That's Not What Kerry Said!
Reported by Ellen - November 23, 2004
A segment of last night's O'Reilly factor was devoted to Kerry "blaming" FOX for his election defeat. There was the usual FOX Kerry-bashing along with a Democratic analyst agreeing with FOX. The only problem was, Kerry didn't say what FOX said he did and nobody seemed to notice.
The Kerry clip played on the show was from a video in which he thanked his followers for their work during the campaign. Kerry, addressing his supporters, said, "You moved voters, helped hold George Bush accountable and countered the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting and conservative talk radio."
Immediately following the clip, guest-host John Kasich said, "Sounds like the Senator is blaming Fox and some other media for his loss."
Really? I didn't hear him attributing his loss to the media or any other cause for that matter. I heard him thanking his listeners for countering the media attacks. Hello, FOX! There's a difference between saying an organization attacked you and blaming it for having lost.
Nevertheless, Kasich went on with his Kerry-bashing. "Sounds like the dog ate my homework. Blame it on FOX News. Come on!"
Then he turned to FOX's Democratic contributor Lanny Davis for comments. Sadly, Davis seemed more interested in defending FOX (and possibly his position there) than he was in defending Kerry. In response to Kasich's sharp question about Kerry's "silly kind of statement," Davis answered, "I would not agree with attacking FOX because in my experience I was able to talk freely."
Comment: Since when does being able to talk freely mean FOX didn't attack? NEVER, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong: I don't blame FOX or the media for Kerry's loss. I think Kerry and the Democrats were exceptionally inept with the media and Davis' response above is a perfect example. However, that does not mean that FOX and the media did not attack Kerry. In my opinion, the above dialogue is another perfect example of that.
