[See update at the end of post and link to new information. The Drudge Report quoted below was taken down without explanation and video appears to show Ware was not “heckling” during news conference.
**Scroll down to end for additional update. An AFP report mentions a reporter giggling in response to a McCain comment.]
Drudge is reporting:
During a live press conference in Bagdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct “outrageous,” saying, “here you have two United States Senators in Bagdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter.”
Senators McCain and Graham flew into Iraq and drove into Bagdad, making stops at an open market and a joint Iraq/American military security outpost before appearing at the press conference.
This is not the first time Michael Ware has taken issue with Senator McCain’s comments about early progress in Iraq. Last week, after Senator McCain told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he needed to catch up on the news coming out of Iraq, Michael Ware responded, saying:
“I don’t know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.”
Michael Ware has also publicly expressed his views on the war last year in an interview with Bill Maher, saying, “I’ve been given a front-row ticket to watch this slow-motion train wreck … I try to stay as drunk for as long as possible while I’m here … In fact, I’m drinking now.”Ah, maybe it is time for CNN to find a reporter that can function sober. CNN should be able to find someone to replace Ware — unless his type of reporting is exactly what they want.
Update: Rodger at This isn’t writing, it’s typing has video and a great roundup of blogger reaction, including the following from Ace of Spades. “He seems to be heavily invested in mocking any war-supporting politician who suggests the surge is working. Which, you know, it is, at least for now. But I guess Michael Ware has trouble seeing that from the lounge at the Intercontinental Hotel.”
Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive has a few words for Ware.
I don’t have any evidence that Michael Ware was ever hinged, but he is certainly Unhinged now. I covered his recent tour bleating on the cable news shows in the Friday Freefly, but he seems to have decided to become a one man clown car. The very idea that a media jackal would feel empowered enough to sass a US Senator and war hero is sad. Michael Ware may have four years lying drunk under his bed in his Green Zone hotel, I don’t think the Hanoi Hilton, and the other lovely places John McCain spent five years suffering in had room service.
It is sadly unsurprising that the senior member of CNN’s “News” team in Baghdad is such a blatant advocate for defeat. But you’d like to think there is someone left at CNN who at least wants to pretend at impartiality. I just wonder whether Ware thinks the folks he is rooting for will keep him supplied with booze, probably right up to when they saw his head off his shoulders. Idiot!
Hot Air had this story days ago.
Update II: I had forgotten that it was Michael Ware that brought us the Iraqi sniper video.
Update III: See updated post “Ware Doesn’t Appear to Have Heckled, but Shows Bias in CNN Interview.”
Update IV (4/3 7:09 p.m.): As far as I can tell, Drudge has not posted anything additional on his “heckling” story, but Glenn Reynolds and Power Line link to this AFP report that says “one reporter giggled at the back” in response to one of McCain’s statements. From Scott at Power Line:
I don’t know if giggles equal laughter and mockery, or if Ware was the giggler. But it seems to me that the AFP story provides evidence that tends to support Drudge’s account. According to the Raw Story report and accompanying screen capture, Ware was sitting “in front of the camera,” i.e., “at the back.”
So, maybe the “giggler” wasn’t Ware, but another reporter. Or maybe Ware giggled, but it wasn’t captured on camera and in his mind giggling is not the same as laughing and mocking. Unless the AFP story is wrong, there was at least one reporter in the room giggling in response to McCain’s comments. Giggling during McCain’s press conference, joking on Bill Maher’s show about having to get drunk to report from Baghdad — whoever the reporter was, it sounds more like a middle school kid than someone taking their job seriously.
