Fox Distorts Sound Bite From White House
Reported by Deborah - September 7, 2005
Brit Hume opened his panel discussion tonight with a soundbite showing Scott McClellan berating David Gregory during a White House press briefing. McClellan was extremely angry accusing reporters of trying to blame the President defending his refusal to answer any accusatory questions. Gregory's question was cut from the clip.
9/07/05
Mort Kondracke weighed in first on the McClellan clip saying that the tone in Washington is "dismal" with all the "Democrats haranguing Chertoff and Mike Brown." Kondracke added that the point was not to fix blame but to fix the problems.
Mara Liasson up next revealed what Gregory had asked to set McClelland off the deep end claiming that it was a perfectly reasonable question. Gregory had asked, " Does the President have confidence in Mike Brown?" It was an embarrassing moment for Hume who had acted like Gregory had been asking abusive questions.
A defense was impossible so Fred Barnes chuckled sheepishly as if they had been caught in a harmless prank. " Good sound bite," Barnes announced.
Comment: We Distort-You Decide was the first thing that came to mind. It might be trite but very accurate in this case.
