Kurtz quoted McCain campaign email, but didn't note its false claim about "bitch" comment
In a November 14 online post to The Washington Post's "The Trail" feature, "a daily diary of Campaign 2008" -- which was reprinted in a slightly different form in the November 15 edition of the paper -- media critic Howard Kurtz reported that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), "who is drawing criticism for not challenging a South Carolina voter's vulgar reference to [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY], yesterday issued a letter accusing CNN of having 'stooped to an all-time low' in trumpeting the incident." The post was referring to McCain campaign manager Rick Davis' response to a report by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez on the November 13 edition of CNN's Out in the Open, during which Sanchez noted McCain's comments at a South Carolina campaign event to an audience member who asked, "How do we beat the bitch?" But while Kurtz quoted from Davis' email -- which, as Kurtz put it, "charged the 'Clinton News Network' with 'gratuitously attacking' McCain" -- he didn't note that Davis falsely claimed in the email that McCain "first responded by saying that he respected Senator Clinton, as he has said repeatedly throughout the campaign. Then, focusing on the question, he pointed to the new Rasmussen national poll showing that he is the only Republican candidate who can beat her in a general election." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, a video of the exchange posted on YouTube by the Veracifier blog shows that McCain's first response to the question was, "May I give the translation?"; then, "But that's an excellent question"; followed by his reference to the Rasmussen poll. Only after the Rasmussen reference did he say he had "respect" for Clinton.
From Kurtz's November 15 Washington Post "The Trail" entry:
John McCain, who is drawing criticism for not challenging a South Carolina voter's vulgar reference to Hillary Clinton, yesterday issued a letter accusing CNN of having "stooped to an all-time low" in trumpeting the incident.
On Monday night, when a woman at a town hall meeting asked how Republicans could beat Clinton -- calling her a word that rhymes with "witch" -- McCain smiled as the crowd laughed and said it was an "excellent question." After citing a poll showing him beating her in a general-election matchup, the senator from Arizona said: "I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat Party."
Anchor Rick Sanchez led off his "Out in the Open" show with the video, saying: "This could be real bad for John McCain. ... No matter what you think of Hillary Clinton, is John McCain done as a result of this? ... I think he could be in trouble for this from women."
Campaign manager Rick Davis, in a fundraising letter, charged the "Clinton News Network" with "gratuitously attacking" McCain. He said that CNN "owes John McCain an apology because of the outrageous behavior" of Sanchez, and that "the liberal media" are "trying to stop the McCain comeback."
Sanchez sees no need for an apology, saying McCain "has not addressed what many would see as embracing a word that is demeaning to women. He did not seem to respond appropriately to an offensive word," Sanchez said, and instead is trying "to get people to focus attention ... on the messenger."
Yeah, Seanot McCain's respect is evidenced by his reference to the Party for which that candidate would run - the "DEMOCRAT" [sic] party. Lata love and respect there, fer shur.
"Senator McCain" - see - I can spell it, even with my eyes rolled.
When McCain tried to question Democrats' patriotism on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart, who anchors the only honest newscast on television and has only the one fault of liking and respecting McCain, told him that sort of thing was beneath him. Stewart was wrong. Nothing is beneath John McCain or his campaign people. He pandered to "Christian" right-wingers who think Jesus teaches to screw your neighbor and kill anyone you dislike. He switches around on abortion. He questions the patriotism of his opponents. And so what has just happened is a surprise only to those who don't read about him and watch him--in other words, to those who watch the mainstream media, which fawn all over him.
Justice and Truth in the USA - Fact Check Edition:
As I have already documented, MMFA-supporters have frequently used the term BITCH over and over again when referencing people such as Ann Coulter. So this sudden concern over the word BITCH is really just a bunch of crappola.
However, I am troubled by one thing in the mostly ficticious topic summary (above). Did McCain really say that he 'respected' Hillary?
Damn him!
