Media Admits Coverage of Clark is Unfair!?!

[xultar]

Are they wearing parkas in hell, are pigs lining up @ the airport?

MEDIA ADMITS ITS COVERAGE OF CLARK WAS UNFAIR
Boston Globe, Washington Post Comment On The Bashing

by Betsy R. Vasquez

JANUARY 26, 2003 – Just in case you were wondering how news people could be a part of something so clearly biased and out-of-whack and not notice, the answer is that they did notice.

NASHUA -- He may have expected the frenzied pace and the competition for voters' attention. But perhaps the most difficult challenge retired Army General Wesley K. Clark has faced in New Hampshire in recent days is the way every statement he makes gets repeated and magnified in the media.

“That fact has been particularly tough for Clark. If Howard Dean has not been able to escape the videotape of his Iowa whoop, Clark has been dogged almost as much by his refusal to denounce filmmaker Michael Moore for calling President Bush a "deserter" at a Clark-for-president rally Jan. 17, and by his quick retort on CNN as Senator John F. Kerry's win in Iowa was being reported: "He's a lieutenant, and I'm a general."

snip...

More here http://moderateindependent.com/v2i2media2.htm


Clark supporters, keep your chin up, the story is getting out about the RW's hold on the media. I agree with their stories and analysis here. I won't shut up until we all wake up and notice that the media wing of the RW is choosing our nominee.

[Palacsinta]

1. You go, Xultar!

Just took up your challenge on another thread and donated to Clark.

[Muddleoftheroad]

2. You must be joking

EVERY candidate has the same media hurdle. I am not for or against Clark. But he is no special media case.

[KittyWampus]

3. Did Any Of The Other Candidates Have A Bit On MSNBC Before The Debate

on how they gave speeches to Muslim Terrorist Organizations?

[Toucano]

5. Show me

one instance where Edwards has been attacked by the media the way they've attacked Clark.

Last night, just before the debate, MSNBC tried to link Clark to a "terrorist" group because he delivered a videotaped message to an Arab American group.

It is completely blatant.

Yesterday, CNN said that Clark needs to lose the argyle sweaters. He wore an argyle sweater exactly ONCE, almost a month ago.

With Edwards and Kerry, I see nothing but the the media fawning all over them. Naturally, it makes me suspicious.

If you can't see that the media has roasted Clark and Dean, I don't think you're paying attention.

[Bread and Circus]

10. Right on!

[Clark Can WIN]

16. If they could give Edwards a lap dance

they would. The media wants to have his babies.

[girl gone mad]

7. I do think they've been paricularly tough on Clark.

My husband is indifferent, but while watching the last two debates asked why Clark was being baited with the question from Jennings and then last night with Brokaw saying "you blamed Bush for 9-11."

Also, they have reduced Clark to soundbites while allowing Dean and Kerry more time to respond to criticism.

[Bread and Circus]

11. That is such BS, Edwards has been entirely treated w/ Kid gloves..

That's the joke.

[blm]

4. They twisted the stories big time.

They do that to gin up controversy, especially amongst the left and Democrats.

[Jack_Dawson]

6. Will it make the NYTimes? Meet the Press?

Now THAT would be schweet.

[Auntie Bush]

8. A day doesn't go by that I don't complain to my husband

about the lack of coverage Clark gets or the hostile media comments. If they don't have something nasty to say...they ignore him. The media are choosing our candidate. It's an outrage!

[Bread and Circus]

9. At least there are some people w/ intelligence...

I am so sick of some DU'ers belittling us about this issue.

But hey, as long as their guy is the nominee, who gives a shit,
right?

[Clark Can WIN]

14. Hope you don't have rounds tomorrow

up kinda late, good sir.:hippie:

[Clark Can WIN]

12. THIS JUST IN.............................

Fish seen riding bicycles.

[Bread and Circus]

13. Here's a cheep shot by Kerry (aided by Dole)

"Still, the issues come up every time Clark faces a news conference or goes on a talk show. Clark was asked about Moore on NBC's "Meet the Press," and repeatedly in news conferences last week.

The Kerry campaign, locked in a fierce fight with Clark for veterans' support, has seized on the lieutenant-vs.-general flap to try to focus negative attention on Clark.

"That's the first time I have heard a general be so dismissive of lieutenants, who bleed a lot in wars," Kerry said last night on CBS's "60 Minutes."

Kerry added, "I think the general is entitled to his feelings and opinions."

