Echoing Brewer, MSNBC's Mitchell aired cropped Bill Clinton interview, claimed it was "hardly an endorsement" of Obama
SUMMARY: On MSNBC Live, Andrea Mitchell followed Contessa Brewer in airing a heavily cropped version of former President Bill Clinton's remarks on Meet the Press in which Clinton seemingly declined to respond in the affirmative when asked by Meet the Press host Tom Brokaw if he would say he "admire[s]" Sen. Barack Obama and "think[s] he's a ... great man." Mitchell called Clinton's comments "hardly an endorsement" of Obama and "not as effusive as you would expect." But Mitchell did not air or otherwise note Clinton's statements moments later that he "certainly admire[s]" Obama and that Obama's "greatness will ... become apparent" when he is elected president.
On the September 29 edition of MSNBC Live, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell aired a heavily cropped version of former President Bill Clinton's remarks during an interview broadcast on NBC's Meet the Press the previous day, then called Clinton's comments "hardly an endorsement" of Sen. Barack Obama and "not as effusive as you would expect." Specifically, Mitchell aired a clip of Clinton seemingly declining to respond in the affirmative when asked by Meet the Press host Tom Brokaw, "Would you use the same words for him [Obama] that you have used for Senator [John] McCain -- that you admire him, and that you think he's a -- and that he's a great man?" But Mitchell did not air or otherwise note Clinton's statements moments later that he "certainly admire[s]" Obama and that Obama's "greatness will ... become apparent" when he is elected president.
Additionally, the video clip misleadingly cropped Clinton's statement, "Hillary is the one who told me to go help him [Obama]. She said this guy's got real skills." Omitting what Clinton said just before, the clip as cropped falsely suggested that Clinton had said he was going to "go help" Obama's presidential campaign only at Sen. Hillary Clinton's request. But as Media Matters for America noted, Clinton was in fact referring to his appearance at a fundraiser for Obama's Senate campaign in 2004.
As Media Matters documented, earlier on the September 29 MSNBC Live, host Contessa Brewer aired the same heavily cropped version of Clinton's remarks, after claiming that Clinton "seemed to give" Obama "a half-hearted endorsement."
From the 1 p.m. ET hour of the September 29 edition of MSNBC Live:
MITCHELL: Well, speaking of performances, let me show you Bill Clinton with Tom Brokaw, asked about Obama on Meet the Press.
[begin video clip]
BROKAW: Would you use the same words for him that you have used for Senator McCain -- that you admire him, and that you think he's a --
CLINTON: I certainly --
BROKAW: -- and that he's a great man?
CLINTON: Well, I don't -- look, I had my first conversation with him in my entire life in Harlem. ... Hillary's the one who told me to go help him. She said, "This guy's got real skills."
[end video clip]
MITCHELL: That's hardly an endorsement. I mean, that's not as effusive as you would expect. It almost made Darrell Hammond look like, you know -- Clinton was parroting Hammond's Saturday Night Live routine on this very subject.
STEPHANIE CUTTER (senior adviser to Obama and chief of staff for Michelle Obama): Right.
MITCHELL: What is going on there?
CUTTER: Well, I know that he's going to Florida for us later this week, and he is an incredible advocate for us, particularly in states like Florida. You know, Bill Clinton still has, you know, quite a following out there, particularly amongst the Democratic Party. You know, quite often on the campaign trail, we hear, "Why can't you bring us back to the Clinton years? Why can't we have the Clinton economy after the past eight years of failed policies?" -- the policies that John McCain is purporting to follow now.
You know, we are excited to have Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail later this week. We hope we'll get him out as much as possible between now and Election Day. We're just -- we're thrilled to have him onboard.
Hmmm, the deal that McLame "suspended" his campaign for and subsequently took credit for making it happen collapsed today, and the "liberal" media is talking about a clinton endorsement or lack therof. How bout that "liberal" media!
clinton's complete answer is on the brewer thread. if you actually look at it, someone had to take the time to remove the middle section of what he said and make it appear as if hillary had to tell him to go to the meeting with obama in harlem. what the "go help him" phrase clear referenced was previous times bill had helped him. it was edited to make clinton say something he did not say.
Ah, the justly famous wingnut mind reading skills in full bloom.
How many fingers am I holding up?
If you're a rightwinger, that would be three, with the thumb and index finger properly inserted to withdraw another talking point! ;)
Right wingers spout nothing but bogus talking points while the intellectual left wing giants around here present factual analysis with the seriousness it deserves, along with smart, witty commentary that would make Bill Maher jealous.
"Wingnuts", whew, that is some pretty good stuff.
Oh, Bucey, you really hurt my feelings with that! I think I should argue against anything you say from here on out because you hurt my feelings with that blindly partisan speech. If you only had refrained from saying anything to hurt my feelings, I would probably have agreed with you. But since you hurt my feelings, I am compelled to disagree with every single thing you say - because you hurt my feelings. My feelings are way more important than doing something that requires putting partisanship aside and bail out wall street. So brucey, stop hurting my feelings. You are just a mean ol' cranky old man. Meaney. No, really.
Snoop, I know what you're so delicately getting at: Bruce has as his mentor mean 'ole John Boehner, who got his own feelins hurt so bad by Rep. Pelosi that he couldn't do anything except hold a press conference about a speech she gave. She has this power over him. It's all too much.
Ole Boehner is the one who blamed the troops for the Iraq mess a while back:
http://www.americablog.com/2006/11/republican-house-leader-blames-troops.html
Hey Snoopy, I strongly believe that any Republican that changed his vote due to what Pelosi had to say is complertely wrong.
I also think Pelosi was wrong for saying what she said at that time.
Did any of these people really want the bill to pass?
nothing but talking points, right?
If Andrea Mitchell appears to favor the Republicans, it's perhaps because she actually does. Let's bear in mind that for the last 11 years she's been married to Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman until 2006. As such, he probably bears a good share of the responsibility for the current economic fiasco. It would not be inconsistent or unusual for Andrea's perspective to be tinged by her allegiance to the Republican ideology and linked to her husband's legacy.
You've got the picture, TADEKKORN. It should be a conflict of interest concern when someone is a "talker" on a "news" program is related to someone who is or was connected to the administration. What about old Karl Rove? Of course it's Fox "News". Since there seems to be no law or even shame at this practice, what better way to stack the deck than hiring professional shills sit at a desk? Are there NO independent journalists out there? Are there any "journalists" out there?
short answer, NO.
Long answer, If there are, they don't work for the television media.