Here is an example, taken from the Condoleeza Rice press briefing of November 1. The questioner is Major Garrett of CNN:

Q Dr. Rice, the administration has said the military campaign on Afghanistan is going according to plan; yet some in Afghanistan, some in Pakistan, some even in Europe are onfused as to what the plan is; why hasn't more been achieved through the air campaign, when is the ground campaign going to begin in earnest? And there is some concern that this isn't going as well as the administration had originally advertised, or led the American people to believe. It's even caused anxiety in the stock market, causing, in some cases, share prices to go down.

What can you tell the American people about the plan, why it's going so well, and deal with those skeptical voices, not only in the region, but among some of our European allies?

Garrett is my favorite so far, because he actually asked when the ground war would start. He also gets ponts for making an anti-Bush speech disguised as a question, and even assigning the falling stock market to President Bush!

What a fool!

Please post any examples here, as I think it would be beneficial to have all the quotes in one location. Thank you for your participation in this small contribution to the war effort!

BTTT!

/john

Have you seen this?

The Flummery Digest

I wonder if the guy that runs that site is a FReeper?

The press is always patting itself on the back and telling us how wonderful they are because they are the bedrock of free speech in America (and worldwide). The reality is far different. They are little more than a tool for the proliferation of propaganda by liberal extremists. Their strategy is to attack traditional American institutions such as the family, the Presidency, and capitalism. They do it covertly, i.e. with subliminal messages. For example, their choice of verbage usually has an implied message that goes beyond mere reporting of the facts. And they won't let up even when it is clear that the rest of America is sick of them. A good example of that was their push for campaign finance reform. But they are not adverse to blatant bias, either. I am for the First Amendment, but the free press, as it presently exists in America, has backfired--primarily because of a lack of integrity in the media.

• U.S. Newswire Current Headlines
• Department Of Defense
• Sec. Rumsfeld, 11/6/01
• Whitehouse News Briefings

Thanks, deport!! Although examples of media bias are documented in many venues, I am particularly interested in press stupidity. Secretary Rumsfeld and Ari Fleischer draw the bulk of these questions, although others, such as Condi Rice, draw their fair share.

I have spent the better part of a year and a half hearing these clymers accuse President Bush of being less than smart. NOTHING he has ever said compares to these questions for sheer stupidity, and they have time to think of what they are going to ask!!

PUBLIC HUMILIATION FOR THE STUPID PRES!!

ACK!!! That's stupid PRESS!!! That will teach me to proofread!!

I will not be able to participate as I do not watch tv. I get my news from a site called FreeRepublic! But I think you have a good idea. Good luck!!

Rumsfeld: Pam?

Q: Could you give us some sense of the magnitude of the increase you're talking about with the Special Forces on the ground? I understand that we don't know the base line number there, you won't tell us the base line number. But will it be increased by 50 percent, or will it be doubled or tripled? And then also, could you talk about the problem with cluster bombs, unexploded cluster bombs in bright yellow wrappers and HDRs in bright yellow wrappers? Obviously they look the same from far off and can endanger people on the ground.

Rumsfeld: I'd like to see as soon as humanly possible the numbers of teams go up by three or four times.

Do you want to deal with the colors of the cluster bombs and the food rations?

Myers: Right. It is unfortunate that the cluster bombs, the unexploded ones are the same color as the food packets. We have dropped fliers that show the pictures and the proper language explain why you want to go to one and you don't want to go to the other. We hope that helps. Another thing we're doing is with the food packets is changing the color of their design. We're going to -- I think it's going to be blue. It obviously will take some time -- we're trying to figure out how long -- to change that color over, because there are many in the pipeline. They were probably yellow because they were very visible and people could see them lying around. The same for the cluster bombs. Unfortunately, they get used to running to yellow. So --

(Cross talk.)

Rumsfeld: Just a second. She's not quite finished.

