Brown Duped By Fake Bin Laden Death Pic

[Mass]

He is really a moron. Can we get somebody else. He sees a photo, runs on TV to say so, and now has to apologize. Jeez.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/27773555/detail.html#ixzz1LPwuc7dP

Brown Duped By Fake Bin Laden Death Pic

Senator Shown Doctored Bin Laden 'Death' Picture

POSTED: 11:48 am EDT May 4, 2011
UPDATED: 3:42 pm EDT May 4, 2011

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BOSTON -- Hours after saying he saw a picture of Osama bin Laden's corpse and that the photo should not be released publicly, Sen. Scott Brown's office said he did not view the actual death picture and was duped by one of the various fake photos circulating the Internet.
:"I can assure you he is dead," Brown said Wednesday in an interview with WCVB-TV after seeing a picture purported to be of bin Laden.
Brown said he feared the release of that picture could "inflame the sensibilities of others throughout the world and potentially put our men and women in harm's way."
It turns out, the picture the junior senator saw was a fake.
On Wednesday, White House sources told CNN that President Barack Obama would not release the photo despite polls showing strong support from the American people to make the picture public.
Praising Obama's handling of the mission, Brown said, "He should be commended for making a gutsy decision and actually move forward to do what he did."
The Massachusetts junior senator also said he is still uncertain about what Pakistan knew or didn't know about bin Laden's whereabouts, but that he is suspicious.
"I've always had questions and concerns when I was in Pakistan and the briefings I received," he said. "I always question what Pakistan knows and doesn't know, and it was clear back then -- and that was seven months ago -- that they were playing two ends against the middle."
Brown said it was too early to make decisions about reducing U.S. presence in Afghanistan or funding for Pakistan, but he suggested he has reservations about the latter.
"The fact that we're paying a country $4 billion of taxpayers' money," he said. "We should have a tremendous amount of cooperation."
The senator also commented on the timing on Monday's release of information that he will be performing his National Guard service in Afghanistan this summer.
"I didn't announce it. I was surprised I got a call. I was surprised that anyone knew. Clearly someone dropped a dime," said Brown.
The senator also confirmed white powder sent to his Boston office fell on one of his employee's legs, but the substance has yet to be identified. He said the worker appeared to be fine.


Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/27773555/detail.html#ixzz1LPyjrvkE

[karynnj]

1. Wow - he is really really handling this badly

That he spoke of official briefings in context of the photos really is pretty silly - when that was not the case. He really wants to seem more important that he is - and is looking foolish instead.

This is one paragraph from the Boston Globe:

Brown's office is declining to explain who showed him the fake photos, why he would believe photos that didn't come directly from the administration, and why he had suggested he had seen them as part of an official briefing. Instead, Brown's office responded by releasing a one-sentence statement.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/05/brown_admits_he.html

There are many sources picking up this story. Reading the Boston Globe comments - he is not doing well. My favorite though is this One:

Scott Brown should stop angling to get his face in front of every media microphone and camera he sees and quit making a fool of himself.

Meanwhile John Kerry is chuckling, because the method for getting rid of bin Laden is exactly what he stated publicly years ago - use of a small tactical force with pinpoint accuracy - like the SEALS.

Brown is a world-class buffoon. Tune him in any day on Boston media - he's always right there.

His comment that someone "dropped a dime" on his request to go to Afghanistan on your source is pretty silly - especially if it turns out that he brought it up - as it sounds - to Glen Johnson in that first Boston Globe article.

I may be watching too closely, but this week may be a disaster of Brown - and last weeks article on how he made no time at all for the MA diabetes advocate last week may begin to add up. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=158&topic_id=16599&mesg_id=16599

Maybe he won't be as hard to beat as it has seemed - though he might have the teflon to not have this stick.

The Atlantic Wire is scathing - and they basically say that it was Senator Brown who put out the going to Afghanistan story.

Fox 25, as well as another Boston station, NECN, posted statements on their websites clarifying the senator's remarks. Brown told the Fox station "the photo that I saw and that a lot of other people saw is not authentic." Brown put his foot in his mouth elsewhere in his Fox interview. He exasperatedly told the news anchor that he had to talk about his possible training in Afghanistan because "the fact that somebody dropped a dime and it's out--you know, obviously I have to talk about it now." Who dropped that dime? The senator himself. About an hour and a half before Brown put out a statement announcing his overseas training, Brown told the Boston Globe's Glen Johnson, "I'm going to be going over at some point to do some missions."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/05/scott-brown-tricked-fake-bin-laden-photo/37355/

Caught in two lies in one day!

They have video of his Fox interview.

