Posted on 08/12/2006 1:34:37 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
What is it about tyrants that gives media types goose flesh?
The question came to mind while pondering "60 Minutes" thug Mike Wallace's transformation into Barbara Walters in an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Wallace's reputation is as an ambush interviewer – the tough guy who's not afraid to ask any question of anyone.
He's the eternal cynic who won't buy anyone's lies. He's the emotionless inquisitor. He's the media's version of Torquemada.
What a matchup! Wallace vs. Ahmadinejad.
How many rounds would a bout like this last?
Would Wallace ever make it out of Tehran alive?
How long would it take Wallace to reduce this maniac to foaming at the mouth?
Well, it didn't turn out that way, as we all know. I'm not surprised really.
With Ahmadinejad, Wallace had a chance to go after a guy who is being compared by many to Adolf Hitler in 1939 – with one exception, of course: Hitler did not have nuclear weapons. It could have been a historic opportunity. It could have been the capstone of Wallace's career.
Instead, like others before him in his profession, Wallace was smitten by the little dictator.
Some of Wallace's observations of the Iranian madman who has denied the Holocaust while doing everything in his power to foster a new one:
He called Ahmadinejad a "reasonable" man.
He said the Iranian president is not anti-Jewish – just anti-Zionist. How does he know? Ahmadinejad told him so.
Ahmadinejad told Wallace there are even Jews in the Iranian Parliament – many, he said. Of course, he did not name any. Nor was he asked to do so.
Wallace concluded that Ahmadinejad was sincere in his hope for peaceful coexistence between Iran and the West. (Translation: Right after they nuke us, they think we'll get along just fine.)
He found himself "troubled" by comparisons to Hitler.
He marveled at Ahmadinejad's civil engineering degree, his intellect, his savvy.
He told Americans not to bring "prejudices" to the viewing of the interview tomorrow night.
And he said the discussion was sincere and not about propaganda. Huh?
What planet has this guy been living on? Has he been listening to what Ahmadinejad has been saying to others for the past year? Has he not heard him call for the eradication of the Jewish state? Has he not heard him threaten the U.S.?
But, if you live long enough, you see history repeat itself. This little episode involving the 88-year-old Wallace reminds me of another "newsman" who fell in love with a dictator – one with even more blood on his hands than Ahmadinejad.
The "newsman" – and I use that term loosely – was Walter Duranty, who would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for the New York Times. The dictator was Josef Stalin.
It's hard for me to refer to either Duranty or Wallace as newsmen. They don't deserve the label. After all, Wallace is a former game-show host. With him it was always about show business, not news business. Duranty, meanwhile, was a propagandist for the most evil and deadly force on the planet – Soviet totalitarianism under, quite possibly, the ruler who killed more human beings than any other.
While Stalin was killing millions of Ukrainians by mass starvation in the terror famine, Duranty was writing about the bold new achievements of Stalin's Soviet Union.
His fellow Soviet Union correspondent, the estimable Malcolm Muggeridge, called Duranty "the biggest liar I have seen in 50 years as a journalist."
Of course, Muggeridge didn't live to see tomorrow night's shameful episode of "60 Minutes." I think I'll pass as well.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Wallace could have asked, among dozens of other questions, why Iranians do not have unfettered Internet access. He could have asked why he, Ahmadinejad, was one of the hostage takers in the Iranian Emobassy crisis.
What a putz!
No he doesn't support his dad's actions. In fact he wrote an article about this.
His dad had 2 sons. The one he favored was Chris's brother who he lavished attention on. But then that son died in an accident. Father Mike Wallace kinda faded out of his son, Chris's life.
In other words, Mike Wallace was absent for pretty much all of Chris Wllace's life.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Wallace makes me want to puke. What a scumbag.
Worse is CBS for airing it. If cbs management had any dignity, they would have fired the old fart on the spot.
Traitors to both the country and to humanity is what CBS is.
"If cbs management had any dignity..."
CBS's 'dignity' was displayed the night 60 MINUTES aired the Kevorkian assisted suicide tape, for... ratings.
""If cbs management had any dignity...""
Not on a bet.
Did you catch Couric's commercial where she states her CBS news will "Inform, Educate, and Enlighten you."
That is just so...so..condescendingly liberal.
Don't forget Herbert L. Matthews and Castro, and Peter Arnett and Saddam.
People shouldn't get so exercised, what did they expect. Guys like Wallace only beat up on the weak.
I wouldn't watch her or her station if they were the only source for news on the face of the earth.
I'll put up any MEMRI TV clip of President "Tom"--made in the original, uncut and uncensored Farsi--against any stupid 60 Minutes-type staged interview, to show the real truth about that dangerous man.
50% of US citizens believe that the war on terrorism is the fanatical fantasy of George Bush. They earnestly believe that our President is the world's worse terrorist. 47 Minute's Mike Wallace is one more major voice of madness speaking lies and sowing confusion in the minds of Americans.
Dig deep enough into the leadership of the antiwar movement and you will find a Marxist cabal. One need look no further than the leadership of the American Democrat party to find the most vocal and outspoken Marxist fanatics.
The men and women behind the curtain, however, are not as well known. There is a conspiracy between international forces of evil that is yet to be uncovered. The roots are in the intellectual underpinnings of fascism. These Machiavelles can be found in universities, among religious leadership and in global environmental and service organizations. They design the philosophy of today's fascism. They are in league with other Marxist fanatics especially among Muslim leadership.
It is established historical fact that the intellectual and spiritual leadership of criminal fascism is not swayed by the patina of religious fervor that overlays their vile philosophy. The current president of Iran, for example, is a pawn of the Immans. His true believer fanaticism is not theirs. They play a deeper more devious game than he is capable of understanding.
Wallace's interview on 47 Minutes is a clear attempt to whitewash another extremist bigot. We must inquire into the source of this effort. It is not simply the result of an 88 yr old simpleton. There are deeper roots. Discovering and condemning these foundational sources of fascism is critical to fighting the war on terror.
Thanks for posting this. Joseph Farah nails Mike Wallace and speaks the truth. I hope CBS gets buried with complaints when they air this farce of an "interview".
Mike Wallace is a big snarling pit bull when it comes to destroying little car dealers.
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