Wes Clark kicked ass on "Today"

[Momof1]

ops-

[chimpymustgo]

1. Very strong. Ann was hysterical, as usual - and wrong.

Wes handled her well, and defended Kerry on the war in Iraq.

[Kahuna]

2. Ann who? Details! Details!

:P

[markses]

3. Ann Curry?

She was shreiking "Excuse me! Excuse me!" Wes kept his cool, worked through the points reasonably. Ann was visibly shaken by the end of the interview, like the blood had been drained from her tax-cut stuffed face by the sheer weight of the evidence: The incompetence of the Bushies contributed to the 9/11 attacks. It is as clear as day. The Bush crew is delusional, and therefore weak on terror.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[theHandpuppet]

7. This is REALLY getting old

A shrieking, hysterical Bitch? A ten-dollar whore? Here we go again... sigh.

Y'know, it's times like this that it can be frustrating for me here on DU. I just watched the interview with Clark and was eager to join in the discussion (I agree that Wes was IMPRESSIVE) when yet another woman with whom we may disagree is reduced to being called a whore, a bitch. Are you sure we all can't drag out a few more misogynist insults while we're at it?

What has this to do with Curry's professionalim, or lack of it? Same thing with Lesley Stahl and her interview with Clarke -- although she presented what I thought were some valid interview questions, her presentation and fawning defense of GWB were downright embarrassing.

Curry is a third-rate entertainment journalist whose intellect runs about as deep as a pie pan. I believe she overcompensates by donning a hard manner rather than asking the hard questions. Her incompetence does not make her a ten-dollar whore, just a two-bit journalist.

Now, regarding Lauer's earlier interview with Condi Rice -- she's just pure, unadulterated evil, and evil knows no gender.

[tishaLA]

8. Thanks Handpuppet

I agree with you. I havent' seen the interview yet, but the misogyny is completely unnecessary.

[patricia92243]

9. I agree. I put these people on ignore- end of problem!

[kstewart33]

10. I agree. Guys lighten up!

Do not call a woman a whore or bitch simply because you disagree with the way she handled an interview. Geeeeezzzz. What's gotten into you? You're as bad with name calling as the freepers.

Ann Curry is a fine entertainment journalist who has no business doing hard news interviews. But does that make her what you're calling her? She seems like a fine person to me, politics aside.

[Beam Me Up]

12. Thank you!

You're absolutely right. What is important is a journalists intelligence and professionalism, not their gender.

That said, a so called journalist doesn't have to be female to be a "ten dollar whore" or a "shrieking, hysterical bitch." Most of them are male, as a matter of fact, 'bitch slapping' the left, left and right.

[NewJeffCT]

16. true, but

While 'bitch' and 'whore' may be a little too strong a word for her, I have seen plenty of male journalists called whores on here.

[papau]

17. That makes two media reviews by you where we agree ! - I can stop

worrying about the media - well no

But I do agree with your post.

The other curious NBC event today was the Boston 7 (NBC) broadcast- and this was carried on DirectTV to the area - was without audio - and or without video - for most of the Clarke story on the Today show. With background noise of someone moving about and sometimes talking/laughing, and with the "problem" only affecting this portion of the broadcast, perhaps GE allowed/encouraged some brave right wing staff to show the Bush Flag by some "technical problem" game playing?

[jrthin]

22. As a woman, let me try and defend

the use of whore and bitch in Curry's particular case. When you have sold the good of the country down the drain for dollars, and when you sell your soul to corrupt CEO's, i.e. GE, a whore seems quite appropriate.

[Timefortruth]

33. Everything you say about the sexist terms is absolutely correct.

They are inappropriate and don't belong in this discussion.

She was quite unprofessional and emotional in the interview, at one point shaking a finger at the General with her voice raised. Her bias was crystal clear.

[chimpymustgo]

6. Thanks for the added info. Poor Ann (Curry).

She really lost it, accusing Wes of supporting the war in Iraq. He calmly, firmly told her he did not. her rejoinder - well Kerry did!

Wes was smooth.

