Stewart brought up Downing Street Memo, but didn't think to remind Powell

[flpoljunkie]

that as late as May, 2001, Colin Powell himself had said, in a trip to the Far East, that Saddam Hussein was no threat and was contained--so that he lacked the capacity to become a threat.

As for the Downing Street Memo, why did John not read this paragraph to Colin:
(Italics mine.)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607_2,...

The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.

___________

Going to the UN was not an effort to avoid going to war, but just another planned and obligatory way station on the road to the invasion of Iraq. To paraphrase White House Chief of Staff Andy Card--part of the rollout of the product--"The Iraq War".....John!

[rurallib]

1. Started to watch Stewart and Powell

It sounded like John was start-struck and Powell was regurgitating right-wing talking points without much question, so I turned to something else. Did I make a poor choice?

[flpoljunkie]

2. You did not. Here is a link if you would like to watch it later.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/06/08.html#a3358

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. Stewart is always polite to his guests

He's not going to allow them to look bad on his show, unless they come on and act like complete assholes. Then they pretty much do it to themselves. I wasn't surprised that he didn't grill Powell.

That being said, it wasn't all the funny, either, so I switched channels.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Stewart could have politely asked him about his 2001 comments re Saddam.

We can only guess as to why he did not do so. It was the telling question to ask Colin Powell, and Stewart missed the opportunity.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. No need to guess...

Stewart is not a journalist, and he so he doesn't practice "ambush journalism." He invited Powell to be guest on his show and he treated him like a guest.

Stewart is a classy guy and a comedian -- don't expect him to be a substitute for the mainstream media.

[flpoljunkie]

12. Asking this question is not ambush journalist, it is journalism 101, even

for comedians--in this case, one who is more well informed than most pundits, i.e. "Tweety."

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

13. And Stewart is not a Journalist...

If it's Comedy 101, I'm sure he'll be all over it. I don't expect Stewart to be doing somebody else's job.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Compared to Tweety and others, I'd say he is a damn fine journalist.

And he certainly does play one on his show.

[ElectroPrincess]

3. Ooops! Self Delete = Wrong John. LOL n/t.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Stewart has proven to know more about what is going on than most pundits.

Remember when he went on "Crossfire" and blasted the way the show fails to really discuss important issues facing us?

HIs fake news shows gives Americans a lot more of the "truth" than the cable news.

[KC21304]

7. I thought John showed just the right amount of

grit and respect with Powell. I think Powell sounded weak in his explanation of his UN presentation. It didn't make much sense to me.

[KC21304]

8. The highlight of the show in my estimation was

the replaying of Bush in 2000 and Bush yesterday using the exact same words about global warming. I think this should be played repeatedly. What an idiot. He has not learned one thing about global warming in 5 years. Couldn't even learn to phrase it differently. Amazing.

[AValdoux]

9. Talking Point

When asked about misleading the public with flawed intelligence the talking point is "the intelligence I saw", "the intelligence the president saw", etc. Stewart brought up the filtering process by small groups in the DoD but Powell off handedly denied it. He then explained that the whole world thought Sadaam had the WMDs but weren't willing to back up the US in its threats. Maybe the rest of the world saw the intelligence that stated the opposite and decided it wasn't a 'slam-dunk'.


AValdoux

[flpoljunkie]

10. Bingo!

[Spectral]

15. Yes

That would make sense