Jim Hoft introduces CNN to 2nd Lt. Joshua Booth, who was killed by sniper fire in Haditha on October 17 and asks if they are going to show his death, too.
When I first watched Wolf Blitzer’s interview with Duncan Hunter, I was, as Michelle Malkin put it, not in a good mood. (By the way, be sure to follow the link to Michelle’s site to support an American sniper.) What put me in a bad mood, and frankly made me want to scream, was a comment by Wolf Blitzer that made me realize that some things I take for granted as common sense, are things those at CNN just don’t “get.”
Newsbusters posted the key quote that I want to address.
Blitzer tried to argue that they were only exposing the world to the hard realities, and responding to left-wing critics that the war is sanitized since gruesome death isn’t show on TV for young children to see: “Is this appropriate, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Hunter, for the American public to see how awful, to see how brutal the war can actually be? Because I — I guess there has been criticism from the other side that we sort of whitewash, and we don’t really convey to the American public the full extent of the brutality of the enemy. Do the American people have a right to know what war is like?”
Rep. Hunter had an excellent response.
Hunter argued that the people have never been more able to go find images of gruesome death in an American war: “Well, first, Wolf, the American people aren’t made out of cotton candy. They understand, when you see 2,791 battlefield deaths, that people are killed, and they are killed in bad ways. This is the first generation of Americans that could actually go online and watch an American be decapitated, have his head cut off by al-Zarqawi, as they watch. So, I would say that, contrary to what you are saying, this is a war in which more brutality is shown than probably any other.
“But the point is that — that this one killing of one American doesn’t really tell any statistic. Of — of the people killed in Iraq, 524 of our Americans have been killed in accidents, mainly automobile accidents. Now, you don’t show automobile accidents, because it’s not sexy. It’s not violent. It doesn’t draw a big audience. Showing the impact of a single bullet, a single shooting doesn’t tell you anything. If you isolated one American going down on Omaha Beach at Normandy, what would that tell the American public?” He reminded Blitzer that there were around 5,000 soldiers killed at Iwo Jima, but it was not necessary for the American people to see them being killed to understand that. Hunter went on to give additional reasons the video should not have been shown, including that CNN was allowing terrorists to use them as an outlet for their propaganda. (He said it in a much more diplomatic way though.)
Hunter got to the heart of the matter, but the CNN sniper video was only the latest example. Many in the media have allowed themselves to be used by the terrorists, as well as by those opposed to the war, to undermine support for the mission in Iraq. I have wondered over the past couple of years how much support there would have been for past wars if the enemy’s propaganda was regularly fed to the American people and if only the very worst of the war effort was presented.
CNN claims they are interested in showing the “unvarnished truth?” Certainly, as Wizbang reader Scotty pointed out, they weren’t so committed to showing the unvarnished truth when Eason Jordan was in the CNN Baghdad bureau covering up Saddam’s atrocities. But then news of Saddam’s atrocities bolstered the President’s case for invading Iraq. It is no accident or coincidence that those stories rating the “unvarnished truth” treatment, as well as the wall-to-wall coverage, all happen to be the ones that reinforce Democrat talking points.
Remember all the wall-to-wall coverage of the economy during the Clinton years? It was kinda hard to miss. Well, don’t know if you have heard or not, but the Bush economy is outstanding by almost every possible measure and the Dow has been breaking all time highs all month long — oh, and gas prices are down by about 30 percent from last year. But if you watch the news you will learn that there is anxiety that bad economic news may be just around the bend. Hey, CNN, and all you other networks, could we get some unvarnished truth about the economy? No spin, no what might be just around the bend. By the way, that bad economy has been coming for a couple of years now. Don’t worry media guys, eventually there will be a downturn. That is the nature of the economic cycle. Just hang in there.
The public’s perception of the economy, shown in many polls, is that things are not so great. That perception flies in the face of the cold, hard facts, but what the heck? Why should the news consumer get the unvarnished truth when it comes to the economy? At least, why should they during a Republican administration?