[underpants]

15. She lead a USA!USA! cheer on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln

the morning of the chickenhawk landing. No we shouldn't use terms like that about a lady regardless.............she is a shill however.

[DODI]

4. Why did Ann scream at him.

That was a most unprofessional approach. As I watched her screaming and interrupting "you were for the war", the Chumbawamba song Long Term Memory Loss came to mind. The American media all suffer from Long Term Memory Loss.

[Adelante]

11. So wha'd he say? Wha'd he do?

I missed it :cry:

And I agree with the sentiments stated above about sexist references to media, uh, whores.

[trumad]

14. When addressing a whore in the Media

Call them Media Whores... BTW: I have no problem calling a woman a Bitch if she is one just as I have no Prob calling a dude a Prick!

[sendero]

18. The PC here ....

.... gets old. Whore in the context of a "journalist" is a gender-neutral term. It is used to describe one who is bought and paid for. I'll use it whenever I want and anyone who doesn't like it can put me on ignore.

I didn't see today's show so I cannot comment on the whore.

[Qanisqineq]

20. As a woman I tend to be overly sensitive to

the different references to women. Media whore would be more appropriate. However, I take "bitch" as a compliment personally. It means I don't take shit from anybody.

[theHandpuppet]

26. Ha-ha!

Yes, there are times I have been called a bitch when I took it as a compliment.

I have noted that when male journalists are being dissed here the term used is "media whore", which brings with it different connotations altogether. But sans that preface, and combined with bitch, hysterical, shreiking, and that "ten dollar" price tag assigned to a woman, no matter how much we may disagree with her, the sum of the parts (so to speak) end up greater than the whole and an unsavory and (to me) sexist undercurrent comes to light. The piling on then ensues and she is attacked in ways that speak to her as a WOMAN, not a politico or journalist or whatever.

Think about Freeper talk -- some of those folks think the worst thing they can call a person, man or woman, is a faggot, a c***, a whore. Why do you think that is? Because it reduces their opponents to that which they most despise: women, gays, minorities. It's a way to objectify people in a manner that dismisses them as something other than human. That's also why there are no equivalent insults that say, "hey, you MAN, you!" The closest I've seen to such an example is when some women have been insulted in ways that insinuate a particular woman is a dyke, ie, not a real woman. You can't win for losing. (I'm gay, BTW, so I'm fully supportive of heterosexual society claiming such losers as Ann Coulter as one of their own. Don't pawn her off onto us, thankyouverymuch!)

That is not to say that some here have used such epithets with deliberate malice, although I have seen similar language or worse on some DU posts. I think we just use language too casually sometimes without considering why particular words and slurs are especially loaded. Hypothetically speaking, what if from this moment forward we all decided to substitue a racist or homophobic slur for terms which could be considered misogynic in their origin and use? What would that sound like? Feel like?

Anyway, my point was not to encourage censoring people but to ask fellow DUers to please think twice about the language we use and WHY we choose certain words to attack or belittle others. That's all. I've certainly made my share of mistakes, too, in that regard and have to work at catching myself and giving a bit more thought to the words I choose.

Finally, yes, Wes Clark was TOTALLY cool and professional, unlike his interviewer. He could have responded in kind but in not doing so perhaps he taught us a very valuable lesson. :)

[Az]

19. Reaction

Ann accused Clarke of having been for the war. He corrected her and informed her he was never for the war. She jumped all over Kerry next and seemed to expect Clarke to be able to answer for Kerry. He sidestepped this obvious ploy. The orders are out, Get blood on Kerry.

[thom1102]

21. He said that all Condi Rice was doing was

Trying to shift blame off of the White House, and onto the Clinton Administration, and Clarke personally. He said that on matters of national security the Buck stops at the President.

[MarianJack]

13. Curry vs. Clark...

...in an interview/debate is like my 4 yeal old vs. Serena Williams in tennis. There is no competition or contention AT All.

As some of the previous posters noted, she in an entertainment "journalist" who probably got something like a 2.3 GPA in broadcast school and is where she is because she makes a good appearance. She, as well as other "journalists", have been fawning over the halliburton administration for so long that they don't know how to deal with someone who is calling them on the truth. They also, tragically, had gotten very used to having no voice of opposition to the bushies.

