Watchdog finds more Political Hijinks
By Ben Spanner
Sniffing out what’s wrong in the doghouse of politics, the Watchdog is your inside out plastic bag grabbing all the media’s droppings.
∫ Fox News’ Bill Hemmer’s small way of not paying attention to his words — No. 3 comes to us as a reminder of how the media will constantly take a small inaccurate stance against someone’s will in order to get a bigger story going or to simply push an agenda. Bill Hemmer on Fox News’ "Election HQ" asserted that Sen. John McCain was "getting a bit of help" from a group called Vets for Freedom because they are currently running an attack ad of veterans defaming Sen. Obama with incendiary remarks and blasting him over the situation in Iraq. What Hemmer conveniently did not mention was the fact that McCain denounced support from outside contributors like Vets for Freedom. "If anyone considering an outside expenditure thinks they are benefiting me I would prefer they do not air the ads," McCain said. Now, I’m going to try to hold McCain by his words here and forget the fact that both Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Joe Lieberman (both incredibly involved in McCain’s campaign) both served on the Vets for Freedom Policy Board of Advisors and chalk this up to Fox News’ muck-raking yellow journalism and Bill Hemmer’s bad reporting.
∫ The Hypothetical Assassination of Barack Obama — If you’re a news junkie or even by now a person who owns a television and/or Internet, you’ve probably heard of what might be the last hole that sinks the U.S.S. Hillary Clinton. On May 23, Hillary Clinton made the following comment to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader when posed a question about the ongoing nomination process: "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June of California. I don’t understand it." I was in shock at first. Did Hillary just put into words a sentiment feared by many — that probable nominee Barack Obama could be assassinated? Sure, Mike Huckabee’s comment weeks ago at a gun rally was bad, but this comment, from one of the most prominent members of the Democratic party, is both inconceivable and deplorable in nature. After the current problems with Sen. Kennedy being diagnosed with a brain tumor, Clinton’s comment was at the very least bad taste and at its worst a quintessential example of how she runs her campaign.
However, worse yet was the comment made by Fox Contributor Liz Trotta when addressing Clinton’s controversial statement. Trotta said that, "some are reading [it] as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama." Bill Hemmer (who you’ve read about above) corrected her because she confused the name of a Democratic candidate for President of the United States with a world-renown terrorist guilty of heinous crimes including one that crippled our nation severely. At that point Trotta replied with, "Obama. Well … both if we could!" Then she laughed.
∫ We’re supposed to buy Scott McClellan’s book now? — Scott McClellan, White House press secretary (2003-2006), has release a memoir entitled, "What Happened," chronicling his time as a part of the Bush administration and mouthpiece for the president. In it, McClellan heavily criticizes the president, the manner of which we went to war in 2002, and the "propaganda campaign" to sell the Iraq War to the doubtful public.
I read the press release about McClellan’s book and couldn’t help seeing Macbeth in my mind’s eye. You know, the part where he has killed the king and cannot seem to wash the blood off his hands. He stares at the heaven and bellows, "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" And the answer to you Scott is …
No. Are we supposed to believe that you are this sheep being led by the administration with no conscience and no sense of moral compass that you can’t make decision on your own? Listen, we appreciate the fact that your guilt (a.k.a. lust for book profits) has made you come forward and reveal things we already knew. It’s like George Tenet all over again; some administration insider coming clean to divert the blame and reap the benefits.
Sorry Scott, we’re not buying it.
∫
Contact Ben at bspanner@graffitiwv.com