Previous posts:
CNN’s Miracle Workers
U.S. Soldier Kidnapped
Rep. Duncan Hunter Wants CNN Reporters Embedded With U.S. Troops In Iraq Removed
The Unvarnished Truth
Unvarnished truth? Then why are we still waiting for CNN to publish those Danish cartoons? Liberal cowards and hypocrites!
CNN=Troll-porn
With regard to the war, I think it comes down to those who want the U.S. to win are going to stress and exaggerate the positive and those who want the U.S. to loose (and the terrorist win) are going to stress and exaggerate the negative.
With respect to the economy, those with a secular socialist worldview were more than willing to stress and exaggerate the good news about ecomony under Clinton, but ignore the fact that it was due soley to dumb luck and Clinton’s socialist economic policies left us in a major recession. Those same people will ignore the great, strong, sound, and sustainable economy we have today because it conflicts with their secular socialist worldview and their pro-socialism agenda.
I can hardly wait for CNN to show us all the unvarnished truth about partial birth abortion. Oh wait – that bolsters the wrong position. Never mind.
@ P. Bunyan
…and those who want the U.S. to loose (and the terrorist win) are going to stress and exaggerate the negative
So why would a major news source like CNN want the U.S. to loose the war by providing an outlet for terrorist propaganda snuff footage of our boys? That gives new meaning to “stress and exaggerate the negative” in my book. What is CNN attempting to do here? Support a muslim-led communist coup of Capital Hill? Jeesh!
Red Fog,
I think in their minds, those on the left can separate the US losing from the terrorists winning. They are, after all, members of the fabricated reality based community.
So if you asked them “Do you want the terrorists to win?”, they would emphatically answer “NO!”, but if you asked them “Do you wan’t the U.S. to win?”, they would hem an haw and spin and not answer at all (just like Rosie O’Donnel did when Bill O’Riely asked her that exact question last week).
Those on the left do not want the U.S. to win any war ever. They feel all wars are bad and we should just simply not go to war. Does “make love not war” or “make wine not war” ring a bell? To the “democrats” war is not an option. It’s that simple to them. Ever heard “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”. They will claim otherwise, but it’s all a false face designed to get the informationally retarded to vote for them.
As far as the “communist” thing goes. I think those on the left believe that if we all just submitted to a single, secular, socialist world government, there’d be world peace and no wars ever again. Actually I think that if that happened there probably would be world peace, but at a cost that is much greater than any world war.
CNN=c*cksuckers new network, crappy news network, etc.
P. Bunyan,
I follow your logic but it comes off as making excuses for the twisted vision of moonbat glory. What the current administration should do is pick the worst of the rogue traitors out there and let ’em fry a la Rosenbergs. We could plant a camera in the shoe of a Fox reporter and the editors of CNN and the NYT would rethink running snuff footage and exposing secrets. What good is a free press if it wants to do this sort of horse sh*t? There’s no morality left in the press room.
This is from the network that got all squeamish about allowing their anchors to even wear American Flag lapel pins. And then there’s the Mohammed cartoons. And their eagerness to film caskets returning to the US. Or the Koran in the Gitmo Toilet story? And wasn’t there an American massacre story or six given 24/7 coverage?
Is the question about the “unvarnished truth” or “revarnished truth”? Does CNN really report the truth, or does it see its primary mission as bringing down the Bush Administration?
How you answer that question pretty much defines your political affiliation, if not your worth as an American, it seems to me.
This is not about a difference of opinion. It’s about our kids and our very survival. It’s about an infantile, 6 year old grudge that is so intense that it blinds liberals to the truly dangerous threats we face as a nation. And I don’t mean that in a snotty way. This is a survival issue for us all, from the most fervent “bible-thumping redneck neocons” all the way down to Cindy Sheehan and the emotionally immature Commies at MoveOn.org and the ACLU. All of us, including the news drones at CNN.