---

If people can take off their "Iowa Blinders" for a moment
they will remember this whole thing was started by Dole,
who purposefully attacked and baited Clark by "demoting" him
on national TV. I thought Clark shot back in a clever, non-spiteful
way. The paragraph above shows Kerry parasitizing the GOP
by running with the thread.

[incapsulated]

15. I didn't see this 60 min.

He said this last week?

:grr:

[incapsulated]

17. KICK - I want info on the 60 minutes deal! eom

[NV1962]

23. It wasn't MSNBC where it started

it started on CNN, during a special edition of Larry King Live, on January 19 during the Iowa caucuses - you can see the part in a Windows Media Player file here. The written transcript is here of that pathetic slap by Bob Dole (the "lieutenant" thing) but I think the end is also noteworthy, when Larry King tries to lighten the apparent tension with a parting joke about Dole supporting Clark. Bob Dole is, um, not a nice person.

The pertinent bit:

• KING: General Clark, we have another veteran with us tonight, Senator Robert Dole. You may know Senator Dole.
  
  CLARK: Hello, Senator.
  
  KING: Bob, do you have a question for the General?
  
  DOLE: No, I think, you know, it's a tough -- you indicated it's a tough business you're in. Looking at it from my perspective, it seemed to me that John Kerry is a big winner tonight, not just in Iowa but also New Hampshire. I know you can't worry about Kerry's campaign but just as an observer I think he's going to benefit a great deal in New Hampshire. Somebody has to lose. Now, of course, you don't want it to be you but I think it may be you.
  
  CLARK: Senator, let's be honest about this thing. The American people want a change in leadership. They're looking for a candidate that can lead on all of the issues. I'm the only person in this race who has ever done foreign policy and I know all of the domestic issues, too. It's one thing to talk about it, but if you think of foreign policy it's like major league baseball. I'm the only person who has ever played it and I pitch a 95 mile an hour fastball. I've negotiated peace agreements, I've won a war. I'm prepared to help the country that's why I'm running. I'm not worried about John Kerry or anybody else.
  
  DOLE: We're not -- we're discussing here as friends but I think just politically you just became a colonel instead of a general...
  
  CLARK: Well, I don't think that's at all -- Senator, with all due respect, he's a lieutenant and I'm a general. You got to get your facts on this. He was a lieutenant in Vietnam. I've done all of the big leadership. I respect John Kerry and I like him but what I'm going to say it's up to the voters of New Hampshire, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, all across this country, and that's what democracy is about. It's your job to handicap the race. It's my job to go out here and do the best thing I can do for the United States of America and that's what I'm going to do.
  
  DOLE: And I certainly wish you luck. I'm not being critical. I'm just being realistic. I've been there and I lost, of course, which is a lot more fun winning but...
  
  CLARK: Well, I'll tell you what, I've been in a lot of tough positions in my life, one of them was leading the operation in Kosovo where I not only had to hold alliance but I had to worry about the Pentagon behind me. I'm looking forward to New Hampshire.
  
  KING: General Clark, we'll see you next week. And Senator Dole just announced his support for you.
  
  DOLE: In Kosovo, he had my support in Kosovo.
  
  CLARK: I know I did and I'm grateful to you, Senator, for that.

[incapsulated]

24. I know all that, I saw it myself

It was the shit Kerry was "dole"ing out on 60 min.

"Lieutenants bleed too..."

Give me a fucking break! :grr:

[NV1962]

30. Actually...

I blame CBS' 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley just as much as John Kerry.

Look closely at how insidiously Ed Bradly distorts Wes Clark's reponse to Bob Dole, as reproduced earlier - then consider that this insignificant snippet is the entire basis for the TITLE of that 60 Minutes program: "Kerry Fires Back At Clark" I call that a set-up to deliberately instigate a public tiff, which is what that media whore was spoiling for. To whit, the accompanying intro paragraph of that 60 Minutes page:

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry responded to a military rank-pulling comment aimed at him by rival Democratic presidential contender Wesley Clark by calling Clark, a retired general, "dismissive of lieutenants."

All that title, all that stage-setting introduction, and all the ensuing media hoopla of Wes Clark's "belittling" - all based on this:

• <Ed Bradley says:> Wesley Clark has said that he has won a war. He has negotiated a peace agreement: "I’m not worried about John Kerry. He’s a lieutenant, I’m a general."
  
  To that, Kerry says, "Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard a general be so dismissive of lieutenants, who bleed a lot in wars. I think that the general is entitled to his feelings and his opinions."