Q: Didn't you run into that problem in Kosovo, then? I mean, you did use cluster bombs and you did distribute HDRs and they were the same color then. Why is it only now being addressed?

Myers: I'd have to research that. I don't know. I wasn't -- I'm not aware of that.

Q: What about the -- [inaudible] for the public who -- you know, beyond the criticism from human rights organizations for using the cluster bombs, they're calling for a halt -- could you explain the tactical rationale for using them?

Myers: Yeah. This is very simple. On September 11th, we lost over 5,000 innocents to an intentional act. We are prosecuting now a global war on terrorism. We are trying to be very careful in the way we plan this particular conflict. Probably only the U.S. and its allies could do it in such a way that we minimize civilian casualties. If we match up a specific weapon to a specific target and we make the judgment that it's in accordance with the law of armed conflict, and we've worked this very, very carefully, then we'll use that weapon. In some cases, that means cluster bombs. And we understand the impact of those. I would take you back to September 11th. We also understand the impact of that.

Rumsfeld: They are being used on front-line all Qaeda and Taliban troops to try to kill them, is why we're using them, to be perfectly blunt

Sure you can participate! Most days transcripts of the press briefings are posted here. Read through them, and if you see something really ridiculous, post a little note here! The more the merrier, I say!

Hehehe! That is one of my favorites!

My favorite for the day:

Q: General Pace, speaking of tools, could you talk a little bit about the 15,000-pound Daisy Cutter bomb we were told that was starting to be used late last week, maybe give us some idea what sort of targets and what strategic advantages does that bring?

Pace: There were two of these weapons used in the last -- within the last week. They are 15,000-pound bombs that literally are fit on a pallet on a C-130. They're pushed out the back of the C-130 and float down by parachute. They have a probe that sticks out so when the probe hits the ground, they explode about three feet above the ground, and as you would expect, they make a heck of a bang when they go off, and the intent is to kill people.

A flair for the obvious?

I'm afraid that if you want to SHAME the press, you will have to wait a very long time, because after eight years of spinning, lying, and covering up for clinton they have clearly revealed that they are totally SHAMELESS.

They could care less about truth, facts, professional decency, or anything else aside from advancing their sleazy agendas--which mostly involve killing babies and pushing for sexual perversion.

The questioners at those briefings are awful, aren't they. I almost puke at some of their attempts to drag out information and/or to make the briefers look bad. Unfortunately for your idea of gathering the questions on this thread, I doubt that FreeRepublic's web servers have sufficient disk capacity to hold one tenth of the stupid questions the buffoons ask.

If we all did that, this thread would be a thousand posts long.

I loved the way Rummy took down one reporter the other day. He said, "you have asked a question based on an erroneous premise, which, of course, has led you to an erroneous conclusion.

The guy (in a blue denim shirt) was totally shot down, but he just kept asking follow ups which resulted in further slaughter of him by Rummy.

I just love the way Rummy handles the stupid press. He's the one guy who just seems to exude the "I didn't join this outfit to make friends" philosophy.

I saw this briefing, I think. Is Pace a Marine? There was one question posed by a woman who began with, "Can you give me some sense . . . ?"

I can't remember the question now; I wish I had known about this thread this morning. Anyway--I doubt if any one could give her some sense; ditto for the majority of the other reporters. I'll pay a little more attention in the days ahead.

'Nother BUMP! For a free press. Free of liberal bias, that is.

/john

"Rumsfeld: They are being used on front-line all Qaeda and Taliban troops to try to kill them, is why we're using them, to be perfectly blunt"

That was as great answer to a stupid question. And the way he said it made the reporter look even more idotic.

The press hasn't a clue. They're being hit by cluster bombs lobbed with Rummy's perfect aim.

re Post #13...

Although I agree that the press is SHAMELESS, I also believe that posting the UTTERLY STUPID questions with the NAMES of the reporters and reporterettes, will have a positive effect.

Keep the posts coming.