MSNBC's Novotny falsely claimed Clark "blasted McCain's military record"
On the June 30 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Monica Novotny falsely claimed that retired Gen. Wesley Clark "blasted [Sen. John] McCain's military record" during an appearance on the June 29 edition of CBS' Face the Nation. In fact, Clark did not "blast[]" McCain's military record. Rather, he praised McCain as "a hero" and stated, "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war," but argued that McCain's military record does not make him qualified to be president.
From Clark's June 29 interview on CBS' Face the Nation:
BOB SCHIEFFER (host): With us now from Little Rock, Arkansas, retired General Wesley Clark. He was for Hillary Clinton during the primaries. Once Hillary was out of it, he announced that he was supporting Barack Obama -- and let's get right to it here, General. You heard what Senator [Joe] Lieberman [I-CT] said. He said that Barack Obama is simply more ready to be president than Barack Obama.
CLARK: Well, I think Barack -- I think Joe has it exactly backwards here. I think being president is about having good judgment. It's about the ability to communicate. As one of the great presidential historians, Richard Neustadt, said, "The greatest power of the presidency is the power to persuade." And what Barack Obama brings is incredible communication skills, proven judgment -- you look at his meteoric rise in politics, and you see a guy who deals with people well, who understands issues, who brings people together, and who has good judgment in moving forward. And I think what we need to do, Bob, is we need to stop talking about the old politics of left and right, and we need to pull together and move the country forward. And I think that's what Barack Obama will do for America.
SCHIEFFER: Well, you -- you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote -- and these are your words -- "untested and untried." And I must say, I had to read that twice, because you're talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He's been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years -- how can you say that John McCain is untested and untried, General?
CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy-making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn't held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Air -- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn't a wartime squadron. He hasn't been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn't seen what it's like when diplomats come in and say, "I don't know whether we're going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it" --
SCHIEFFER: Well --
CLARK: -- "publicly?" He hasn't made those calls, Bob.
SCHIEFFER: Well -- well, General, maybe he --
CLARK: So --
SCHIEFFER: Could I just interrupt you? If --
CLARK: Sure.
SCHIEFFER: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean --
CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
SCHIEFFER: Really?
CLARK: But Barack is not -- he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements. He's running on his other strengths. He's running on the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment -- and those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.
From the 11 a.m. ET hour of the June 30 edition of MSNBC Live:
NOVOTNY: Barack Obama's campaign is distancing itself today from comments made by one of its highest profile surrogates. Speaking on CBS' Face the Nation, retired General Wesley Clark, who is an MSNBC analyst, blasted McCain's military record and questioned his qualifications to be president.
CLARK [video clip]: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
NOVOTNY: Earlier today on Morning Joe, Obama's communications director said that no one should question the patriotism of either presidential candidate.
Maybe they are covering up for the fact that McCain "forgot" to pay his taxes on his malibu home for four years? Not only that, but how does one get a four year property tax bill of $6,744.42 on a beach front condo? My mom owns a beach front condo in Marco Island, Fla. You can't tell me California has cheaper property taxes than Florida.
And another thing: If McCain can't keep track of his personal finances, and he doesn't know what the cost of gas is today, what makes anyone think he's got what it takes to run our government?
my thoughts exactly, I wonder why the media is not harping on this fact. A fact that counts. He can't manage his own finances, his wife does that for him. Why would we want someone who doesn't know anything about economics with the country in such a economic turmoil. McWar needs to go fishing somewhere and enjoy what's left for him. I know he doesn't have what it takes to face what's ahead for this country.
"Maybe they are covering up for the fact that McCain "forgot" to pay his taxes on his malibu home for four years? Not only that, but how does one get a four year property tax bill of $6,744.42 on a beach front condo? My mom owns a beach front condo in Marco Island, Fla. You can't tell me California has cheaper property taxes than Florida."
No maybes about it, that's DEFINITELY what they are doing. That's ONE of the things they're doing overall to cover up for Liar McCain.
Monica should know better!
Can't these people see that We the People.... well... a large portion of us are not going to fall for this garbage!
Or are they simply pandering to the weakest of mind among us to sell their BS?
I want my 4th estate back!!!
>>Why is it ok for these media types to rewrite the story?
