I was listening to Hugh Hewitt on the way home from seminary yesterday and he had Mark Halperin of The Note on and I was not surprised when Halpern said that he thought Kerry meant to joke about Bush not the troops. That the press is willing to look like an idiot for believing such a thing is not surprising. Maybe Mark Halperin needs to ask himself this question: if the :
HH: Mark Halperin, how did ABC handle the John Kerry story today? How ought it handle it tomorrow in the morning show, and in the evening news?Maybe Mark Halperin needs to ask himself this question: if Kerry had slipped, why didn't he immediately correct himself? Knowing what people would have thought he said, wouldn't he have said that he didn't mean to trash the troops? This is clearly what the left thinks of the troops, they are only in the army because they don't have any other options. They have stated this over and over again, I even heard a caller on the radio make this point just this morning.
MH: We led with it, as did the other networks. It’s an interesting story. Sometimes in politics, interesting trumps everything else. But it’s also a complicated story, because you’ve got to decide what standards do you use to decide what matters about John Kerry says, something we don’t normally care about much in the evening news these days, and also about whether or not what he said is being mischaracterized, how it’s being used by you and other conservatives. So we did lead with it. I suspect it’ll play very big on the news tomorrow. I’m not sure about after that, how much shelf life it will have, or should have.
HH: Do you believe he was making a joke?
MH: I do believe he was making a joke.
[...]
MH: The point of view should find a prominent…or a place in all news coverage. But again, as important and valuable as the troops are, as much as all Americans, and we respect them, that’s not always…they’re not necessarily the best arbiters of Senator Kerry’s sense of humor. [Why ask the troops what they think? They were only insulted by the guy, why should their opinion matter? This is only a story about Kerry making a mistake, why involve the troops in Kerry's mistake? If they were insulted their in error and therefore have no place in this discussion. This is why the troops can't stand the MSM and their arrogant attitude.]
HH: And so, how are you going to figure that out? Because obviously, it’s convenient for him, Mark Halperin, to say he was making a joke. I find it astonishing. I can’t imagine anyone making that joke, or trying to make that joke to college students facing a choice of careers, talking about stuck in Iraq where there are hundreds of thousands of their fellow aged Americans are, or have passed through. I just can’t imagine it as a joke. But you think it was.
MH: Well, Hugh, you’ve got greater faith in John Kerry’s sense of humor than I do, I guess.
HH: I don’t understand.
MH: Well, I mean, you can’t believe he’d be making a joke about President Bush’s intelligence? He’s done it in the past.
HH: But he always has been willing to use President Bush’s name. And if he wanted to make that joke, if you don’t study and do your homework, you’ll end up as President of the United States, and you’ll get us stuck in a war? As opposed to indulging a stereotype that he once testified to about…in 1971, the Genghis Khan testimony, that he might really have severe and significant contempt for America’s fighting men…
And others don't seem to be thinking too clearly on this issue:
Olbermann: "When you consider that the question about this at the briefing this morning was asked by Bret Baier of Fox News to Tony Snow, Fox News alumni, and that the President rewrote a section of his stump speech at the eleventh hour in Georgia to include those comments about Senator Kerry, is there any question that the White House is not just enjoying a windfall here, but actually manufacturing a windfall?"A smart Democrat cancels John Kerry's campaign visit:
Dana Milbank, Washington Post: "Well, of course it's manufactured. It's sort of this made-for-Fox-News Halloween thriller. It only runs in even years, but Karl Rove casts some spell, John Kerry turns into the Grim Reaper, and the Democrats all look as if they've seen a ghost."
A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry. Bruce Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate.And finally a video by Scott Ott. Kerry is so pompous and full of himself, he is a perfect target for parody:
Braley is running against Republican Mike Whalen in Iowa's First District congressional race. It's a contest considered to be one of the most competitive House races in the country.
(Link via Kathryn Jean Lopez of The Corner)
OOPS, one more thing (I couldn't resist):
The decorated Vietnam war veteran added, “Let me make this crystal clear, as crystal clear as I can make it: It’s not the fault of the Iraqis that your country has become purgatory for our bad students. I hope everyone — Sunni, Shia and freedom-fighting insurgent alike — will find it in his heart to forgive me.”Updated: Not all of the MSM are trying to cover for Kerry, from the Boston Herald:
An apology would have been the way to go, but sometimes Kerry just can’t help himself. And so he issued one of his very special non-denial denials saying, “I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.”Tags:
Huh? The film clip, now up on YouTube, speaks for itself.
