MSNBC's Buchanan didn't hear any DNC speakers say "the word 'Guantánamo' " -- but Kerry did, just as MSNBC cut to commercial
SUMMARY: During MSNBC's coverage of the Democratic convention, Pat Buchanan asked, "Has anybody heard the word 'Guantánamo' mentioned this entire convention?" In fact, in his speech, Sen. John Kerry said, "President [Barack] Obama and Vice President [Joe] Biden will shut down Guantánamo," but MSNBC cut to commercial break a fraction of a second before Kerry said the word "Guantánamo."
As purported evidence that Sen. John McCain "has skated free" during the Democratic National Convention, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan falsely suggested that no speaker at the convention had mentioned the Bush administration's use of the Pentagon detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. Buchanan stated that in his August 27 convention speech, "he [former President Bill Clinton] just touched on Katrina, torture, cronyism, and the crowd started rising. And yet, they've never given them anything, the red meat they want. Has anybody heard the word 'Guantánamo' mentioned this entire convention? They're not doing the job that they ought to be doing for their party." In fact, during his August 27 convention speech, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry (MA), asserted that "President [Barack] Obama and Vice President [Joe] Biden will shut down Guantánamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear, once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever." But MSNBC did not televise it, cutting to commercial just before Kerry said the word "Guantánamo."
During Kerry's speech, MSNBC aired commentary from NBC News political director Chuck Todd and NBC's Meet the Press host Tom Brokaw. Just before commercial break, host Keith Olbermann announced: "Coming up -- the reaction from our own Rachael Maddow, plus David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell on the convention floor. We now await Joe Biden's speech about an hour from now. Bill Clinton's is in the books: 'Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world, ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.' You're watching MSNBC's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention." MSNBC then showed Kerry saying: "And we must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down" -- cutting to commercial a fraction of a second before Kerry said "Guantánamo." Kerry made the statement at 9:35 p.m. ET.
From the 10 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's August 27 coverage of the Democratic National Convention:
MADDOW: I do think that there was a lot of red meat in Clinton's speech. I think that when Clinton talked about -- as I said -- Katrina, torture, cronyism, the most unequal America we've had since the 1920s -- he's talking about the Bush legacy, he's putting it right on McCain, and certainly there's ways to go at it more directly. John Kerry speaking earlier today was brutal. He said -- Kerry said: "When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier three months after 9-11 and proclaimed, 'Next up, Baghdad,' Barack Obama saw even then an occupation of undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences that would only fan the flames of the Middle East. Well, guess what," Kerry said, "mission accomplished."
That's sort of -- that's sort of going right at him, not saying "the Bush legacy," but going right after McCain and what he has done wrong, we'll get more of that tonight.
NORAH O'DONNELL (MSNBC chief Washington correspondent): What about that, Pat?
BUCHANAN: McCain has skated free this entire convention in my judgment.
O'DONNELL: Skated free?
BUCHANAN: Skated free. He certainly has. Look, Bill Clinton started off tonight, that crowd was ready to rock and roll. It was cheering for five minutes. He had to silence them, and it was a fairly listless response at the end. And look, as Rachel says, he mentioned -- he just touched on Katrina, torture, cronyism, and the crowd started rising. And yet, they've never given them anything, the red meat they want. Has anybody heard the word 'Guantánamo' mentioned this entire convention? They're not doing the job that they ought to be doing for their party. What happened to the fighting liberalism of yesterday? Excuse me.
O'DONNELL: Yeah, but John Kerry talked about his position -- his changing on tax cuts and climate change and all of that. We're going to talk more about that.
BUCHANAN: Well, what did I say about --
O'DONNELL: Beau Biden is coming to the stage now to introduce his father, so I'm going to send it back to Chris and Keith for all of that.
From the 9 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's August 27 coverage of the Democratic National Convention:
OLBERMANN: Coming up -- the reaction from our own Rachael Maddow, plus David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell on the convention floor. We now await Joe Biden's speech about an hour from now. Bill Clinton's is in the books: "Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world, ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States." You're watching MSNBC's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
KERRY: And we must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down --
On Morning Joe today, they all claimed that the topic of Gitmo never came up, as they bashed the Democrats for not being tough enough.
Apparently, none of them listened to the other speeches the night before. They were too busy talking.
...he's paid to play the character "Pat Buchanan" on TV.
And that character is nothing but Hitler without the mustache and the charm....
Interesting having Pat say the dems arn't hitting hard enough.
To much self absorbtion in the media. Narratives hanging on hooks ready for use. With some exceptions the media dosn't really inform. In too many instances pushing a conservative propaganda is job #1.