Because they are being paid to.
On the merits, democrats should win the presidency 90-10.
Subtract 25 points for the democrats refusing to clearly explain how much better they are on the issues: 65-35.
Subtract 5 points for those voters who will vote for whoever the media tells them to: 60-40.
Subtract 5 points for assorted vote fixing: 55-45.
Democrats still win. The republicans have governed that badly.
Jeez... are you guys EVER going to stop whining about losing the nomination? Like it or not, that's the democratic process. Here you are, STILL trashing the Party's nominee, rather than taking on the Pugs. You sound like you"re HOPING that McSame wins, just for the imbecilic pleasure of saying 'I told you so'.
I mean, get a freaking grip!
SEERYER,
Are you insane? You wrote that Obama is, "A decent fella who grew up in a beautiful place, studied at prestigous universities and still didn't feel comfortable in his own skin and ran to Chicago to experience real Black America."
I can't believe you're a person who even peruses MMFA. The point of this website is accuracy, and accuracy in portrayals. You, my friend, are faring poorly.
And lastly, I can't let this go, you're claiming that Obama is all over the boards? Clinton proposed the gas-tax holiday, claimed that McCain would be better suited for the presidency because he has more experience than Obama, accused Obama of using "Karl Rove tactics" while simultaneously using fear mongering ads that featured Osama bin Laden and "the red phone," and lastly, and this might be a first in electoral history, she refused to concede the nomination after Obama reached the magic number of delegates.
So save me your speeches. I think you need to be focused on the future.
JD
and this might be a first in electoral history, she refused to concede the nomination after Obama reached the magic number of delegates.
WRONG! That is what the media hoped people like you would believe. Dwight Eisenhower and Obama supporter Ted Kennedy are just two of a few candidates who did not concede the nomination and took the fight for the candidacy to the convention floor. One of them went on to become president and the other is still considered to be one of the leading voices in the Democratic Party. Neither of them were vilified for refusing to concede as you hope to do with Hillary Clinton. Shame on Sen. Clinton for not bowing down and kissing Obama's feet the second he "clinched" the nomination.
Thieves mostly get caught only when they attempt to steal way too many times.
If republicans are good thieves, they'll stay well away from this presidency. Their policies grow exponentially more obviously worse over time.
Of course, republicans may not be good at anything...
Right, he "blasted his record": Gen. Clark took a red pen to John McCain's last Fitness Report, before he left the Navy, and on that Report where much was mentioned of Mr. McCain having lost his plane over North Vietnam, and having been captured and held as a POW... at that place in the Fitness Report, Gen. Clark wrote in red ink... "Not A Qualification For The Presidency Of The United States"....
BLASTED!
First FOX, then CNN and now MSNBC. It's a perfect trifecta of trash journalism. Did Murdoch buy all three cable news networks while I was sleeping???
"No, but you can sure tell that the media is behind McCain on this one."
Sueeld, the conservative media was behind Liar McCain BEFORE this started. Let's call them what they are, they are "McCain's Media".
They are remarkably in sync very often, right down to specific words and phrases... every once in a while, Jon Stewart illustrates this perfectly, in the only way you can, by stringing together in rapid succession, snippets of video from the different cable channels, all saying the exact same thing, using the exact same words and phrases: and often those words and phrases are not very common, even peculiar...
They must have a memo system: it must rattle away through the night, informing them of the next day's instructions and talking points, to read when they arrive for work in the morning.
This is such a great example of the corporate filth media...
Novotny is just reading the cue-cards her corporate masters have put in her hands.
In corporate media land, it's perfectly okay to question Obama's ability to lead the military (this is an important consideration for voters were told), but it's totally off limits to question whether Grampy McCain has the ability to lead the military.
Anyone who questions Grampy's ability to lead the military is not following the corporate fascist narrative, and the punishment will be severe.
You would think that these news services would be more interested in a good "get" instead of repeating the other guy's talking points. What happened to pride in journalism? What happened to the time when people got their own stories. Now it's just rehashed tripe, gossip and innuendo.
Novotny is flagrantly lying. Disgusting.
Novotny is a lying right wing conservative Republican who wants Liar McCain to get elected, as do her corporate conservative Republican media bosses at the right wing conservative GOP-GE-NBC/MSNBC.
