Burying the News
Reported by Eleanor - September 22, 2004 -
Fox & Friends (Sept. 22, 7:00 a.m.) discussed the CBS memo four times. The emphasis was on Dan Rather's job - should he have one - and an attempt to link the memos to the Kerry campaign. This took up about half the program. The other issues are highlighted below.
- In the discussion of the beheadings in Iraq and the release of "Dr. Germ," Brian Kilmeade said that shows "you can broker with terrorists."
- E.D.Hill angrily ridiculed Kofi Annan by asking why he's so upset about the Abu Ghraib prisoners, but not Sudan. When Steve Doocy said that the president wants 75,000 peacekeepers, E.D. continued with, "All they want to do is talk about it!" (Fox totally ignored the Sudan story until the last couple of weeks, and they still barely mention it.)
Joe Biden, as usual, said what he came to say, in spite of questions like: Doocy: Kerry responds to the headlines to determine whether something is bad or good, or Kilmeade: You (Biden) seem to be in "lock step" with the president. Biden ignored them and hammered away with his own agenda:
- The president should have had a back room meeting - a summit with the U.N. leaders - he didn't.
- They doubt the president's judgment, as do many others.
- We're saying change the course.
- Spend the $18 billion. Only 5% is spent.
- On the ground, this war is incompetent - botched.
- Kerry is consistent. He said from the beginning to finish Afghanistan.
- He gave the president authority that he misrepresented - mismanaged.
- Kerry doesn' t always speak like I do, but he's been consistent. They misquote him.
- The American people want the truth.
- We must win in Iraq.
- The world won't back us as long as we continue as we are.
Comment: As long as the CBS memo story continues to get the bulk of the news coverage, the campaign news, and other bad news for Bush, is dead in the water. I suspect the other goal is to bury investigative journalism for good. PBS and CBS are the only networks that do it effectively, and 60 Minutes is the star.