Ed Bradley is as much a bag of manure by twisting Wes Clark's words, as was John Kerry for not wondering and asking Bradley if that was an accurate quote, instead jumping the gun to engage in his prolific hobby of cross-dressing his attack as defense. And the irony is that he was talking about someone who was a lieutenant in active duty in Vietname at about the same time!

Chutzpah.

Oh, you want the most delicious evidence of Ed Bradley / CBS total lack of ethics? That they just happened to have clipped precisely the segment where Kerry runs his potty mouth on Edwards and Clark in the video fragment - fortunately, at least the transcript version appears intact (until of course they "correct history" there, too...)

[krkaufman]

20. Yes, last Sunday's "60 Minutes" episode (1/25)

Here's the 'Larry King Live' video, where Dole tried demoting General Clark. The relevant part is about 4m50s in.

http://www.videos4clark.com/vidclips/CNN_LKL_011904.WMV


And here's the '60 Minutes' video; you can watch the video, or just read the transcript.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

[Leilani]

18. That was really a cheap shot...

Also attacking Clark for being a lobbyist, While he gets his money from lobbyists.

[incapsulated]

19. Did you see that show?

The 60 min. one?

[incapsulated]

21. Ok, so I looked it up myself

I can't believe I totally missed this.

Clark should tear him a new one, I swear to god, he's deliberately skewing what was said, and in what context, on national tv, for chrissakes.

It's time to take out the fucking ammo against Kerry, NOW.

[krkaufman]

22. You now understand...

You now understand my main reason for loathing Kerry. Clark actually has class, and won't respond in kind. Kerry likely knows this and has his surrogates continuing to misrepresent what was said -- and the context in which it was said.

Kerry is SSDD politico.

My previous post in the original thread on this issue:

Kerry's positive message?

[Tim_in_HK]

25. I totally agree

and I'm a HUGE Clark supporter. But I don't think Clark or his campaign gets out of this blame free. They have been very unimpressive with getting their message out there, either through refuting media claims or framing what is important about CLARK. The 'Clark is a Repub' thing should have been dead about three days after it was brought up. The same with the Moore thing.

I think the media people in Clark's campaign couldn't adequately promote a free meal to a starving person. Clark's the best, but I've spent the majority of my time working for Clark not promoting his vision for America, but refuting smears that the campaign should have been doing themselves. Been kind of a half-a$$ reactive media strategy. I think he needs to find someone a lot better than the brain trust he's got working for him now, and fast.

I'll agree that the media is totally gunning for him, but I wonder how much of this is self-inflected. Case in point, when Clark was on Hardball at Kennedy School, Matthews had a visible hard-on for him. Now, Matthews totally dismisses him. Thanks Lehane. Don't take this as a defense of Matthews, but just as an example for how we had someone sweet on Clark, and now he ain't.

[incapsulated]

26. I don't know..

what exactly is going on in the inner circle of the campaign, so it's hard for me to tell. Also, Clark wasn't exactly sitting on his ass not refuting the republican bash, he did his best to promote his message that he was a Democrat. Sometimes, there is just nothing you can do.

I did read that the Hardball show said they had invited Clark on, but they prefered to do local media.

Which may make more practical sense right now.

I can't speak to what has been going on the past month or so. I do know there has been a studious effort to ignore him even when he's standing in the room. I mean, what does the AP have to do with media outreach, yet they would write up debates and not even mention his name.

I honestly don't know.

[Tim_in_HK]

27. Yes

I agree with your points. The omission in the AP article was utterly ridiculous. I didn't know that about turning down Hardball in favor of local media. That does make sense. Although at this point I think the campaign should be doing anything to get media coverage, especially direct Clark coverage.

I was just using Hardball as an example of how a previous somewhat positive media hack was now negative . . . and wondering why. I mean, in that meeting with Matthews, Matthews basically said he thinks Clark is the one that could bring the fight to Bush. He doesn't say that anymore.

I'm just frustrated b/c it appears from my sweet armchair quarterback point of view that they should just be doing MORE! What, I don't know either . . . but I don't really get the feeling that the dudes in the center have a plan. Or at least it doesn't appear so.

It is just going to be a shame and a treagedy if we can't get Clark in the WH.

[incapsulated]

28. Indeed n/t

[Myra]

29. Thank you xultar. If they're not smearing Clark they're ignoring him.

As we know, he did a damn fine job in the debate last night.
Good luck finding anything about him or that in the media.
Good luck finding any coverage of him at all, it's all Dean/Kerry.
The only coverage is in the form of attacks.
I'm fuckin' sick of it.
And it's fuckin' obvious why they're doing it, because he's
the best candidate and the biggest threat to Bush.

Did I mention how sick of it I am???