GOP-GE-NBC/MSNBC are part of McCain's Media, McCain's Conservative Media.
I'll bet you 20 bucks Obama knows how to do a google search.
Or, to put it a much more hilarious way, "John McCain is aware of the internet."
Oh, yeah, McCain also "didn't really love America" until he was captured in Vietnam. If I remember correctly, POV, you railed against Michelle Obama's "for the first time I'm really proud of my country" phrase for a good while. Where is your outrage over this?
But let's face it, I'm sure you'll let it slide. It is your nominee after all.
Fine POV,
We don't object to the corporate crap media making it a story.
We do object to them making it a crappy, sensationalistic and smear type story by saying crap like, "General Clark blasted Sen. McCain's war record."
It's pretty staightforward, isn't it?
It is a story because Clark is trying to convince people that Obama, who has no experience military or otherwise, is somehow more prepared to be president than McCain. That is a joke.
The only joke here, POV, is that you thing you're an intelligent person.
NO ONE is saying ANYTHING negative about Gramps McCain's military record - the point Gen. Clark was trying to make (that you and so many others have chosen to ignore) is that it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE regarding his fitness for office. And Obama's LACK of military service MAKES NO DIFFERENCE.
NOW do you get it, POV???? Or are you gonna continue to wallow in your ignorance??
Someone explain to me what makes a one term untested senator presidential?
Do a Google search on Abraham Lincoln. He ran for the Senate seat from Illinios, but lost. And he turned out to be pretty presidential.
On the other hand, another four years of Carter like policies may be the best that that ever happened to the Republican party.
Eight years of Bush lies and disasters has been great for us Democrats. And the upcoming eight years of Obama will be great for America.
This is the same as when Dean called McCain an opportunist. The media lackeys have to make any criticism of McCain on any grounds an attack on his service.
WZ
Some day you will grow up a little and learn to tell fact from fantasy. Your lack of knowledge is really embrassing. Attacks on Kerry that were legit over his service made you cry like a little punk, but now that the attack is on McCain, its all good for you. It must be hard to live with so many voices in your head. Clark can attack McCain like this all he wants. All it does it let people know that in a time of war one candidate has no experience, and the other does. The dems want an ugly race for president, then fine. McCain can work with that. Even Obama to his credit attacked the Move On add today. It is Obama's handlers, and of course wannabes like you that will give McCain a victory.
You bet. We can take shifts putting the idiots in their place. Days work well for me. :)
POV
Some day you will grow up a little and learn to tell fact from fantasy. Your lack of knowledge is really embrassing. Attacks on McCain that were legit over his service made you cry like a little punk, but when the attack was on Kerry, its all good for you. It must be hard to live with so many voices in your head. The conservatives attacked Kerry like this all day long. All it does it let people know that in a time of war one candidate has no experience, and the other does. The reps want an ugly race for president, then fine. Obama can work with that. Even Obama to his credit attacked the Move On add today while McCain hired one of the swift boat veterans for truth to run another smear campaign. It is McCain's handlers, and of course wannabes like you that will give Obama a victory.
there, fixed it.
I wonder why now,"swift-boating" means lying about a military record?
I've been getting a pretty good laugh out of that, DB.The same zombies who are still defending the credibility of the SwiftBoatLiars when the subject is the SBL's, step out of character and use the term "swift-boating" to describe actions that are in no way comparable to the Swifties BS.
That is, they describe truthful statements as "swift boating" while attempting to paint those statements as lies, at the same time they deny that the original SBL's were lying.
Being one of the 24%ers must require a lot of medication.
POV:
The attacks on Kerry were NOT legitimate. Nobody is questioning McCain's service to his country; Clark was only saying that McCain's experiences don't automatically make him more qualified to be POTUS.
It is Obama's handlers, and of course wannabes like you that will give McCain a victory.
McCain has no chance of winning this election.
What kind of Moron is this Point of View?
"The attacks on John Kerry were legit...."
Why don't you go find another website, SH*THEAD.
Help me out here, Snoop. I thought The Repuplican was a satirical site, until I noticed all of the Young Republican groups added as friends.
