Greta Van Susteren was agog over the “breaking news” that amounted to a bunch of emails showing that the White House knew that a terror group had claimed responsibility for the attacks on Benghazi. Of course, “claimed responsibility” is not the same thing as actually being responsible but in her excitement to finger the Obama administration as having engaged in some kind of nefarious cover up, Van Susteren didn’t bother with that pesky detail. Instead, she actually blamed the Obama administration for any of her own network’s reporting mistakes.
As one of many segments on this “bombshell,” Van Susteren turned to last night's "political panel." ABC News’ Rick Klein seemed more interested in sucking up to Fox’s false narrative than in playing any kind of watchdog. And not for the first time. Klein called it “new questions about why there was such certainty from (U.N. Ambassador) Susan Rice and the administration in the aftermath.” Klein nicely parsed his words by saying, “such certainty” to give him wiggle room for the fact that Rice made it quite clear there was no certainty about had happened.
Michael Crowley, of Time, offered some real perspective. He asked, “What is the larger point here?” Although he noted that there was reason to think that people had not been completely forthcoming, he added, “I think the implication that Obama has somehow been soft or ineffectual against Al Qaeda is not really an accurate or fair one.”
Van Susteren interrupted to say the question is, “Why isn’t he (Obama) telling us what happened?” And rather than wait for him to do so, Van Susteren is right behind her network’s attempts to sensationalize every moment. In fact, a building on fire was the b-roll footage right at the beginning of the segment.
But Van Susteren’s next attempt to justify the sleazy output that her network calls journalism (never mind the “fair and balanced” part) was a jaw dropper:
Look, he’s the one who’s not putting – he’s the one who’s creating this vacuum. He’s the one who has the information who could tell us. He’s the one who can get on TV and tell us. He’s not. And so we may be getting it wrong but if we’re getting it wrong, it’s his fault.
She even reiterated this ridiculousness:
If we have it wrong, you know, if we’re taking the wrong assumptions from the written word that we have, I blame the administration because they’re the ones that had the information. They’re the ones who represent the American people and they’re the ones who created this problem for themselves.
And I suppose it’s ACORN’s fault that Fox promoted the phony pimps videos. And it’s the DOJ’s fault that Fox spent so much time hyping the debunked New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case.
But in that case, who’s fault is it, Greta, for the Iraq’s WMD story?
I'll be the first to agree that I think the Obama administration should be more forthcoming and that its response so far has been less than impressive. But that's absolutely no excuse for the kind of inflammatory finger pointing going on at Fox. And it's even worse to pretend it's the Obama administration's fault.
Media Matters has more on the emails and Van Susteren's over-the-top response.
You can tweet Van Susteren at @GretaWire. Crowley at @CrowleyTime and Klein @RickKlein
It has to be Obama’s fault because Obama had the gall – the “gall” I tell you – to get himself elected as President of the USA. Romney’s not big enough to be thankful because, were that not the case, he’d have no chance at all of winning in a deeply racist country.
For the record: I’m female, white and old enough to remember what racism was like during the late Fifties/early Sixties in Central Florida. It’s still there, smouldering among the category once referred to as “po’ white trash”. A term used to refer to poverty-stricken whites and evangelical protestants whose only source of any dignity at all was that they were not (insert N-word or R-word of choice). This fact is a blot on the reputation of the USA abroad and testimony to the urgent need to invest more in education. It’s not enough to exclaim “I love teachers, too!” as Governor Romney does. It’s time for the USA to establish minimum educational standards and to give priority to top-up financing for the sort of schools that allow such ignorance to fester.
Mitt Romney and his oldest son have their names on 96% of this election’s voter fraud (99% if you only count scandals True the Vote didn’t make up), he’s been caught admitting he’s behind mass intimidation of corporate employees and Obama supporters, AND he admitted Obama’s ideas kick the crap out of his halfway through the last debate by trying to steal them on live TV.
Yet, the top story for Greta (supposedly the Democrat view) is that every lie Fox News tells is somehow Obama’s fault? Really? Newsflash, G. -One of your fill-in hosts went to another publication the other day to say outright that the reason you’re lying is because you think creating a last minute conspiracy will get Romney in on foreign policy.
Prove he’s wrong… or shut your pie hole. I’m sick of this crap about how everyone should be accountable but the United States Republicans.
Was it Obama’s fault Romney treated multiple countries so badly they’re prepared to hate us for four years over him if he wins?
Was it Obama’s fault that Romney said 47% of this country are parasites?
Was it Obama’s fault that Massachusetts thinks he’s the worst governor they ever had?
Was it Obama’s fault that enough people were offended by Romney to start the “Fuck You, Mitt!” meme?
Was it Obama’s fault that Ann Romney flat admitted her husband isn’t stable enough for the office?
No -He wasn’t. And he certainly didn’t play a role in your network acting like all that equals no big deal.
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REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: [Richard Mourdock]Pregnancy Caused By Rape Was ‘Something God Intended To Happen’
http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-mourdock-rape-gaff-2012-10
The “party of personal responsibility” strikes (out) again . . .
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