Arghhhhhh! Perhaps a mandatory live audience is THE cure for not only that antiquated tool Buchanan, but for ALL broadcasts that label themselves as "News".
(just keeping 'em HONEST, Anderson...)
How many times do you think they'll mention POW? In fact, that would make a great drinking game... ;>)
Irony,
Have you no memory? Kerry already tried it with his eight out of nine swifties.
Somebody should do the same with next week's convention, and see how often POW is mentioned.
Irony-
I think that we would die of alcohol poisoning if we used POW for the drinking game.
On a related note, I wonder how many times they will say CLINTON to rouse up hatred?
How many times do you think they will mention TORTURE... (wait for applause) ...at the RNC??
Just attempting to WATCH their convention would be torture to me....
I also find it odd that all these Republican commentators are wringing their hands over the Democrats' failure to savage Grampy McSame. Kind of reminds me of Brer Rabbit begging the Fox not to throw him in the briar patch.
I have no doubt that if they did rake Gramps over the coals, the Republicans would be all outraged over how their former POW (that doesn't like to talk about it) was being disrespected.
You know they would.
I read that Dennis Kucinich had a zinger in his speech but it was cut by the campaign. They're asking for for more years but in a just world they would get more like 10 to 20, or something along those lines. Classic Kucinich. They should have let him go with it.
"Eh, I may have to agree with Tommy once he shows up and says WITH?"
Nah, more like a with? Mistake by Buchanan?, yep. Worthy of mention?, nope.
-- It was mentioned ONCE, not exactly something they intended to use to stir up the crowd. -- snoop
Yep, I agree. This is a WITH. Buchannan and many others would consider Guantanamo a real hot button, red meat topic for the democrats...and they have not utlilized it...as Buchannan opined.
This is a real anal, kindergartenish attempt by mmfa. I know you won't agree with that, snoop...but what the heck...at least we agree on the WITH.
Listening and reading the half-baked and ill thought out opinions of the overpaid punditry I have come to the conclusion that unless every prominent speaker uses 4 hours of time to mention every possible topic imaginable that someone will be more than eager to point out something they missed. Even then I'm sure they would either find some trifling detail left out or complain about the length of the speeches.
Let's just put the truth out there- In the minds of the dimwitted chattering class if you have a (D) after your name you can't possibly do anything right.
In an odd way, I agree with Pat Buchanan in his overall point. The Dems for the most part are being too civilized in their attacks. Buchanan wrote an article the other day calling McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann a "neocon warmonger" and a "traitor" because he is bought and sold by the Republic of Georgia.
I'm not as civilized as the Dems have been. If McCain brought my wife into the argument, and questioned her patriotism and love of our country, I would have brought out the hammer. I would be pointing out McCain "family values" hypocrisy, and point out how he admitted meeting Cindy when he was still married. I would bring up things like McCain abandoning his first wife because she got in a car accident and put on a little weight. I'd be questioning McCain's loyalties, and pointing out how he is talking tough about Georgia because one of his main advisors is on their payroll. I would question which country McCain is really looking out for. I'd bring up McCain's answer the other day at a town hall event implying that he agrees we should bring back the draft. Hell, if McCain wants to talk about wives, why not question whether the American people are ready for an admitted drug addict who stole drugs from her own charity being our First Lady.
They are throwing the kitchen sink at Obama. They're essentially saying he's an anti-American Muslim radical terrorist "tied" to Ayers. They're saying he's an empty suit celebrity similar to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. They're attacking him for what his preacher said in a sermon. They're saying he doesn't love his country. They are blatantly lying about Obama's tax plan. I would counter with much more than "he's another 4 years of Bush" and "he doesn't even know how many homes he owns", but that's me.
We know what Grampy's kneejerk defense is going to be for everything now. As you may have seen, he shamelessly tossed out his POW stint on Jay Leno in response to a joke about his house collection. His handlers know that enough Americans are stupified by irrational jingoism and will swoon whenever he brings it up.
It's one thing to honor a man's military service, but to use it as an all-purpose excuse to deflect legitimate criticism is pathetic.
I think Prez Clinton's address at the DNC covered much of what you just said regarding his service to the country and why we should not vote for MCcain.
It was not just another "not another 4 more years" "no more of the same" speech.
Made me proud of the Clinton's all over again.
Brian,
I agree with both you and Buchanan. The Dems should have gone for the throat, instead they have had a two-nighter with the Clintons for old times sake.
were a Republican. Many of them are working-class slobs like the rest of us, but have been hood-winked into blaming their ills on the "tax-and-spend liberals" and the anti-flag pin "socialists" represented by those elitist Demon-crats. The extreme right has been working on and has PERFECTED the art of lying. Nothing, but NOTHING is really beneath them to achieve their goal, which is, simply, complete domination of the whole world. No, I'm afraid I can't share much hope for this nation, not if I believe the polls.
