Toady that line!
Reported by Chrish - July 17, 2004 -
Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institute tried to bring some clarity to an issue on Fox News Live/Studio B on July 13, but substitute host Rick Fulbaum determinedly muddied the issue again and toed the White House line. 3:48EDT
In the course of discussing the just-released Senate committee report on the intelligence reports before the Iraq invasion, O'Hanlon said "...Let's give the intelligence community some credit. They said, for example, there was no evidence of an operational link between Saddam and Al Queda, and they were right. The Bush administration was largely wrong, at least based on what we know so far, and the intelligence community had that point from day one and consistently made that argument." Rick quickly moved to wrap it up, saying "I think the Bush administration is going to continue to say, or is still saying, that there were ties between Al Queda and Iraq, but on that point we'll have to leave it."
Comment: Giving the last word to the Republican/administration side is a tactic we NewsHounds are familiar with. The viewer, who may or may not have zoned out on the graphics and streamers, usually comes around to the last sentences of a debate, so it helps to have your side's summation ringing in his/her ears.
As far as content, it is appalling that a so-called journalist would unquestioningly parrot the White House dogma even as it is refuted by an invited expert. As for the little slip-up, "I think the WH is going to continue to say...", it was probably in a talking points memo: 'Don't give in. The administration, at the risk of looking loony to the rest of the world, is going to adamantly insist that yes there were ties, dammit.'