Either way, it's pretty funny. A site run by a puppet who would like to meet, among others, Dick Cheney because he's unbiased about politics, or a guy clowning on Republicans who can get that many Republicans to sign on as friends because they're too slow to ge the joke.
I was disappointed to see that the Orange County Young Republicans who fell for the prank were from Florida, and not my own Left Coast O.C.
Excuse me, get your facts straight. We are not in a war, we invaded Iraq.
We can pull out anytime. As a matter of fact the Iraqi's say we are the cause for all the bombing. The area where there are no american troops is peaceful.
Age and Citizenship requirements - US Constitution, Article II, Section 1
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
Term limit amendment - US Constitution, Amendment XXII, Section 1 – ratified February 27, 1951
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.
Nope, not seeing anything here that says Prior service in the US or State government must exceed one term. Apparently anyone can run for president, even you oh pointy one.
It is a story because Clark is trying to convince people that Obama, who has no experience military or otherwise, is somehow more prepared to be president than McCain.
He is more prepared to be president than McCain. I think the average American is more prepared to be president than John McCain. McCain knows nothing about the economy and his neo-conish foriegn policy will only create more hatred towards us and put us in more danger.
It is a story because Clark is trying to convince people that Obama, who has no experience military or otherwise, is somehow more prepared to be president than McCain. That is a joke.
Those who ASSume that McCain serving in the military automatically makes him qualified to be president is the joke. I believe General Clark's words were: I think being president is about having good judgment. It's about the ability to communicate. As one of the great presidential historians, Richard Neustadt, said, "The greatest power of the presidency is the power to persuade."
The last "military experienced" president was Junior, who totally lacked sound judgement and didn't have ANY diplomacy skills. That gave the US 6 years and counting in a war with a country that did not attack the US, 4,113 Americans killed and billions of taxpayers dollars spent on the failed judgement and lack of diplomacy of a so called "military experienced" President.
Someone explain to me what makes a one term untested senator presidential?
NO Iraq War, NO 4,113 American lives lost and NO billions of tax dollars spent.
On the other hand, another four years of Carter like policies may be the best that that ever happened to the Republican party.
Newsflash!!!
The GOP gave up that talking point because a lot of voters were too young to remember the Carter presidency or not even born.
Anybody couldn't be worse prepared than Bush was. Failure at everything attempted and driving this country straight into the ground. Sorry, I'll take my chances with a true leader - Obama.
POV,
4 or 8 years ago, would your statement have looked like this:
It is a story because the SBVFT or all those criticizing Gore are trying to convince people that Bush, who has no experience militarily and only two terms in Texas, is somehow more prepared to be president than Gore or Kerry. That is a joke. Someone explain to me what makes a one term untested governor presidential? On the other hand, another four years of Bush Senior's like policies may be the best that that ever happened to the Democratic party.
Why does military experience matter to you now? You voted against two combat vets in the past two presidential elections?
Fried
I never said that McCain's military experience made him qualified to be president. All I said was that attacking his experience, and saying it does not count is ridicilious. In general, I do believe that military service is a plus for some one who wants to be commander in chief, but i never said it was the end all be all. I just find it ammusing that the dems will resort to every single dirty trick to win that they have accused the republicans of doing.
Would you dispute that Fried?
"I never said that McCain's military experience made him qualified to be president. All I said was that attacking his experience, and saying it does not count is ridicilious. In general, I do believe that military service is a plus for some one who wants to be commander in chief, but i never said it was the end all be all. I just find it ammusing that the dems will resort to every single dirty trick to win that they have accused the republicans of doing. "
Attacking his experience as it relates to what? If the 'experience' is what the interviewer touted/inferred when he said 'well, Obama has not been shot and tortured', then sure McCain's experience does not count.
Military experience is NOT a plus (in my opinion) for someone running for a civilian job. Kind of muddles the waters.
Other republican talking points about who qualifies to be a US president:
POV,
All Clark said was that McCain's particular experience did not ready him to command the armed forces. Neither does Obama's. I like that McCain served his country, but your advocation of his experience as being better than Obama's is irrelevant if you didn't give Gore and Kerry the same edge (I am not saying you didn't. I am saying I don't know).
