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FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2003 WHAT FRED DOES BEST: It was Morts aggressive spinning that grabbed us the most, although Fred ran to make the most desperate remark. On last nights Special Report, Brit Hume started the panel in orderly fashion; he read off six false impressions about Iraq which Al Gore had blamed on the Bush Admin. Well, some of it was true, Juan Williams said, agreeing with the things Gore said. And thats when Barnes began his faking. No, we really arent making this up. Yes, the corrupted man said it: WILLIAMS: Well, some of it was true.At this point, Fred cut Williams off. Try to believe that this fake, phony man has reached the point where hell actually say this on television: BARNES (continuing directly): I think Bush said exactly the opposite, consistently! Exactly the opposite!Amazing, isnt it? Exactly the opposite! Someone should give Fred a subscription to The New Republic, the journal for which he once honestly toiled before he sold his soul to Mammon. On June 30, Ackerman and Judis discussed the Bush Admins run-up to war. And yes, they mentioned Al Qaeda: ACKERMAN AND JUDIS: In speeches and interviews, administration officials also warned of the connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. On September 25, 2002, Rice insisted, There clearly are contacts between Al Qaeda and Iraq There clearly is testimony that some of the contacts have been important contacts and that theres a relationship there. On the same day, President Bush warned of the danger that Al Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddams madness. Rice, like Rumsfeldwho the next day would call evidence of a Saddam-bin Laden link bulletproofsaid she could not share the administrations evidence with the public without endangering intelligence sources. But Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, disagreed. On September 27, Paul Anderson, a spokesman for Graham, told USA Today that the senator had seen nothing in the CIAs classified reports that established a link between Saddam and Al Qaeda.Duh! On October 7, Bush continued giving Americans a certain impression about Al Qaeda. Ackerman and Judis discuss his major speech in Cincinnati: ACKERMAN AND JUDIS: Bushs speech brought together all the misinformation and exaggeration that the White House had been disseminating that fall Bush also argued that, through its ties to Al Qaeda, Iraq would be able to use biological and chemical weapons against the United States. Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists, he warned. If Iraq had to deliver these weapons on its own, Bush said, Iraq could use the new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that it was developing This claim represented the height of absurdity. Iraqs UAVs had ranges of, at most, 300 miles. They could not make the flight from Baghdad to Tel Aviv, let alone to New York.But if you watched Special Report last night, you saw Fred Barnesgesturing aggressivelyinsisting that Bush consistently said exactly the opposite. For the record, this is precisely the process Gores speech described, in which the Bush Adminand a cowering mediaconspire to deceive U.S. citizens. Yepif you watched last nights Special Report, you got to see the corrupted Barnes selling his body parts to the devil. But you also saw Foxs brilliant all-stars sitting back and refusing to correct him. Surely, every member of Brit Humes panel knew that what Barnes said was false. But Foxs all-stars are deeply corruptedtheyre store-bought, and theyre dead-dog cowardsand they know what theyre paid to convey to Fox viewers. Well, Ithat was the impression that we were left with, Williams muttered, slinking back in his chair for the ten millionth time. And Hume and Kondracke both said nothingalthough they surely knew that what Barnes had said was utterly, one hundred percent false. Millions of Americans tune in to Fox without understanding that theyre being deceived. Al Gore, politely, noted that in his speech. So Fred and Mort knew what to do. Just like that, they got lying.
BAD TIMING: Sadly, were tied up on an all-day event. But the press corps reaction to Gores major speech will be examined here in much more detail. More tomorrow on Kondrackes commentsand more on Chris Matthews consummate faking on Hardball. That cable money must spend real good when you see what these fake men will do for it. |