What’s it going to take to get us all pulling the harness in the same direction? Putting Democrats in charge of Congress is the worst thing we can do, because, as Lee, Muriego, and nowentpostal have so happily pointed out so very many times, all that would result is “getting even” for the self-inflicted disgrace of losing the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections. You don’t hear anything about how they’ll deal with the war besides denouncing virtually everything that Bush has accomplished. They will succeed in turning a tough situation into a surrender, virtually guaranteeing their own worst outcomes in the Gulf Region. Recall how proud Harry Reid was when he announce “We stopped the Patriot Act!”, as if it was a major accomplishment to be celebrated in the streets.
It’s never about helping to solve the problem. It’s about thwarting every responsible effort we can muster in hopes of flicking more mud on George Bush. I see little difference between this mindset and the craziest of Palestineans. It’s about situational blindness and the victory of hatred over clear thinking.
I think there will be a time in the future when we all look at the last six years with the same embarrassed disgust with which we regard the McCarthy years. If we’re not all dead first.
To come back to my original question, what will it take for CNN to take our side? I’m sorry to say it will take a bloody calamity with massive American casualties. Only then, when the truth can no longer be ignored, will CNN be forced to acknowledge the threat we all face. Until then, it’s all liberal politics, all the time. And Jack Cafferty can kiss my ass.
Times have changed Red Fog. There was a time when fighting a propaganda war (albeit a disingenuous one) for your country’s enemies while wearing the military uniform of your country would be considered treason a you would be shot for it.
These days its gets you democrat nomination for President.
“oh, and gas prices are down by about 30 percent from last year.”
So the oil companies are screwing us a little less in a run up to election, why am I not surprised…but if you qualify this as “better”.. well then we are still a long way from the “good” prices of 6 years ago…if you claim the credit, claim it all!
It’s all so useless, now that Bush has begun to back pedal, and I’m ashamed but we have to call Rumsfeld and now Bush a “traitor” along with Murtha and the Generals who advocate getting us out of Iraq, Never thought he’d say we have to turn it all over to the Iraqis themselves before they were ready. I guess he finally threw in the towel. Old “cut and run” Rumsfeld. No “stay the course” for our President; never been; he says it with a straight face or a smirk? What a pity!
If only Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld would “stay the course” and let our troops “stand down as the Iraquis stand up”, everything would be OK. But, no, they’ve turned into the kind of “traitors” the dissenting generals were, and Murtha, and even Jim Baker and Kerry and Hillary seem to be. Our government is now being run by “traitors” who want to change what we’re doing and cave into the defeat of our troops. Of course, to keep doing what we’ve been doing requires even more troops, and that requires a … dare I say it? … “draft”; but anything to defeat these Iraqui terrorists in this “war on terror,” right?
First James Baker, then a couple of Senators like Warner and Hagel, then the leak that old Father Bush hands are in dismay over the direction of the war in Iraq. Theyre pumping up a campaign to change course and do exactly what Murtha has been calling for, only none of them is being called a traitor or a member of the cut and run group, as Murtha and others were. But thats exactly what theyre proposing. Now, in effect, George Will joins them.
I call them all “traitors” because I grieve for the good men and women already killed, and the others who still will be killed, while this timetable and withdrawal change occurs.
I’m ashamed but we have to call Rumsfeld and now Bush a “traitor” along with Murtha and the Generals who advocate getting us out of Iraq, Never thought he’d say we have to turn it all over to the Iraqis themselves before they were ready. I guess he finally threw in the towel. Old “cut and run” Rumsfeld. No “stay the course” for our President; never been; he says it with a straight face or a smirk? What a pity!
If only Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld would “stay the course” and let our troops “stand down as the Iraquis stand up”, everything would be OK. But, no, they’ve turned into the kind of “traitors” the dissenting generals were, and Murtha, and even Jim Baker and Kerry and Hillary seem to be. Our government is now being run by “traitors” who want to change what we’re doing and cave into the defeat of our troops. Of course, to keep doing what we’ve been doing requires even more troops, and that requires a … dare I say it? … “draft”; but anything to defeat these Iraqui terrorists in this “war on terror,” right?