[Devil Dog Dem]

23. Let's not turn DU into PC Central; call a whore a whore.

I call Russert a whore all the time, never hear a complaint from anybody. What's wrong with calling Curry a whore, if that is what she is?

[thom1102]

24. I, too, thought that Ann was over the top and almost hysterical...

But as a journalist, it is her job to play Devil's Advocate, and intelligently represent the views of the opposing side. I think that she did that poorly when she was screaming and interrupting, but I thought his reaction was a reflection on the proffesionalism of Wes Clark. He simply maintained a neutral tone, while correcting her inconsistancies.

[Devil Dog Dem]

25. Clark's come a long way over the last year, hasn't he?

They said he was a quick study, I think he just didn't have enough time to gell in the primaries.

[dryan]

28. Wes vs. Ann

I watched Ann Curry's interview of General Clark this morning. It was not one of her better interviews. Clark came across very well--cool, calm, and prepared. Ann did not do a good job.

[theHandpuppet]

29. Love her or hate her...

I still think Katie Couric is the show's most professional interviewer/journalist. In fact, I think she's wasted on The Today Show. Had it been Couric handling the interview I believe it would have had a totally different tone. Katie knows the difference between professional intensity and smokescreen hostility, and she can play an interview on the fly, not just from a script. That's why she doesn't get flustered nor does she turn snarky like Lauer.

On the other hand, maybe Curry did us a favor -- she sure made Wes Clark look good by comparison! My respect for him has only grown.

Don't know what's happened to Lauer's skills -- he's become increasingly condescending in dealing with those he interviews -- maybe he's taken too many lessons from RW mouthpieces because I fear he's starting to morph into Joe Scarborough! Ackkkk!

[qanda]

37. "It was not one of her better interviews."

Wow! That is probably the understatement of the year. That interview was terrible. I have stopped watching the Today Show and instead catch Washington Journal on CSPAN. Today I tuned in to see the reaction for the Richard Clarke interview. I have to say that Ann Curry was *so* unprofessional that I almost started feeling sorry for her. She was acting like a rabid dog looking for someone to bite.

She accused Wes Clark of being for the war and then when he set her straight she immediately says, "Well, John Kerry was for the war!" How do you get a fact about someone wrong and then justify being wrong by transferring the charge to someone else without missing a beat? It was just plain old terrible.

[Gloria]

27. Clark is certainly proving one thing:

that as VP, he could step in and take over for a President.
While Kerry has been off the scene, Clark has shown up on FAUX, ABC (Little Rock), and now Today. That's 3 days in a row, in the thick of things.

The campaign has started and Clark is proving himself to be a worthy Kerry representative.
Who else is there for VP spot at this point??? Clark has gained the know-how and has the credibility to present the defense of Kerry on national security...and also go on the attack.

[theHandpuppet]

30. I agree!

The more I see and hear of Wes, the more I'm convinced he should be on the ticket. I have to admit I'm really lukewarm about Kerry but being an "anyone but Bush" Dem I will support the party's nominee regardless. But putting Clark on the ticket would encourage me to be even more of an activist for the fall election!

[HydroAddict]

31. Here, Here Gloria...

From a former Dean supporter who desperately wants a Clark Veep.

(edit: er..er, dammit!)

[laruemtt]

32. i have the space just to the

left of clark's bumpersticker free for kerry's bumpersticker:

kerry / clark - sounds beautiful!

[cally]

34. I have the Kerry and Clark

bumperstickders next to each other. I thought about taking off the Clark sticker but I think he may be picked as VP. You can get a free Kerry bumpersticker from the Kerry site. I got mine from a friend, though.

[DancingBear]

36. There is a reserved space

in the fields below my house for a big ol' 4'x8' "Kerry/Clark'04" sign.

C'mon, John - whaddya waitin' for - just announce Wes and I'll call the sign people.

It's very easy. :)

[alfredo]

35. Wes for Sec of State?

Or maybe Sec of Defense?