Posted on 05/20/2004 4:41:55 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Edited on 05/20/2004 4:54:52 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
A solid morning of fighting the good liberal fight for The Today Show.
The opening highlighted doubts about a US bombing raid in Iraq and an Israeli attack in Gaza.
Then, in the first interview, Matt Lauer was on the attack with Rudy Giuliani. The thesis: Rudy was not treated harshly enough in his appearance before the 9/11 Commission yesterday.
Q. Do you understand the amount of anger that some of the families expressed at yesterday's hearing?
A. Yes, people have different ways of expressing themselves, but the real anger should be reserved for the terrorists that did this.
That didn't satisfy Lauer. He cut Rudy off: "but blame and anger. Blame at officials responsible for overseeing the response."
Again and again Lauer returned to the assertion that the response was imperfect and that as a result lives were needlessly lost.
Rudy readily acknowledged that the response was imperfect but made the obvious point that nothing had ever prepared America for something like this, and that while he sympathized with the pain of the families who lost people in the WTC, there were other families to be considered, the families of the fire and policemen who died saving thousands of people.
The Lauer/Today strategy seems clear. With all the doubt about Iraq, the stories of the heroism of the response to 9/11 is one of the remaining feelgood themes we have, and in some way it redounds to Pres. Bush's benefit. So that heroism must be undermined and discredited. Lauer gave his best effort this morning.
Then it was on to a Katie interview with Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller who some time ago made a number of recommendations regarding the way detainees at Abu Ghraib should be interrogated. The Gen. made the point that the abuse was the acts of a small number of people who violated orders and that there was no culture of abuse. Katie was clearly skeptical.
But the key to the inteview was that, **at three separate times during the segment**, Today displayed a series of the abuse photos that we've all seen countless times.
By the way, I also kept careful count of the number of times this morning that Today displayed photos from the butchering of Nick Berg: it was exactly . . . zero.
Finally, a Lauer love-in with John McCain, Today's favorite guest. He readily took up the invitation to dump on Gen. Miller's assertion that there was a limited number of people involved in the prisoner abuse.
But Today's obvious main purpose was to open the wounds between McCain and the GOP with the hope of driving him into the arms of John Kerry.
Apparently McCain had made a comment to the effect that Americans weren't making enough sacrifices, meaning our taxes are too low. Today showed a clip of House Speaker Denny Hastert saying that if McCain wanted to see sacrifice he should visit our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.
McCain said that he had done that, but that we shouldn't burden those people with big deficits, and anyhow what happened to the Republican philosophy of restraining spending and smaller government? (a fair point).
Lauer let the cat slip entirely out of the bag: "with fellow Republicans criticizing you, and Dem Sen. Joe Biden suggesting that John Kerry should give you a call regarding the VP slot, has it occured to you that you might be playing for the wrong team?"
McCain said no, that he was supporting Pres. Bush, that sometimes tempers got frayed and he understood. Actually a decent statement.
But this is clearly just an opening salvo in the liberal media's effort to help convince McCain to join the Kerry ticket.
I agree...That's why the demure "Kerry and I are friends" when he declares "I support the President".
"But this is clearly just an opening salvo in the liberal media's effort to help convince McCain to join the Kerry ticket."
Why does everyone seem to think that this is a winnable, dream ticket? If McCain did consent and was placed on the ticket, then you'd have TWO (2) oppotunistic jerks who would pimp-out their mother for a vote.
"Today" can give themselves yet another meaningless pat-on-the-back for another unabashedly biased interview. Then they can look up the street a ways where 3 previous unknowns on a cable TV network who host "Fox & Friends" are beating them quite convincingly in the ratings. In just a few short years E.D. Hill, Brian Kilmede and Steve Doocey have overtaken the morning news/talk format and put the networks in a frenzy to regain their previously unchallanged dominance. Personally, I cannot stand Matt and Katie and their nauseating self-importance. And I know that there are a lot of American television viewers who agree with me.
I wouldn't disagree, but the fact seems to be that McCain appeals to many moderate Republicans and to independents.
Zell is more valuable to the Republicans right where he is.
I was more scared when al-Qerry and Ralph Nader were making nicey-nicey yesterday. Now THAT would be a ticket for us to fear.
Sen. McCain often talks of Americans, particulrly youth, serving a cause greater than one's self. That question should be turned on him. Preface it this way:
" Senator, in these times it's clear this will be the most vital election in a generation. The times are difficult. The differences between the candidates are stark. You are a public figure with a large following of supporters. Don't you believe you should tell those followers and the American people now which candidate you believe deserves their unequivocal support? Don't you believe that you should do this without waiting for any concession from one of them about a program or policy you support, or without waiting for one of the candidate's to actively seek you support. Isn't it time for John McCain to put America before all else and endorse the candidate he feels is best suited to lead the nation in these dangerous times? We have only two choices Senator McCain. Which man should lead America?"
Long winded? Yeah, I am writing it for Hannity. But such a question would place McCain squarely on the spot. The President and Kerry present a clear choice. If the question of which man is asked now of McCain I believe he would have to answer. It doesn't matter what answer he gives. It would take the McCain drama out of the election now and let the contest be decided by the ideas, performance, and personalities of the two candidates.
The media and politicians are too cozy with one another for that to ever happen, but it would be the right thing to do.
I havent watched anything on NBC-CBS-ABC in 20 years boy am I glad we can watch FOX news.
It's becoming more statist because the Greediest Generation is moving there in droves...
You're joking; right??
Well put, and I'd like to see Hannity put the question. And btw I agree with your assessment of Sean.
In fairness to McCain, he did clearly state today "I am supporting Pres. Bush."
He would still be the VICE President, the VICE President.
The Sheep believe their media celebrities more than facts and the truth.
Katie tells them what to believe, and The Sheep will listen.
Not really.
*Nader has more name recognition than McCain with the sheeeeple, IMO.
*Lots of Dems really want to vote for Nader, but most know that a vote for him is a virtual vote for GW. This way, they might be figuring they can combine their paltry percentages and overtake GW.
Just a gut reaction on my part. Where am I going wrong?
This effort by the media to get McCain to switch teams is actually good for the GOP.
The odds of McCain actually getting the VP slot are slim and none. He would overshadow Kerry. More importantly, he would overshadow Hillary. Furthermore, even as a RINO, McCain is too far right (abortion, for example) for the Democratic Party of 2004. Furthermore, McCain has enough baggage in his closet (calling an Asian reporter a "gook," being part of the Keating five), that the GOP could destroy him if he got the nod.
So, there is no way he is getting the Dem VP nomination. However, by continuing to pursue him, the media is subtly reinforcing the idea that there is no one in the Democratic Party capable of igniting the Kerry ticket. They are also creating a mindset where whomever gets the VP nod is going to be a disappointment.
As such, I really, really, hope they keep this nonsense up. All they are doing is creating the impression that it takes a republican to save a democrat (so to speak),
"Perspective" was a word that kept coming up. I believe that "perspective" is to the Left as a cross is to a vampire.
It's easier and more fun to emote from the latest anecdote than it is to actually construct a mental edifice and apply it to the world with the systematic reasoning model.
This is precisely why the Left is destroying the government schools - to replace reason with emotion.
Excellent points. However, if by chance McCain were to run as VP, there were be such a continuing liberal media gush that I'm concerned it would drown out any criticism.
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