First James Baker, then a couple of Senators like Warner and Hagel, then the leak that old Father Bush hands are in dismay over the direction of the war in Iraq. Theyre pumping up a campaign to change course and do exactly what Murtha has been calling for, only none of them is being called a traitor or a member of the cut and run group, as Murtha and others were. But thats exactly what theyre proposing. Now, in effect, George Will joins them.
I call them all “traitors” because I grieve for the good men and women already killed, and the others who still will be killed, while this timetable and withdrawal change occurs.
Maybe we ought to vote Democratic majorities in, to speed things up because I suspect Bush & Co. are going to be damned slow about this and, if they win the election, they’ll reverse course again. I think it was called “flip flopping.”
Excuse me, but if putting something provided by terrorists on the air is so bad, what about the RNC producing and PAYING FOR the disemination of Al Qaeda propoganda?
I’m talking about the idiotic ‘fear’ commercial showing quotes from Osama bin Forgotten, trying to terrorize us into voting again for the lying bastard that got us into this war.
If what CNN did was bad, then everyone at the RNC who had anything to do with promoting al Qaeda should be sent to Gitmo for spreading terroristic threats.
How sad that’d have been is the public’s support for being in wars like Viet Nam, or supporting the contra terrorists, or invading Grenada or Lebanon in 1982 or such had been damaged. Oh, darn.
We need the US public less positive about war.
As the nation who spends about as much as the rest of the world combined on military things, our public has a special obligation for some restraint not to use it too quickly, not to let ‘absolute power corrupt absolutely’.
I don’t take issue with the article’s main point that CNN is clearly lying when it says it’s simply honoring its responsibility to report news accurately when it shows people getting killed. But to say that CNN has a liberal bias is absurd. It is certainly biased (as all news media are, I believe) and its bias might be more liberal, say, than FOX News’ bias, but it is hardly liberal in any absolute sense. Recall, for instance, that during the year-and-a-half buildup to the war, CNN pretty much toed the Bush administrations’ line that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and links to Bin Laden, even though strong doubts about the Bush administration’s intelligence were already being widely reported elsewhere.
With regard to the war, I think it comes down to those who want the U.S. to win are going to stress and exaggerate the positive and those who want the U.S. to loose (and the terrorist win) are going to stress and exaggerate the negative.
*sigh*
Can’t you guys come up with some new material. The ol’ “you’re either for neo-con nation building, or you want terrorists to win” is just so old. And now that The Decider himself is flip flopping on his own “stay the course” I don’t think your blind partisan attacks work as well.
Turn to the dictionary definition of flip flop and you’re likely to find this.
You’re STILL blaming liberals and the liberal media? Come on. The Republicans have been solely in charge for the last several years and FOX is the number one news network. Please- give it a rest. and as for this:
“As far as the “communist” thing goes. I think those on the left believe that if we all just submitted to a single, secular, socialist world government”
I’m not really sure what to say- what decade are you living in, man??!! when was the last time you heard anyone promote this idea?
OC, if you “greive for the god men and women already killed”, then at least have the common sense to realize that their sacrifice has already been wasted. Wasted by men who were too cowardly, in their turn, to make the same sacrifice. We need to stop throwing more good lives away. This was a war based upon a mountain of lies and prosecuted by fools in direct contrivention of the advice of the military experts that you are now calling “traitor”. Men who have spent their entire adult lives protecting your right to so abuse them. Have a little shame for what you’ve said and the common desency to appologize to better men than yourself, or get the hell out of this great country because you yourself are a traitor to American ideals and democracy in general.
Hey, Right Wingers turns out that “Stay the Course” is no longer your plan….. Please adjust your BS accordingly.
At least Right Wingers are consistent…. They can’t ever find a darn thing… Can’t find Osama, can’t find WMD’s and now can’t find the course.