As far as dirty tricks go, find me ONE lie from Wesley Clark's interview about McCain. Just one. Then, if you think its still the same, find me the liberal 527 putting out the ads impugning McCain's service. After that, find me the pundit shows that feature the members of that 527 group as experts and then we will have almost the same thing. After that, find the book impugning McCain's military service based on lies and calling him "Unfit for Command"
"...blasted McCain's military record and questioned his qualifications to be president."
This is like a game of "Telephone," where the story become increasingly distorted the further down the line it gets. I can't imagine what the story will be once it reaches Hannity and O'Reilly.
I can not wait to set my DVR to those two hacks tonight. Wall to wall coverage on how Welsey Clark attacked McCains service . Geez .
I'm sure Hannity will have something almost this accurate...
Today on O'Reilly:
"Pinhead Wesley Clark today said John McCcain was never even in Vietnam, that he was partying and snorting cocaine with George Bush in Alabama. We'll talk with Ann Coulter about these crazy allegations when we return. Is this the end for Wesley Clark."
Here it comes... right on cue... smear, smear, smear.
So Clark saying that McCain isn't qualified to be President based on "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" is the same thing as 'blasting McCain's military record'?
All right. I want someone, ANYONE, to come here and explain it. Let's have it. Up front. Now.
Obviously if Cindy Sheehan was running for President, nobody would be able to question her qualifications since she had a son die in Iraq. Really, can you imagine someone taking such a brazen shot at the families of our fallen heroes by saying that doesn't qualify her to be President? They must hate the troops, their families, nay, the country as a whole in order to make such a controversial comment.
No, I expect that would be received quite differently. And no, I'm not comparing Sheehan to McCain, of course.
A gentle reminder to all those "military-experience-is-an-advantage" bots out there that Jimmy Carter was also a military man--USN, nuclear subs, ya remember? And I seem to have read somewhere that U. S. Grant's eight years in the White House were nirvana for America either. Seems to me that Clark's actual point--that military experience is immaterial to one's ability to be Chief Executive--is fairly obvious given just a little bit of history...
Clark was easy on McCain if you ask me. He could have even brought up the other fighter jets that were lost because of McCain's recklessness - as an example of it. I don't think there is any reason not to expose "The McCain Story" for what t really is.
It's not like McCain was some orphan kid from the Bronx who's dad was killed as a WWII pilot, volunteered for duty, and by his own and fortitude, worked his way up to fighter pilot. (Sounds like the dream Democratic war hero candidate?;) I'm sure there were cases with near identical scenarios in the Nam era - and if the Dems would have had enough foresight - we could have our own "McCain", too.
But, McCain was an army bratt from a strong Republican family, stereotypically rebellious as a youth, dreaming of shooting the commies down in his MIG long before he could even assemble his first model. And, imagine - his father happened to be Admiral in charge of Air Command and landed him a dream pilot job. Rough gig thus far guys? Too bad he didn't have video games to help bring a better vision of reality into his little war-filled mind - as well as improve his fighter pilot skills. As a youth today, McCain would be as wrapped up in the Violence and War video games as he was getting laid.
Through his "party hardy" youth, McCain struggles through school and graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy nearly at the bottom of his class.
He married his first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty queen and a successful swimwear model, in 1965. The guy had it all - and I'm sure most women would have considered him the perfect pick.
His dreams come true and he's put behind a fighter jet. Before earning his wings- he ejects from 5 U.S. fighter jets that are destroyed - at least two as a direct result of his recklessness - one a near fatal tragic accident. This led to the nickname from his Vietnam flight buddies as "Ace" McCain - and they didn't give it to him for his heroism.;). The final downing by antiaircraft fire put him in a POW camp.
Here's a story on his pilot history as published in 2000... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964536/posts
A pretty hellbound individual, no? Patriotic? Presidential? Or Rambo made to think he was as invincible as Superman?
The rest is history. McCain became an instant celebrity hero at home. He had assumed 20 hours in combat and 28 medals.
You starting to get a better picture?
OK - so skip the POW part that everyone knows and let's get on to his Republican "anointing" by Regan.
Then the dumping of his wife, Carol, after she suffered a disfiguring accident, for a newer model - Cindy, a woman 25 years younger and heiress to a brewing fortune, who he marries one month after the divorce. This story is best described in her recent interview with Mail Online. This is a must read story - especially for those whose only "John McCain Story" has come from Faux News.