[Mass]

2. I wonder if the Afghan gig has to do with this.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2011/05/setti_warren_books_american_le.html

Setti Warren books American Legion Post room, fueling speculation of Senate run
...

Not clear if Warren is ready to announce, but Brown has used and abused of his National Guard job during the campaign. Having somebody who was deployed in Iraq as an opponent may be a worry for him.

As for the rest, yes, it is not a good week for him. Here is David Berstein's blog in the Boston Phoenix on the same question

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PHXTalkingPolitics/~3/cvdW349AFNs/scotto-the-dupe.aspx

Scotto The Dupe?
Published May 04 2011, 03:50 PM by David S. Bernstein 0
OK, I'm just flabbergasted by this -- it seems that US Senator Scott Brown, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee -- went around earlier suggesting that he had seen in briefings photographs proving Osama bin Laden's death, when in fact he had seen the hoax "dead Osama" photos you and I and everyone else saw on Facebook.

The earlier claims were in the context of whether the Obama administration should release photos of bin Laden's death, which makes it hard to imagine why Brown would refer to photos he had seen in the public realm.



Read more: http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2011/05/04/scotto-the-dupe.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PHXTalkingPolitics+%28Talking+Politics%29#ixzz1LQWy7Mv2
...

[karynnj]

3. I have always wondered why only Brown was never called when he

spoke of "30 years of military service" when he meant 30 years of National Guard Service with NO military deployments. Even if he gets his 2 weeks of training in Afghanistan, that is NOT really the same as actually serving.

I bet the Senior Senator would be far happier with a Senator Warren - and then there would be a Senator who really knew what it was like to be in the current wars. If I were Brown, I wouldn't have used that as his reason - as it is really a far better argument for voting for Warren.

[MBS]

4. Boy, is this guy out of his depth, or what?

"He is really a moron. Can we get somebody else. He sees a photo, runs on TV to say so, and now has to apologize. Jeez."
You took the words right out of my mouth!
He really is embarrassing.

[MBS]

5. duped senators' photos and front-page story on TPM

: )

the front page (at least as of this morning ), with nice large photo of the duped senators with too-hasty statements and too-big mouths . http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

the actual story (still with the photos) http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/senators-fall-for-fake-bin-laden-death-photo.php?ref=fpa

all 3 senators are Republicans.
The Lesser One. This story mentions that he also had to retract his remarks to NECN (local New England cable news, widely watched for breaking news. .so with boston.com and WCVB-TV, the story is thoroughly on everyone's radar : ))
Saxby Chambliss (GA) (remember his slimy campaign against Max Cleland?)
Kelly Ayotte (NH)...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, appeared amused by the mystery surrounding the fake photos and the questions about how sitting senators -- especially one deeply involved with national security -- could fall for a fake.

[karynnj]

6. Reading the Daily Kos story, I was surprised that Chamliss is the ranking member of the Intelligence

Committee. That makes his action even more ridiculous and suggests wither how shallow the pool of intelligent Republican Senators is or how little they care about that committee. (I suspect the latter as he was only elected in 2002 - and there is no more senior Republican on that committee who wanted the position.)

With Brown, you could almost see writing the last week or so as a version of Alexander's very bad, no good day. Especially as he has the same lack of awareness that his actions caused the problem!

The League of Women Voters' ad was hard hitting, but he did vote against environmental regulations. Saying it was "vicious", "partisan" and "everyone knows he wouldn't hurt kids" is more over the top than the ad. Cutting even the regulatory powers it cut - it would hurt the environment kids live in. The anger that he is being attacked, ignores that his vote was one that was likely not representing MA - and for vicious, see Chamliss' ads, not this ISSUE ad.

Needing to tell the media in the early hours of Obama getting Osama that he, Scott Brown, is "going to Afghanistan" was pathetic and grandstanding - and the way he did it made it worse, because the initial coy comments sounded like more than the two weeks summer training. Then yesterday, he said it leaked, but the Atlantic wire pointed out that he leaked it himself. (Meanwhile, the state's adult Senator quietly told the SFRC that he was going to Afghanistan the week-end after next to hear from the Afghanis.)

Then there was this idiotic photo comment where it looks like the original comments were to make him sound more an insider and more important than he is.

I wonder if this could be a breach in the dam of his popularity - where the media stops covering for him and stops helping him create this independent, man of the people, "reads all the bills", hard working Senator. May be wishful thinking, but rarely does anyone get to look foolish this many times in a week and not take some hit.

[beachmom]

8. Re: Chambliss. Not only is he a moron who is ranking member of the Intelligence Committee,

his first reaction to the death of OBL was: Hey, isn't torture great??!!

