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Media Credit to Bush?
Townhall.com ^ | May 4, 2011 | Brent Bozell

Posted on 05/04/2011 5:49:35 AM PDT by Kaslin

When word emerged Sunday night that President Obama would be making remarks from the White House at 10:30 p.m., viewers knew it must be important. When it began to leak that America had finally found and killed Osama bin Laden, there was joy from sea to shining sea.

The nagging pain that this radical Islamic assassin had never received American justice was finally relieved. Crowds gathered in front of the White House and at Ground Zero to chant joyously, "USA! USA!" But for most, it wasn't jubilation. It was the silent fist pump and a silent prayer of thanksgiving for the safety of our extraordinary military. And a thanks to this president for his leadership in bringing justice to that monster.

Unfortunately, while the president spoke for the whole country in remembering the pain of 9/11, his remarks left a gaping hole. He made no generous bow to all the efforts of his predecessor George W. Bush, as well as his team. My one regret is that Bush 43 didn't get this scalp. He deserved it more than anyone.

Instead, Obama played subtle and wholly undignified games. He underlined that Osama had "avoided capture" under Bush and "continued to operate" during his tenure. But "I directed" CIA director Leon Panetta to make getting Osama the "top priority" (as opposed to?), and "I" gave the go-ahead to the final mission.

Obama also avoided Bush in a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday afternoon. Even in a Monday night "bipartisan" event at the White House, Obama honored the "military and counterterrorism professionals" and "the members of Congress from both parties" who offered support to the mission ... but no credit for Bush.

If the roles had been reversed, you know Bush would have been more generous. It's what Bushes do.

What about our media? No one in the media wondered if Obama was being rude. No one seemed in any hurry to give Bush credit, either. In the media's mind's eye, Bush just doesn't deserve it. They didn't like him then; they don't like him now.

Will the media have any apologies for the abuse they inflicted on Bush over the Osama bin Laden issue? Let's review a few occasions where Bush was unfairly maligned.

1. Start in 2003, where NBC's Bob Costas interviewed radical filmmaker Michael Moore on his HBO show. Moore insisted -- quite seriously -- there was a Bush-Osama alliance. Costas asked, "He's under the protective watch of the United States?" Moore answered yes. "I think our government knows where he is, and I don't think we're going to be capturing him or killing him any time soon." Moore was then further applauded by the Bush-hating media for forwarding that thesis in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

2. In a puffball 2004 CBS "60 Minutes" interview with John Kerry and John Edwards, Lesley Stahl asked, "Ron Reagan Jr. was very critical of President Bush invoking religion when it comes to policy, particularly in the war in Iraq. He said something like he felt that Bush was justifying the war in Iraq by citing God. And he said that is what Osama bin Laden does, and he said that there's no place for that. What do you think of that?"

Kerry replied by merely laying out the Abe Lincoln quote that he hoped to be on God's side. He didn't suggest comparing Bush to Osama was distasteful. Instead, he said, "It is not the job of the president of the United States to decide what the religion of America is or what the religion of the world should be."

3. Days before the election in 2004, when Osama released a tape attacking Bush, former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite went on CNN's "Larry King Live" and insisted with a straight face that Karl Rove "probably set up" this tape with al-Qaida.

4. In January 2006, CNN commentator Jack Cafferty also insisted Bush colluded with al-Qaida: "The last time we got a tape from Osama bin Laden was right before the 2004 presidential election. Now here we are, four days away from hearings starting in Washington into the wiretapping of America's telephones without bothering to get a court order or a warrant, and up pops another tape from Osama bin Laden. Coincidence? Who knows?"

5. In that same month, Chris Matthews asked Bush aide Karen Hughes on Osama's behalf that our military presence in Saudi Arabia was "insulting his country" and was to blame for 9/11. "Are we sometimes to blame for the hell that we've raised?" It was the kind of question the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would likely ask.

Imagine any of these people suggesting an alliance or a similarity between Obama and Osama. Hell would freeze over. Why did our media so easily and carelessly smear Bush with an Osama brush? They still have much to answer for.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: osama; presidentbush; presidentgeorgewbush

1 posted on 05/04/2011 5:49:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

God, I hope all this is true:

http://socyberty.com/issues/white-house-insider-obama-hesitated-panetta-issued-order-to-kill-osama-bin-laden/

It sure sounds like <0.


2 posted on 05/04/2011 5:57:19 AM PDT by Salamander (Can't sleep....the clowns will eat me.)
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To: Kaslin

I will say this - I saw on the FOXnews crawl last night that Minority leader Pelosi actually called President Bush to thank him for his leadership and committment that brought OBL down. Talk about being shocked!! My opinion of her went up a small notch (a very fleeting moment to be sure).

At least she acknowledged his efforts.


3 posted on 05/04/2011 6:04:46 AM PDT by SueRae (I can see November 2012 from my HOUSE!!!!!!!!)
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To: Kaslin
The media are unmasked now -- ever since 2008, when they soiled themselves publicly and forever.

People pretty much see through them now.

4 posted on 05/04/2011 6:06:44 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus (Concealed carry is a pro-life position.)
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To: Salamander

I wonder if this is the reason Panetta is being moved to the Pentagon and General Petraeus to the CIA?


5 posted on 05/04/2011 6:07:28 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: SueRae

She did it a little late in the game. And only because she saw that the PEOPLE were starting to credit President Bush.


6 posted on 05/04/2011 6:11:18 AM PDT by jersey117
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To: Kaslin

The whole thing is similar to a situation if after the end of WWII, Truman would have claimed the entire credit for winning the war because he dropped the big one on Japan. Undoubtedly, without the entire intel apparatus set up by Bush, including Gitmo, we would not have been able to track down OBL. That obvious fact has to be made know to the public, many of whom are libs who think history began when Obama was inaugurated.


7 posted on 05/04/2011 6:24:19 AM PDT by driftless2 (For long-term happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: Kaslin

Remember the movie, City Slickers? One scene shows the character played by
Billy Crystal helping when a cow was having a calf. When the calf came out Crystal exclaimed excitedly, “ I just made a cow!”

uhhbama is about as responsible for getting osama. ALL he did was to allow it to happen, and probably would not have even done that had his approval ratings not been so low.


8 posted on 05/04/2011 6:55:58 AM PDT by weezel
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To: jersey117; SueRae
She only did because she saw President Bush's FB page that had over 27,000 likes and 5000 comments within minutes of the announcement. Not to mention the folks that gathered outside W's home in Dallas to THANK HIM.

Photobucket

The sign says:

P________ Obama forgot to say …

THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH

God Bless America!

9 posted on 05/04/2011 7:06:59 AM PDT by Just A Nobody (Beware the ENEMEDIA ... Never Again! Support our Troops!)
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To: weezel
ALL he did was to allow it to happen, and probably would not have even done that had his approval ratings not been so low.

According to this article at Atlas Shrugs he may not even have "allowed" it to happen.

Thank you and congratulations to President Bush for the policies and reforms he and his administration implemented.

Many thanks and hearty congratulations to our AWESOME brave military members and the Navy SEAL team that had the final honors in this long mission.

10 posted on 05/04/2011 7:17:53 AM PDT by Just A Nobody (Beware the ENEMEDIA ... Never Again! Support our Troops!)
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To: jersey117

Perhaps. And I also think she has an axe to grind with Obama. She was shut out of the recent budget negotiations and voiced her disdain at the time.

Hell hath no fury..


11 posted on 05/04/2011 10:13:41 AM PDT by SueRae (I can see November 2012 from my HOUSE!!!!!!!!)
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