CNN's Campbell Brown does hit piece on Obama

[Starfury]

Without question, Obama has set the bar at new height with a truly staggering sum of cash. And that is why as we approach this November, it is worth reminding ourselves what Barack Obama said last November.

One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both operated within those limits.

Then it became clear to Sen. Obama and his campaign that he was going to be able to raise on his own far more cash than he would get with public financing. So Obama went back on his word.

He broke his promise and he explained it by arguing that the system is broken and that Republicans know how to work the system to their advantage. He argued he would need all that cash to fight the ruthless attacks of 527s, those independent groups like the Swift Boat Veterans. It's funny though, those attacks never really materialized.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html

Campbell Brown doesn't provide the pledge Obama supposedly broke because, of course, he never made the pledge she claims he did. All she did was repeat the Republican meme. What makes it all the more galling is, Campbell Brown's new show is titled "No Bias, No Bull." Based on this, I suggest she rename it to "Full of Bias, Full of Bull." For some reason, CNN isn't accepting comments on this piece...

:argh:

[katandmoon]

1. Yup, anybody who has a show on CNN is by definition full of bull and bias

[ibegurpard]

2. Those attacks never really materialized?

Huh?
She goes so far out of her way to try to be "fair and balanced" she makes no sense.

[altan]

13. Obama breaks promise by being the recipient of tons of money from Americans

Well, I was surprised at the column but then again, not that much. Obama did break his "promise" but I would submit that even Obama did not expect the depth of the underlying frustration in the population. If the shoe had been on anyone else's foot, they would have "broken their promise" as well,

even McCain.

My take is that this column was an effort to appear to be "fair and balanced" by saying something negative about Obama.

[Baltoman991]

15. Obama broke

no promise. He answered the question yes and then suddenly, folks are blinded by the light and don't see the explanation given for that yes answer.

I just don't get why everyone keeps pushing the "he broke his promise" garbage.

[Wednesdays]

37. Because Republicans are bored with posting only at Freerepublic?

:shrug:

[wtmusic]

28. Wrong - see post #11

Obama agreed to forgo private funding if his opponents did. More lies spread by FOX News and the McCain campaign.

[damonm]

3. Comments are available - I was the first.

[bridgit]

4. She's been pulling stunts like that for months...not into Campbell

David Gergen brought this up last night I think it was; saying that Obama did break his pledge.

[Captiosus]

5. I'd say I'm shocked, but I'm not

In the last week and a half she has gone out of her way to defend Palin's wardrobe, complained about sexism being lobbed at Palin and now running a factually inaccurate Obama hit piece. Tuesday on the Daily Show she said (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that she was glad there was no Fairness Doctrine because it kept the media from being able to do a good job - now they can decide who to report on and for how long!

It's clear where her loyalties lie and the name of her show is wholly inappropriate.
No Bias (unless it's for McCain), All Bull (if it's about Obama).

[Starfury]

6. Yeah, can't really say I'm shocked either

I watched her on the Daily Show as well. I'm just PO'd by the rank hypocrisy of it all and needed to take a moment to share and vent.

:toast:

[rebel with a cause]

14. Like faux news she is fair and balanced.

NOT!!!!!!!!

[wtmusic]

7. What was the pledge (if any) he made? nt

[Starfury]

11. Obama's Pledge:

From the Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire:

Question I-B:
If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?

OBAMA: Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. I introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and am the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold’s (D-WI) bill to reform the presidential public financing system. In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (r-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/MDNNATIONALRELEASE.PDF

Admittedly, it's a lot of words with some lawyering thrown in for good measure. He explains that he's in favor of public financing of elections. But at the end of the day, Obama agreed to meet with McCain on the matter, nothing more. It's a complex topic and context matters, which is why hit pieces like CB's never provide the full quote of the question and the answer (if they provide any quote at all). And why they never seem to cover McCain's campaign finance details and shenanigans.

(Now whether or not he "aggressively" pursued the matter with McCain is another issue... :evilgrin: )

[wtmusic]

27. Thanks very much.

Bottom line: "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding..."

McCain didn't forgo private funding, no pledge broken. QED.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. I'm surprised

I honestly expected better of her. She seemed to have some potential for seriously fair and balanced reporting. Especially after she pissed off McPOW's Tucker Bounds.

Well, she is CNN, that's obvious.....................

[JonLP24]

25. Seriously?

To me it was clear since her interview with Franken what her real agenda is.

