[Egregious Philbin]

The Rate of Service men killed in Iraq thru hostile action is actually VERY CLOSE to the Murder rate of 15-27 year old Black men in California.

Hume didn't say that though, did he? If the MRC is to be a good media critic, they at least shouldn't support Hume's original statement, which is misleading and false.

[muawiyah]

Could be, but Franken is, in general, inarticulate. I'd heard there are people who think he's funny, but they gotta' be using dope big time or are professional drunks.

It's really difficult to tell what Franken is saying.

[Steely Glint]

Franken is nothing but an anti-American Leftist liar.

May he be deported to Cuba.

[Steely Glint]

"Someone tell me, why do I keep doing the job I do?"

Because someone has to

Because you took the oath

Because your country needs you

I fought in a much more upopular war than this one. What the Leftist idiots said never bothered me. It was all lies anyway.

And you can always look on the bright side. "This is great," said my optimistic buddy back then, "we're getting PAID to kill Communists."

[Thom Pain]

As they say "in a battle of wits, Franken is unarmed"

Especially vs Brit Hume.

[Old Sarge]

Thanks, FRiends. Some days I need that.

[CharlesI]

Franken is nothing but an anti-American Leftist liar.

True. Franken is also the least successful of Saturday Night Live's writer/performers. He spent twenty-plus years on a show that was a springboard for it's people. After a few years, three or four, the performers went on to bigger and better careers, he didn't.

Comedy didn't work for him, so now he's with us, with all his anger for a lousy comedic career, as an agenda driven "commentator". He also attempts to be a bully, but a punk like him only scares the helpless.

[Timesink]

As Franken says, there are 34 million people in California. There are more than 2,300 homicides each year in California, 6.6 a day. It comes out to about 1 homicide for every 15,000 citizens. There are 140,000 troops in Iraq. 277 have died. They've been there for 160 days. That comes out to about 1 death for every 250 troops.

You either count the deaths of the soliders via the ratio of troops to the number of people in Iraq - the SAME WAY the California homicide stats are counted - or else you are playing games with the numbers. (Unless every troop death in Iraq has been due to friendly fire, which it has not.)

Franken was playing games with the numbers.

[Huck]

Uh, I know. That's what I said.

[aruanan]

Franken Accuses Hume of "Obscene...Trivializing" of Troop Deaths

But Franken, just walking around, obscenely trivializes what it means to be human.

[mystery-ak]

I hope Franken goes to Iraq to *entertain* the troops....Im telling my hubby to punch his lights out if he sees him...LOL