There remains an unbridgeable chasm between use of "that word" in private, anonymous reference to a hag or harridan, and the (somewhat) more stilted vocabulary of political campaigning. Plus, not all of your vaunted research stands to scrutiny - blueblood did not author the word in question, but merely reported it. Seems "Truth" is harder and harder to come by, even from this eponymous source.
I cannot imagine that even our right-leaning MSM would have given McCain a pass if Obama were the frontrunner and the constituent had instead asked "how do we beat the n-word (or substitute whatever you consider the racist parallel to the sexist b-word)?"
I was nearly as disgusted listening to Dana Milbank on Countdown laughing off the incident and saying that McCain simply had to be careful not to alienate his "base." He doesn't "get it" either. If using sexist and racist insults plays to the base, then why isn't the MSM clearly spelling out what that says about a substantial portion of the American citizenry? So much for all that "progress" since the 50s...
Well BilliyJustice, first of all you are still a blind partisan with no concept of logic.
As for the topic, there is a considerable difference between Joe Schmo on the Internet calling someone a b*tch and a candidate doing it. However McCain didn't call anyone a b*tch, one of his people did and he did his best to make the unfortunate word choice go away and move on to the more important point of the question, "How could his campaign beat the current opposition frontrunner?". I think that any side trying to use this incident is pretty baseless except to maybe point out the coarseness and hostility of the dialogue in our current public political debate.
However, in the past weeks we've seen the Right try very hard to paint Hillary as a b*tch with numerous articles and discussions of how horrible she was to the people who worked for her, how she is prone to fits of temper and how she is shrill and loud in private. They've opened the door to this sort of ridiculous criticism by taking every single quirk that the Dem candidates have and turning it into an indication of some glaring flaw that would make them a horrible President. How can they be so shocked that the same tactics are used on them?
Actually, people like "justice..." will not distinguish between a candidate and the blogger ... when it comes to a staffer who, before employment with a Dem candidate, blogged a slight dig at Catholics, when the blogger had absolutely no ties to said candidate (but only because it's a dem ... if McCain hired Drudge, "Justice..." would be praising McCain to high heaven ...)
this is just one more in a chain of events where you have to question mccain's judgement. like his stroll throuth the iraqi market with a hundred armed soldiers. or his stupid little song about "bomb, bomb iran". way to build up our image in that country, doing nothing but giving ammunition to the radicals.
The media would be up in arms if a candidate heard Giuliani referred to as the Guinea, or Obama as the nig*er, or Romney as the heathen, or Richardson as the Sp*c, and the candidate didn't immediately condemn the remark and the speaker. WHY is it a subject of debate and a question of little concern when the slur is directed at Hillary Clinton? Because she's a woman, because she's a Clinton, or both? McCain deserves to be grilled for not condemning his supporter for the slur on Hillary Clinton.
The coarseness of the language in the US is at such a level that the B term is used almost universally by everyone I know as a noun or a a verb. We use words like this and others in our everyday language without giving thought to the meaning of those words.
That being said, it appears that Mr. McCain messed up by not slapping the offender or at least stuffing a bar of soap in the offender's mouth.
oscar, quit bitching. [joke]
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE THIS COUNTRY GREAT IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH.LAST TIME I CHECKED AWKWARD AND UNCIVILIZED WORDS WERE NOT A CRIME.THAT SAID THE WOMAN WAS CLASSLESS TO EMBARRASS A DISTINQUISHED HONORABLE WAR HERO WITH A QUESTION PHRASED THAT WAY.
AND CLASSLESS TO CALL HILLARY CLINTON THAT NAME.
WHY ARE WE SHOUTING ?
BECAUSE WE 'RE FLAT-OUT PARTY PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol !
Watching the video of the incident, there are several strange things going on. First, it doesn't look like there is anyone under 60 in the room (indicating the McCain base), it's a woman who banters the "B" word (thus, in essence, insulting herself at the same time) and the McCain "pause" before coming up with the lame rejoiner "may I give the translation" is almost spastic.
This is as telling to interpetation as the Zapruder film.