WSJ reporter blames GORE for public ignorance re: AWOL

[grasswire]

Wall Street Journal's political correspondent made the following remarks on Dec. 19 to Brian Lamb on c-span's Washington Journal.

The caller had complained about Bush's free ride on his absence from military duties during wartime.

Jeanne Cummings, WSJ:

Everybody knows about it, because the media has told them about it.

Lamb: the callers will say that's not so; that you have to go to web sites to find the info.

Cummings: That was in the coverage during the campaign. There were some rigorous reviews of his time served in the Texas Air Guard and this information was out. Now, did the Gore campaign use it to their advantage and make it more of an issue? Perhaps not. But that's not our obligation. We fulfilled our obligation in informing people what his real war record was, they can make their judgment.

(transcribed from c-span video, no link)

The Wall Street Journal did not cover Bush's military service.

And here's what Paul Begala said in Feb. 2001:

"Let me give you some statistics," responded panelist Paul Begala, "I worked for Bill Clinton in 1992 and …in anticipation of this very question, I looked this up on Nexis. There were 13,641 stories about Bill Clinton 'dodging the draft' …and there were 49 stories about Bush and the National Guard," Begala said.

http://www.uaw.org/cap/01/news/day3media.html

[AP]

1. Gore didn't want to win badly enough, so media passes buck to him.

I say the media still had an obligation to tell the whole truth, no matter how unflattering it was to Bush, and regardless of whether the Gore team faxed them a press release on the issue.

[dsc]

10. And you know Gore didn't send a fax

because the press that lies in your face told you this? Do you realize how goofy that line of reasoning is?

[AP]

14. I speaking sort of memphorically.

By "send a fax" I mean, isssued a press release. I'm implying the media is so lazy that they only print press releases rather than do investigative journalism.

[Melodybe]

2. Ha Ha Ha, I bet we get to hear about it from the nominee, this time around

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. "But that's not our obligation. We fulfilled our obligation in informing

...people what his real war record was"

Well, obiously you did no such thing, WSJ.

Anybody miss the days when the press actually held our so-called leaders accountable. Woodward and Bernstein did a lot to expose Nixon's corruption in Watergate. And yet Reagan, Poppy and Ollie North got away with not only far worse crimes than Nixon, but outright TREASON in the arming of enemies of America such as Iran. And of course, the current Bush regime makes his daddy's look like choirboys by comparison.

Yet the media does nothing to expose them. :evilfrown:

[The Zanti Regent]

6. Yeah and Bob Woodward is the Biggest PRESSTITUTE OF ALL!

Woodward repeatedly lies for Bush. He lies so much that Media Whores Online made him the Whore of the Year.

We have a much bigger scandal than Watergate going on right now and what does Woodward do? He actively covers it up and writes that the Chimp walks on water.

Woodward should be dragged into a theater and forced Clockwork Orange style to watch Judgement at Nuremberg!

[Skittles]

4. yes, I saw that exchange

it was f***ing sad. Not only do these "journalists" not do their job, they LIE ABOUT IT and BLAME DEMOCRATS. It's sickening.

[moondust]

5. Applause for Brian Lamb.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

I sense that he may be a Repug but he is still able to represent the opposition. Glad he called her on it. Almost nobody knows about this or they dismiss it as political mudslinging.

[kskiska]

23. I saw the exchange, and Lamb has brought it up before

by telling reporters that every day he gets 20 or so calls about it, and asks them about whether it was a dead end or what. They give the stock answer that it was investigated and the Boston Globe reported it, then dodge the question.

[tsipple]

7. The Boston Globe Did a Couple Stories

That was about it, really. If you happened to live in Boston (and read the newspaper), great. Otherwise, there wasn't much to hear or see.

[Killarney]

8. I really hope our candidate does it this time around

Gore tried to be too nice.

We need to go on the offense this time and use anything and everything, including Bush's AWOL record.

[Isere]

9. This is truly pathetic!

But it clearly documents the flaccid state of our press! Sidney Blumenthal believes, as do I, that the press is just as culpable in tipping the election to Bush as was Nader. This statement just solidifies my view.

When you think about what this WSJ fellow said, well, it is truly breathtaking in its assininity. It's Gore's fault that AWOL got away with being AWOL! Riiiiiiiiiiiigh!

[mbali]

11. This is the same woman who said on C-Span the other day

that one of the reasons that a majority of Americans believe that Saddam was behind 9/11 is that "there have been times when the Administration has not spoken with real clarity on this issue."

Where I come from, that's called lying.

[bitchkitty]

12. Gore's mistake was not a failure to fight -

but he tried to fight like a gentleman. It took me a while to realize this. You can't be gentlemanly against the BFEE, and you have to be very clever, devious even, to work the media.

[neebob]

13. Uh-huh, and if Gore had used it to his advantage

it would now be just another well-known Al Gore lie instead of something most people have never heard.

Did she really say everybody knows it because the media told them? Wow.

[grasswire]

15. I transcribed it from the video

That's what she said. And I think she believed it, honestly. That's why I contacted her to point out that her own newspaper didn't cover it.

[grasswire]

16. a kick for the Sunday night crowd (eom)

[buycitgo]

18. kick

ASS!

I saw that, too, and your transcription sounds very accurate.

I could not beLIEVE her smug responses to all the calls that questioned the role of the media in the last few years.....there were several, and her lame responses, especially the part about, essentially being stenographers for whichever party is the quickest with the blast fax machine gun was the absolute nadir of so-called investigative journalism.

[0rganism]

17. Did you get a response?

I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting, but sometimes the vichy press people do surprise me.

[grasswire]

19. no

no response.

I remember the day when Susan Schmidt wrote me that I was "meanspirited" for calling her a stenographer.

[Sparkle]

20. I heard that too.

And all the wjs reporters that were with Brian that day. I didn't like the fact that Brian would show pics of their kids. Who gives a damn. At one case Brian said, "and this is a pic of your daughter?" and she corrected him and said "yes, my beautiful daughter". Oh please!

[bhunt70]

22. whats so bad about that?

when we get pissed off about other people being proud of their kids then we are certainly barking down the wrong hole.

[bhunt70]

24. delete

delete

[evil_orange_cat]

21. The Dem's didn't make it an issue... I think General Clark should...

Clark should say, "While I was in Vietnam getting shot up, this drunken frat boy was doing cocaine, AWOL from his cushy post..."

The Wall Street Journal is a republican rag anyways... what do you expect? :lol:

[bhunt70]

25. I kinda agree with her...

You can't get the media to do your job for you. Al was out there on tv a helluva lot and at any point in time or EVERY time he was on he could have mentioned it, thus making it an issue. He didn't.

[buycitgo]

26. half point there, AFA Gore/standins not pressing it, BUT.......

all one has to do is compare their handling of AWOL with that of WJC's draft experience.

as has been mentioned, Nexis search at one point yielded a 13 THOUSAND to fifty WJD draft vs. * AWOL tally.

the media simply reFUSES to cover this story, and now they have the excuse of it being old news.

just like Whitewater in 92-98, right?

kept it alive long enough to flush Monica out of the bush

[Cocoa]

27. C-span callers have been nailing ALL the whores

I watched interviews with people from the WSJ, the Washington Post, and the NYT, and they all got calls from people taking them to task for their failures.

The whores came up with excuses, but they were lame. It's frustrating that they are not held accountable, but at the same time it's very nice to hear those calls, makes me think a lot of people know what's up.