Hewitt Sez: CRUSH the Democrats!
Reported by Marie Therese - August 15, 2004 -
The O'Reilly Factor. August 13, 2004. 8:56 PM to 8:59 PM EDT
Subsitute Host: John Gibson
Guest: Hugh Hewitt, Radio Talk Show Host and author of "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It" (Other important information about Mr. Hewitt can be viewed at Salem Radio Network.)
If you checked that site, you know more about Mr. Hewitt than FOX's viewers did. FOX conveniently edits out any little item they think might "limit" the appeal or "show bias" on the part of a guest. In this case they neglected to mention that he's a law professor and employed by a Christian broadcasting network, two facts I certainly would have liked to know.
GIBSON: "With MoveOn.org and other left wing websites mobilizing liberals, the Wall Street Journal calls radio talks show guy, Hugh Hewitt's new book 'a how-to guide for conservatives to become technology-savvy activists for their beliefs.' ...Do you think crushing the Democrats is possible for the Republicans? It seems to be a very evenly divided country.
HEWITT: "I think it is, right now, but we're gonna beat 'em back like a bongo drum in November, John....The Gallup Poll today shows the trend in the no-bounce for Kerry is moving towards that forty-state win for the President. And I think the big story this week - the John Kerry recanting the central narrative of his Vietnam experience, that he spent Christmas eve in Cambodia - that's a major deal that, like the damage to the Titanic below the surface, is just beginning to take down the Kerry campaign."
When Gibson mentions that "there's just a huge lot of people in this country who - right or wrong, I think wrong - just despise George Bush. ...It's not that they just oppose him - that you sort of expect - but really hate him....How can there be a big lead here, that (sic) doesn't seem to be that many people to turn?"
Hewitt goes on to claim that, while he was reporting from the Democratic Convention, he had an epiphany: "The Michael Moore Democrats" are "in control of the party".
HEWITT: I think that's gonna repulse a lot of the moderates. The reason I wrote this book is to lay out the case that we're in a war, people wanna kill us in the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands and we need serious war leadership, not the fanatics, not the MoveOn.org types, not Michael Moore, not Alec Baldwin, who are reality-challenged, not John Kerry, who's recanting the central tenet of his Vietnam experience this week...we need serious, purposeful leadership by serious, purposeful men."
He goes on to admit that V-P Cheney is "not exactly a cut-up, he's not great radio, but what he is is a very competent, sober-minded analyst of what we face and it's a very serious world."
GIBSON (he just can't resist): "Do you think John Kerry will not again give Dick Cheney a hammer to hit him on the head with? He won't call for a more 'sensitive' war?" (smirk, smirk)
HEWITT (takes the hand-off, goes for the jugular): "Oh, he's gonna keep giving us hammers and nails, because he cannot not give us hammers and nails. Like the title of the book, Democrats cannot not cheat when it comes to elections and John Kerry cannot not put marbles in his mouth when he talks."
Comment:
Now I know why Bill took a powder and went on a long weekend.
O'Reilly's made a big deal about how he's working to get John Kerry on The Factor. Scheduling a truth-challenged Bush partisan who plays fast and loose with the facts is not my idea of a good way to accomplish this. And Bill knows it wouldn't do to have the Kerry camp think you actually AGREE with this guy. Solution? Don't show up and let pit-bull John Gibson take over. Plausible deniability. Neat, huh?
First and foremost, John Kerry WAS in Cambodia. Just not on Christmas Eve 1968, but throughout 1969. The Christmas date doesn't change the fact that President Nixon was asking our brave soldiers to put thier lives in danger running illegal missions into another country. PERIOD. John Kerry testified to the FACT of the ILLEGALITY of these forays.
Think about it! What do you think happened to a soldier caught in the dead of night attacking outposts in Cambodia, a nation the United States was not at war with? He'd be lucky if he were just stood up against a wall and shot. The prospect of torture and detention was far more likely. And Nixon didn't care. Kissinger didn't care. They wanted to win their bloody war. Period.
THAT is the "central tenet" of Kerry's testimony and of many other Vietnam veterans. And, my dear Mr. Hewitt, that hasn't changed. Your swift boat guys look like fools in the face of Rassmann's testimony, so all you have left is this one little straw. An exhausted man in the midst of battle mixed up a date. Gimme a break, Hughie!
As for Dick Cheney being a good leader, have you forgotten that his old company, Halliburton, just paid a $7.5 million fine for illegal acts committed while not-yet-Vice-President Cheney was in charge?
As for Bush being the man to lead us, no way! I don't care how the Republicans, FOX and their surrogates spin it. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. I saw the look of complete indecision on Bush's face in that classroom in Florida, like a deer caught in the headlights. Without someone to tell him what to do, he was lost. The footage doesn't lie.
So, unless the Republicans are going to say Michael Moore "faked" Bush's reaction for the movie (and I wouldn't put it past some of them to try), they're stuck with a guy who's incompetent and ineffectual.
Hewitt's stuck with it. FOX is stuck with it. The GOP is stuck with it.
And, until November 2nd, we're stuck with it.