It looked to me like Buchanan was the only one who saw the opportunity that was missed by the Dems.
Why no one broadcast Kerry is a mystery to me.
I felt Bill and Joe both fell flat. You'd have thought the house was coming down when Bill started, but by the end, the enthusiasm was noticeably less.
Joe Biden's speech was all over the place. He's saying he learned to fight and bloody the bully's nose so he could walk down the street when he voted against the Gulf War and the Surge? He has been one of the most outspoken of "cut and run" crowd. What was his chant again? Even the crowd had a hard time with that one? His analogy that Obama was right and McCain wrong - was laughable when everyone knows Obama was wrong on the surge. Saying that Obama is right all along and Mcain is wrong because the conditions now favor a winding down was jaw dropping.
Can't wait for the "I am the dream" speech tonight. :-)
It's like a kid breaking a window, then expecting praise for putting duct tape on it.
was laughable when everyone knows Obama was wrong on the surge.
My God, for the upteenth time - THE SURGE DID NOT WORK!
It's stated goal was to have a unified Iraqi government, not to quell the violence. Gramps was not right on the surge - just as you are wrong in your post.
I hope Obama makes the same argument in the debates.
Multiple speakers spoke out against torture, without necessarily using the word "Guantánamo" but referring to the general issue of how America should treat prisoners.
So many here are reflexively taking a swipe at Buchanan and they obviously didn't watch the coverage because Buchanan was arguing that the Democrats should be tougher on Bush! His argument was that the Dems should have used the DNC to excoriate Bush.
I'm all for the Republicans and I agree with Buchanan. The Dems are looking like whimps. Last night Bill simply told us how great he was. Biden simply told us his speechwriter should be fired!
The media frenzy so far coming out of this convention is that Hillary supports Obama. Big whoop. The biggest star so far has been Obama's little girl. Now she was cute!
Tonight wil be more of the same muddleheadedness. "Mr. I'm above it all" will try to recreate the Dr. King speech. (What is it with Obama and parroting 60's icons?) Oh yeah... Little Stevie Wonder will also be performing to bring back that old time fever. I'm half guessing Obama will try to rent Yazgur's farm for his next rally!
I'm sure the buzz tomorrow will be about the location and crowd and the fact he gave the same "hope and hype" stump speech. The only thing he'll say is we are 'taking back' the country. For all the supposed sound and fury Obama would do just as well if he let his little girl have the mike.
His argument was that the Dems should have used the DNC to excoriate Bush
From what I've heard, they did. What do you want them to do, call Bush a traitor?
We're the party of unity, not the party of hate. You're welcome to come on board.
His argument was that the Dems should have used the DNC to excoriate Bush
Bulll.....the race is against McCain, not Bush.
Why use precious time on old news when the person you are running against is ramping up with a new motor for the swift boat. As B provided with his lying spiel.
Bush has been excoriated over and over again, the pubs are just to stupid to realize it.
AA, can you just imagine? Tuesday night, Hurricane Gustavo hitting New Orleans AGAIN and those "compassionate conservatives" out celebrating AGAIN!
Maybe we'll have another picture perfect moment of McCain and McBush together.....Oh wait, McCain wants us to forget his dirty little secret, I mean McBush. And damn! They won't be able to celebrate McCain's birthday THIS time. Oh well, I'm sure the Republican convention will work just fine.
Obama and the Dems don't have to do a thing. Who can forget "George Bush doesn't care about Black people", only it will be "John McCain doesn't care about Black people, he's more concerned about getting elected".
You can argue about what the folks of New Orleans did or didn't do, but their is NO argument on the incompetency of the McBush, McCain and Republican party., "heck of a good job, Brownie!"
I guess you wishing for the hurricane to strike and devastate New Orleans again simply for political gain trumps my wish for some drizzle on the fizzle at Mile High tonight. :-)
I guess you wishing for the hurricane to strike and devastate New Orleans again simply for political gain trumps my wish for some drizzle on the fizzle at Mile High tonight. :-)
Nah, I just think of the hurricane as God reminding the Republicans of their failures to honor his teaching, "If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother." Deuteronomy 15:7.
As far as Obama's acceptance speech.....tonight's forecast at Invesco: Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 5 to 9 mph becoming east. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54. East wind at 10 mph becoming south.
You can make of that what you wish. :-)
So we should bow down to the superior wisdom of Pat Buchanan being a rightie concern troll?
Thanks but no thanks.
Yah, only do one at a time!!
Does tough actin Tanactine really count as one?