Seems to me that the right wingnuts simply don’t want any light shown on their debacle. When bush farts, they all jump for joy. When reality bites, they run like cockroaches under the fridge. I guess when you have NOTHING on which to base your beliefs, then, well you just make shit up. CNN is biased towards progressives? Spare us your crap. Throughout this entire crimunal enterprise, the MSM has been cheerleading bushco the whole way. Now that the kool-aid is wearing off, they suddenly “notice” things? Thoughtful people have been noticing this stuff for years, and we have been shouted down. Ya know, bush doesn’t like you or me. He doesn’t like himself either. That is a scary idea. Whether or not impeachment is on the table is a moot point. If your (and I mean your) preznit did something wrong, well then how about some consequences. Every bad decision bush has made included you in that bad decision. Is he going to give you a treat if you don’t think he is a bad person? Why oh why would you honor and celebrate the single most unstable person to live at 1600 Pennsylvania ave? What has he done for you that would make up for his entire litany of criminal behavior? You are not his family, or his friend. Why would you let go of all your civil rights to him? How much of a coward are you? Please wake up and listen to reason. We need you clear and sane. Please listen. Your children need you and the country needs you. I know it is easy to simply follow around and not think, but we need you to think for yourself right now. Can you do that for me? Please try – we’ll be watching you.
Well said, Tom. Well said.
They didn’t actually show anything; what happened next was at most implied. It doesn’t change the point, but when I first started reading about this on right-wing blogs I thought they’d shown blood squirting from a wound by the ferocity of the response.
I just can’t understand why those on the right get so offended by the implied death of a single soldier, but don’t seem to mind the actual (but unshown) deaths of thousands of other soldiers. The response to this video tells me that the right, more than anyone, needs to see video like this.
RE: Xsnthippas
Please give the poor SOB’s on the Right a brake. You see they are not very smart and they can’t understand that if you see it, or if you read it the end result is the same….. A dead soldier killed by a sniper…. And in the end that is what is important.
They get mad at CNN, and at the Democrats but not at the sniper, or at the Idiot that sent the soldier to Iraq in the first place.
But is understandable. When it comes to Right Wingers they can’ find Osama, can’t find WMD’s, can’t find “The Course” and so don’t expect them to find the real issues behind CNN’s video.
I guess I rest my case. More to the point, you made it for me.
Gil – I think you meant “break,” but what do I know since I am one of those “poor SOBs” on the Right who is “not very smart.”
To say that those on the right are not angry at the snipers is absurd. If you have read anyone on the right over the past five years there is no way you could honestly say that. Do your homework.
And as for those WMDs that we can’t find, are you admitting that you believe the Clinton administration and the UN and France that they did exist. We actually have found some, but not the stockpiles we expected to find. Maybe if we ever have to go into Syria we will have better luck. Or maybe another one of those tractor trailers out of Syria to Jordan will get intercepted and more will be discovered. I am guessing you don’t have a clue what I am referring to because it is so much easier to drink the Dem KoolAid and just pretend that Bush made the whole thing up. That just makes SO much sense to think that he would go into Iraq knowing that no WMD would be found. Brilliant theory there that those on the left have swallowed.
You are assuming that your nation is stupid enough to believe an enemy’s message and cowardly enough to do what they are told under threat of terrorist attack.
How were you able to maintain your steely resolve even after watching someone else fight the war you wanted?
Why can’t your fellow Americans achieve the same?
I think you’re being redundant there. “A soldier killed by a sniper” would have been more correct, but as Lorie said, I’m also one of those ‘poor SOBs’ who is ‘not very smart’, unlike you.
