A "Fair & Balanced" Campaign Ad for Bush
Reported by Nancy - October 18, 2004 -
On FNL this morning (1/18), at 10:36am (EDT) Brigitte Quinn interview Rep "Chip" Pickering (R-MS) & MS State Insurance Commissioner George Dale. The premise of Quinn's interview was to explore whether "some" Southern Democrats might support Bush in the upcoming election.
Comments: Here's a surprise: both of these men support Bush! Dale has been MS Insurance Commissioner since 1975 & appeared to be a classic good-ole-boy stereotype. Before he was elected to Congress in 1990, Pickering was a Southern Baptist missionary, a member of Sen Trent Lott's staff, & a staff member on the Senate Commerce Committee. He served as GWBush's Co-Chair of Mississippi for Bush in 2000 & again this year. Both Dale's & Pickering's remarks with laced with not-so-subtle code words for Southern racism (e.g., "traditional family values"). Quinn interviewed no Dems supporting Kerry, nor did she interview GOPs supporting Kerry.
Questions:
I wonder if *this* Charles W Pickering of MS is related to Judge Charles W Pickering of MS. In case you've forgotten, Bush's nomination of Pickering to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit generated significant controversy & was opposed by the Mississippi NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, NARAL, & a number of other civil rights groups. Chip's official govt website does not mention the relationship, nor does he call himself "Junior" -- in fact, his official website gives his name only as "Chip" & it's only if you look in the directory for the House of Representatives that you'll see his given name as "Charles W Pickering". How many Charles W Pickerings can there be in MS?
I wonder who initiated this "news" story? Did FNL approach Pickering? Or did Pickering contact FNL?
Shouldn't this entire segment count as a free campaign ad for Bush?
