The Lighter Side
Reported by Eleanor - August 6, 2004 -
Fox's Studio B was refreshing today. Shep Smith is generally refreshing, but Carl Cameron too? (Aug. 6, 3:35).
Carl reported the key points that Kerry is presenting to his listeners as he travels around the country. A $30 million energy proposal with: "No U.S. soldier will be held hostage to Middle East oil;" the use of bio mass and other alternative fuels; and the fact that job growth is "stunningly" low, Kerry's big issue of the day. Yesterday, Kerry switched from a bus to a train, and he has already traveled 1,700 miles from Boston to Missouri. Kerry, on video, said that he will travel 22 states in 15 days on 17 buses and a few trains, so he's being "fair and balanced." (Both Carl and Shep cracked up over that one - saying they had heard it before - and Cameron said nothing about Bush.) A couple of minutes later, Shep quoted someone as saying that Fox viewers like to watch "crazy people" exchange their views. (A rare moment as he and Jan acted crazy)
At 3:50, Shep interviewed Bob Beckel (note spelling), democrat, and Frank Donatelli, republican, about the Swift Boat TV ad being run against Kerry. John McCain has attacked the ad and defended Kerry. ( While the White House denounced the use of fringe groups, but not really the ad.) The key points in the dialogue are presented here:
Beckel stated that one of the men on the video tried to take back what he said. Shep spoke up and said, "Those people are telling lies in that ad, a fact is a fact." The Bush campaign says it's not responsible. Beckel bristled and said something like, "Oh, sure. They know nothing about it."
Donatelli jumped in with, "Say what you really mean." The White House says they're not responsible for harm to the service of our veterans. This is about 2004.
Shep asked about why Viet Nam comes up in every election cycle, and Beckel said it's because "we never talked about it after the war. Viet Nam is a sore still not healed." Shep asked if the ad is "embarrassing," since these guys didn't serve with Kerry in the boat, just in the war. Frank slid over that point, and said that some switch to the time when Kerry came home - "an interesting diversion." Then said, "We need to focus on the future." Bob didn't let this drop until he said, "We know who paid for it - one of the biggest supporters of Bush in Texas."
Shep ended with, "Both sides have evil fringe groups, doing evil things."
Comment: The greatest evil is the usual lack of civility on both sides. I saw something rare today in this dialogue. I tried to capture as much as I could. If this sort of exchange happened every day, I might see hope for the coming together of folks who are not "evil" or extreme, with the chance that both sides can look sensibly at how we might work together to heal a nation in crisis. Some anchors can learn from Shep. He's calm, doesn't yell, and tries to bring out the truth, without trashing either side.
