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Pakistan

February 16, 2010

Hannity Ignores Major Taliban Capture

The New York Times News Alert I got about the capture of a top Taliban commander was sent at 9:15 PM ET, 15 minutes into last night's (2/15/10) Hannity show (screen grab after the jump). "The article states, "The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials... The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks...His capture could cripple the Taliban’s military operations, at least in the short term, said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who last spring led the Obama administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan policy review." The news was part of a Fox News alert at the beginning of Greta Van Susteren's On The Record. But there was no such news during Hannity. At several points during the show, I saw "live" on the screen so we know that at least part of the show was live. This clip from the same day shows the time as being about 48 minutes into the hour, when we know the news had already come out, and it has the "live" stamp. Has Sean Hannity suddenly become uninterested in terrorism? I doubt that, especially since on the same show he attacked Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser, John Brennan, as being unfit for the job for at least the second time this week. More likely, Hannity and the Fox News producers prefer to ignore the news that doesn't comport with their war on Obama's national security policies. Or maybe they just needed more time to figure out how to spin it against Obama.

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Reported by Ellen at 12:22 AM

December 23, 2009

Greta Van Susteren Does Not Question John Bolton’s Suggestion The U.S. Should Interfere With Internal Politics In Pakistan

Co-authored by Fred Sanders

John Bolton appeared on On The Record last Thursday (12/17/09) to argue that the Obama administration should be doing more to “influence” the domestic political situation in Pakistan. He told the audience the U.S. should “try and influence personnel and personnel decisions within the Pakistani military to favor a pro-American anti-radicalism Islamic line.” Instead of questioning what he was exactly advocating, host Greta Van Susteren helped advance his meme by suggesting his assessment was correct. With video.

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Reported by Ellen at 6:00 PM

August 12, 2008

Mudslinging Expert, Ann Coulter, Proves Mud Is All She Has To Offer

Bill O'Reilly did a segment about the effectiveness of political mudslinging and naturally invited Ann Coulter on as the expert on the subject . Apparently, Coulter is much better slinging mud than discussing the practice rationally or intelligently. At first, Coulter did her usual routine but when BOR asked her about her mocking of Obama's middle name, she got defensive, disorganized, and clearly agitated. Finally she blamed Democrats and Andrew Sullivan.

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Reported by Deborah at 9:19 PM

May 13, 2008

FOX News Now Trying To Paint Obama As Hamas Supporter

Now that the Rev. Wright story seems to have run its course along with Bill Ayers, FOX News has cooked up another bogus attack on Barack Obama. This time the “fair and balanced” network is trying to portray Obama as a terrorism enabler and Hamas sympathizer. With video.

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Reported by Ellen at 4:24 AM

February 21, 2008

Pentagon Takes Cue from Barack Obama, Bombs Pakistan Unilaterally

Guest blogged by Marie Therese

In August 2007 Hillary Clinton accused rival Barack Obama of being "naive" because he indicated that he would meet with the leaders of unfriendly nations. She claimed he was unprepared to make the tough decisions necessary to defend the United States. Sen. Obama responded that in the absence of any other options, he would bomb a country like Pakistan unilaterally if it meant eliminating a known terrorist threat. (Source: Reuters)

At the time he was hauled over the coals by Republican talking heads.

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Reported by Chrish at 9:51 PM
Non-stop Bhutto coverage, reported by Chrish,