"A lack of sensitivity about how words can affect people." That is the judgement of Daniel Schorr on -- guess who -- John Kerry! NPR's Schorr continues the echo chamber story about Kerry's wooden attempt at a joke. Pathetically, Schorr can't even get the joke right himself. Speaking of the joke Kerry meant to tell Schorr says, "it wasn’t a very good joke to begin with; boosting education as a way of staying out of combat service sounded as though Kerry was still campaigning against Mr. Bush." That's not what Kerry was saying AT ALL! As we all know he was trying to imply that someone as stupid, lazy, ignorant and anti-intellectual as Bush is the kind of person who leads a nation into a quagmire like the Iraq War.Not only rambling Schorr gets in on the act, but John Ydstie rehashes the story, and in doing so lets Bush off the hook for gaffes and misstatements that truly have had consequences. In his report we hear the Kerry piece (again) , a Joe Biden gaffe, a Dan Quayle goof from 1989, Bush's silly "fool me once" bit from 2002, and an extended ridicule of Dean's 2004 scream in Iowa.
This whole "Kerry Gaffe" episode would have been a wonderful opportunity for a serious news operation to hold Bush to his words and their consequences (since that is what he demands of Kerry in his Georgia attack on Kerry). Here are a few gems that NPR could have held up to scrutiny.
During Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech of May 1, 2003 he said the following:
- With new tactics and precision weapons, we can achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians.
- The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on.
- The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding.
Of course this Kerry epidsode would have been a great time to mention the crude bravado of Bush at a news conference in July of 2003 when he said, "There are some who feel like that if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don't understand what they're talking about, if that's the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like -- that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on. We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation. " A reporter might ask how many of the nearly 3000 US troops killed in Iraq died as a result of that "sensitive" remark?
I'll let John Ydstie end this post with the joking words he used to end his report: "This is Fox, I, I’m sorry, this is the CBS morning, oh Geez, where am I? Oh! This is NPR News."
[Credit is owed to the following Wiki site for compiling many important Bush statements.]
3 comments:
I heard that too and wondered, yet again, just how NPR can still allow Schorr airtime. Even on his (fewer and fewer) lucid days he can't seem to arrive at a conclusion. He just drizzles on and on and then signs off. On his worst days he can't even get the premise out accurately, as in this morning's piece. It seems NPR has a strict policy of commentator tenure--if they've been around a long time they can't be dropped no matter how bad/lazy they get. Sort of like baseball managers.
God, they really milked Kerry's comment for all it was worth! I think I counted at least 4 or 5 mentions during Sunday's Weekend Edition. Just having themselves a hell of a time, the cackling skulls...
Oh, and Ydstie...suck on it. You ARE Fox News.
Rewgarding the election, NPR this AM on the local Philly show 'Radio Times' had 3 experts: Joe Klein, Byron York, and somone from Factcheck.org. Klein had his usual contradictory rhetoric and subtle Dem slurrs, York was actually asked about the 'liberal media' by the host, which allowed him to rant about the oh-so influential 'Air America Radio' and George Soros--what a douchebag- and the Fact-check guy is going on right now about the Dem attack ads. The other day, Debbie Elliot was all over the 'tightening Repub surge'. TRepeatedly. I noticed in MA a few weeks ago that WBUR was constantly harping about Deval Patrick, I mean every 15 mins was something about 'Did you hear about Deval Patrick?'. I think they were push-polling, because they kept talking about Patrick and some rapist, and kept referring to polls showing the race tightening. IMO, there is a big push on at NPR to affect the election toward the Repubs. Someone mentioned on NPR last week about a big shake-up in the organisation, but i haven't heard anything since. And WHYY didn't meet its fundraising goal this time, so mayabe the public is gettting wise.
Post a Comment