I think you’ll find that those upset at CNN are upset at them airing film made by terrorist for the purpose of propoganda. By CNN’s airing the film, they have acted (perhaps unwittingly) to aid the goal of the terrorists who produced the film… but then again I’m ‘not very smart’, unlike you. We’re get ‘mad’ at CNN and the Democrats because their actions do, perhaps unintentionally, give aid and comfort to the enemy.. and we expect, perhaps unrealistically, better of them.
the above was in response to ‘not very smart’ gil
Lorie Byrd please provide factual documentation on your assetion that WMDs were discovered and that they were the work of the Hussein government.
and for all those so upset by the video Fox showed the same video while decrying CNN.
assertion, sorry
RE: Lory Bird.
OH yes Lory you are very informed indeed. WMD’s went to Syria, or maibe (as long as we can BS away) Mars!!
Any proof of WMD’s in Syria Lory?
I do know perfectly what you are talking about. Problem is that you don’t. Bush sent three different commissions to look for WMD’s . They all came out with NO WMD’s … And no one suggested the WMD’s went to Syria.
By the way your logic is just Bush Brilliant here!…. We attack a Blood thirsty Dictator because he has WMD’s… Blood Thirsty Dictator has WMD’s to protect his regime (and his ass)… Blood Thirsty Dictator is attacked by the most powerfull Nation on Earth… Blood Thirsty Dictator “defends” himself by taking the WMD’s to Syria!!!, Blood Thirsty Dictator defends himself with a bunch of obsolete tanks….. Napoleon would be proud !!!!
You declare; “Clinton and the west believed that Saddam had WMD’s” …. Yes, but they were not stupid enough to start a war … Bush was.
Bush was warned by EVERYONE in the world from his father’s advisors, to experts on the field, to heads of state around the world, to Saddam’s neighbors of the consecuences of invading.
THEY WERE CORRECT AND YOU AND BUSH WERE ABSOULUTELY WRONG. AND NOW TRAGICALLY WRONG.
Where are the WMD’s ?
Where are the ties to Osama?
Where are the flowers?
Where is the Iraqi money to pay for the war?
Where is the Mission Accomplished?
Where is the Turning the Corner?
Where is the We will stand down when they stand up… They have 350,000 soldiers… Still can’t control shit.
OH, and Lory … Where is your common sense?
As for the Right mad at the sniper…. I hear them complain at CNN…. Can’t hear much talk about snipers … Show me a Right Wing Blog talking trash about the sniper and I’ll give you the point….
RE:Mike
Giving confort to the enemy because a Network shows a soldier killed by a sniper?
Let me tell you what is giving a lot of confort to the enemy Mike…. Having a “Leader” start a war that creates more terrorism than ever (See latest Intellingence Reports), in a region of the world with the largest reserves of oil on hearth, next to the country that Saddam was blocking from expanding (Iran), and bog down our entire Army for the foreseeable future….. Osama is a happy man!!
In your response to my previous blog you don’t mention my statement ” Don’t expect them to find the real issus behind CNN’s video”.
I just put up some of the real issues here. No, is not smart for you, or any other “brain” Right Winger out there to make pretend that our problems come from CNN.
But Hey, maibe you consider “smart” to believe that Saddam sent his WMD’s to Syria, or that we are creating a Democracy in a country run by Militias fighting it out Somalia like, or that a nuclear Iran is some how an acceptable result to our invasion, or that we were going to pay this war with Iraq’s oil, or that we won’t need at least 200,000 troops, or that in a year we can for the most part be out, or that we will be greeted as liberators, and so on, and so on.
Most of you do… That is why I consider you Idiots. The recors is there in the open if you care to see it.
There is one way, and only one way, to show what you think of CNN’s action. Obviously, the goal of the terrorists who made this tape was to discourage Americans of military age from enlisting in the armed forces – to make sure that the only way they fought the war on terror was through their keyboards, and that they never got any closer to the action than their parent’s basements. CNN, to their discredit, played right into the terrorist’s hands.
Well, we can fight back! This tape can be the catalyst for a groundswell of enlistment. Show the terrorists that you’re NOT a coward, that you ARE willing to risk your life in this fight!!!!!!!
http://www.goarmy.com