To quote Carol, ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’
His second wife, Cindy, gets him plenty of news time when she is caught stealing prescription meds from a hospital where she is doing "charity" work - and, as it ends up, is so hooked that it takes rehab to kick the habit.
These are just the basic facts - I can only imagine some of the stories we could pull out of his "Bad Bunch" buddies.
My point is - I hope there's no one out there thinking there's a shortage of personal failings to smear McCain with this election? To quote our cowboy president (and my new favorite phrase)... "Bring It On!",
I was just thinking... Now JFK - there's a war hero president.:)
And new election motto.. 'There's no eject button in The White House"
Wow, that Daily Mail story should be plastered everywhere.
Even people who like McCain and will vote for him say that he was a skunk without character.
Thanks for sharing.
Add the Jim Leher Newshour to the growing list of news outlets that have taken the Clark quote out of context in order to mischaracterize it as an attack McCain's military service and his qualifications as a Presidential candidate.
And ironically, the story that immediately followed was about political smears being propagated on the Internet. And of course in reporting the various smears, they made no effort to distinguish between fact and fiction. While the Obama smears they covered were all demonstrably false (i.e., he's a Muslim, etc.), they "balanced" the report by showing a McCain "smear video" by Robert Greenwald which juxtaposed McCain's praise for Rod Parsley with Parsley's insane rantings. Reporter Gwen Ifill then proceeded to throw up her hands and express frustration about how impossible it was "to sort out the scurrilous smears and the facts." She then revealed her biased perspective by asking the question, "Does this make people [journalists] like you and me obsolete?"
Gwen, if you can't sort out fact from fiction, you've already made yourself obsolete as a journalist.
And I also, while trying to make the case that juxtaposing a lie with a truth is a p!ss-poor concept of "balance," also prove that some people should have to get a license to type! Sheesh...
I think it's really easier to get to the true facts through bloggs. Even if what you read is not 100% accurate you have an instant "feel" for an issue and numerous other freelance "correspondents" jumping in the fray in near real-time to point to related links supporting or rebutting a story or claim.
What do you get from Cable TV News? Spin, spin, and more spin. Really, I'd rather sort things out for myself - the tools are there. So the answer is yes, journalists should be feeling the heat, They blew it big time in the lead up to the war and now they will be paying the price.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." GWB
Wesley Clark is a Four Star General!
He can say anything he Damn well pleases!
I caught Greta Van Susteren a little while ago doing a teaser for her show with the question "Does Obama need to throw Clark under the bus?"
I honestly don't think the media is going to get any traction with this item, as only the stoopidest segment of those who would never vote for Obama anyway are not going to see that this was not attacking Mccain's service.
It still bothers me that the media feels entitled to this power to lie and demand apologies based on those lies. The Rev. Wright issue was a good example. Stupid propaganda, fueled by Wright's adding statements that were easily used by the RW media.
Obama had to finally distance himself. I understood it, but I didn't like it.It's as if a segment of the American voters are that 4 year old kid who is just becoming aware of mortality, and has to be told that mommy & daddy will never die, just so he can go to sleep. Obama had to do something to move past the 24 hour news cycle focusing on snippets of Wright saying God Damn America.
The problem with trying to move on, is that then the media gets to frame it as political expediency. I guess it's been going on forever, a group demands that everything be dumbed down enough to make them happy, then they whine about the way things were dumbed down.
CLARK: Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
SCHIEFFER: Really?
WOW, what a surprise. Does Schieffer think it IS a qualification?
What an idiot.
GOP-Viacom-CBS and their Republican Liar Bob Schieffer seek to trash Wesley Clark for supposedly attacking Liar McCain's service when he did no such thing.
Next, GOP-CNN and their Republican Hate Hag Liar Kiran Chetry crop & lie Clark's words and host Liar McCain's henchperson Liar Rick Davis to tell even MORE lies to follow what they said earlier.
Now, we see GOP-GE-NBC/MSNBC and their Republican Hate Hag Liar Monica Novotny repeating the lie about Liar McCain being "Swift Boated".
This is the conservative news media, McCain's Media, at their pro-Republican worst, and they're not done yet.