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2011/05/03/saxby-chambliss-osama-bin-laden-raid-validates-interrogation-techniques/?cxntfid=blogs_political_insider_jim_galloway

Said Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee:

…”It is also important to point out that this operation was made possible by information provided by enemy combatants that have been detained and interrogated by the United States. There has been a lot of debate in this country about our detention and interrogation policy, but this is probably one of the clearest examples of the extraordinary value of the information we have been able to gather from the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. If we did not have access to this information, Osama bin Laden would likely still be operating undetected today.

“It’s because of the information gained from these detainees, pursued and analyzed over the years by the intelligence community that led us to Osama bin Laden’s compound. It’s almost unimaginable that he was located, not in a cave — in Pakistani’s no man’s land — but in a city just miles outside of Islamabad with a large Pakistani military and government presence. “

I'm sorry, but Republicans are sick, sick people. WHY would one tout torture? Why remind us of that grisly history? They really are dumb thugs, aren't they. And don't forget this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFYpd0q9nE

Come to think of it, I hope Max Cleland is getting a chuckle out of this Chambliss, ahem, "error".

[karynnj]

10. That is sick

Sad that they went from the honorable Cleland to this despicable man.

[beachmom]

13. Interestingly, McCain is not toeing the GOP line:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54301.html

Sen. John McCain denounced “advanced interrogation” methods like waterboarding Wednesday amid a growing debate over its effectiveness reopened by the killing of Osama bin Laden.

...

“So far I know of no information that was obtained, that would have been useful, by ‘advanced interrogation.’ In fact, according to published reports … some of the key people who knew about this courrier denied it,” McCain said, careful to note that he was not relaying information from Panetta’s classified session with Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committee members.

...

McCain told reporters he did not think the photograph needed to be released. “My initial opinion is that it’s not necessary to do so. I think there’s ample proof that this was Osama bin Laden,” said McCain, a Vietnam War veteran.

[Inuca]

7. Kind of silly, I know, but

the first thought that crossed my mind when I heard about this (Brown and the other 2) was "I thought I saw a pussycat" or whatever the appropriate Tweety spelling is. Where did they see the picture? Online? somebody showed it to them while whispering on a shady Capitol corner? Embarassing!

[beachmom]

9. I don't think it coincidence that the three moron Senators were all Republicans

They really are the Party of The Crazy and The Stupid.

[karynnj]

11. I suspect that there were not three "independent" errors

I would bet that one of them was given the picture and showed it to the other two. Given his position - I suspect Chambliss. If this happened, the other two as they take heat - will likely blame the one who did.

[karynnj]

12. Steve Benen skewers Brown in Washington Monthly

After taking on the photos, he goes after a range of ridiculous Brown comments - each of the subjects in the second quoted paragraph is a hyper link. (Too bad this is not a MA paper, but it is a nice collection of Brown missteps.)

In the same interview with the local Fox affiliate, Brown expressed frustration that "someone" leaked word of his request to be deployed to Afghanistan, and complained that he has to "talk about it now." And who, pray tell, leaked the story to the media? That would be Scott Brown -- the same person now complaining his own leak.

Brown has only been in office a little over a year, and during that time, he's made demonstrably ridiculous remarks about the stimulus, financial regulatory reform, health care, economic policy, energy policy, and foreign policy, among other things. It's tempting to think, at a certain point, he'd develop an unflattering reputation.

I'm sure Brown is a nice person, but it's hard to deny the fact that as a member of the Senate, he's in over his head.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_05/029298.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+washingtonmonthly%2Frss+%28Political+Animal+at+Washington+Monthly%29

[wisteria]

15. "in over his head" is a good analogy, but people voted for him because he was like them,

said it wasn't a Kennedy's seat, but the people's seat, and drove a pick-up truck. Perhaps, in the next election people will look for a more well rounded and informed candidate.

[Mass]

14. The Boston Herald had fun with this story...

[Mass]

16. Surprisingly, this story is still active and on the news as early as today.

Yesterday, I woke up to hear that Senator Brown would be able to see the pictures after all (he is in one of the committee who will be authorized).

Yesterday night, in a typical Brown news, the media was reporting that Brown did not know whether he would go and see them or not. This guy is a real nitwick.

[ObamaKerryDem]

17. Idiot! Imagine if JK had made such a blunder?

Not that he ever would, but just imagine how the press would beat up on him for something like that, especially the Herald! This ought to come up during the '12 campaign at some point..

[Mass]

18. This week-end, he positionned himself to the right of Newt Gingritch by saying he was supporting the

Ryan plan (which includes among other things cuts to the MA biotech funding as well as the destruction of Medicare. Good to see this on the Globe's front page.