[pinto]

9. She riffs on Sen. Kerrey's comment out of context. From the original Post article -

"Actually, I could keep my answer under 10 minutes if I were willing to answer that it's now to my advantage to act in contradiction to my previously stated beliefs. All I would need to say is that, on the issue of public funding in 2008, I was a hypocrite.

Of course, there's another option: Admit I was wrong on such limitations in the first place. And that's exactly what I'm likely to do." (Kerrey)

An awkward construct from Sen. Kerrey, but not nearly what Ms. Campbell implies.

And as you say, no mention of either the "pledge", the negotiation with the Republican party nor the decision to forego federally funded financing in favor of public donations.

Glib does not a journalist make.

(I was able to comment on line, fwiw)

[brettdale]

10. Im shocked

She sounded like class on the daily show, I guess she suckered people in.

[defendandprotect]

12. She was on Jon Stewart tonight/? selling her "no bias, no bull" crap . . .!!

[Dem2theMax]

16. Last night. Steve Martin was on tonight. nt.

[defendandprotect]

32. Right -- sometimes I'm watching a repeat -- but Jon was very nice to her . . . wasn't he???

[Dem2theMax]

34. Yes, he was. He's always nice. Even when he's burying them. LOL.

;)

[defendandprotect]

45. Sometimes I miss the "burying" --

overall too many non-liberal guests on --

and I have the damnedest time understanding Colbert --

Loved him on the Daily Show --- but just don't get his show...???

[Bread and Circus]

17. Earth to Campbell, we've heard it already, nobody fucking cares...

If Obama had unilaterally disarmed he would have been chastised as an idiot. Not only that, Obama raised the money from over 4,000,000 donors...that is public financing when you think about it.

Obama played this perfectly. His only mistake was making a promise he never imagined he'd have to not keep. How the fuck would he have known back then how this was going to play out.

It's not his fault he developed the most amazing campaign and fundraising organization in the history of Democracy.

Furthermore, Campbell, your show is shit. You aren't "cutting the bull", you are just "stirring shit".

Here's some sorely needed advice, pick a subject that actually matters to PEOPLE, like voter suppression, intimidation, and purging and get your overpaid ass to work.

[Old and In the Way]

18. Obama's running the ultimate publicly financed campaign.

Millions of small donations. McCain could only have fundraised at a fraction of this level....no surprise he opted to taking the $ from federal public financing....it's free money and he still benefits from the RNC fundraising and 527's. The fact that the 527's decided not to waste their money this cycle may have more to do with the economy then a change in their ideology.

Focus on taking corporate money out of our election system and reducing the maximum personal contributions. That's how we'll get better candidates who are more responsive to the needs of the majority of Americans.

[kristopher]

19. Helping hubby out, no doubt

Daniel Samuel "Dan" Senor<1> was a foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney in his campaign for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election.<2>

Senor has been a Fox News contributor since February 2005.<3><1>

In August 2006, Dan Senor was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, representing Vets for Freedom, the Republican-led 527 committee that is attacking advocates of an end to the Iraq occupation and who were supporting Joe Lieberman for the U.S. Senate.<4>

Senor was an adviser to Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority director Paul Bremer until the nominal transfer of sovereignty. He also acted as the civilian spokesman at CPA press conferences in Baghdad, partnering with U.S. military spokesman Mark Kimmitt.

Senor "also served as a Legislative Aide, Press Secretary, and Communications Director for then-Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI)."<5>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dan_Senor

[sad sally]

35. seeing that man on tv every day selling the Iraq War used to drive me

to the point of swatting his smug face with a rolled up newspaper. I find it very very difficult to watch Campbell Brown without thinking of how many lies husband Senor spew on Americans.

[Joe the Liberal]

20. "No Bias, No Bull" my ass....

But Campbell Brown is Hot!!!!

[TennesseeDem]

21. That I do agree with.

[Joe the Liberal]

22. Yup....

Her and that Erica Hill on AC360 are smokin!

[JonLP24]

24. You can't be serious

I never found her attractive but something about intelligence has alot to do with attraction in my case which is why all the Fox News daytime anchors are not attractive.

[Joe the Liberal]

26. Oh come on.....

She's not THAT bad, she has nice legs! The Fox news daytime female anchors though are attractive to me.........on the outside, on the inside they are hideous. I cant stand 5 seconds of any of the "news" on faux, even if they have a hot news anchor on it!

[Wednesdays]

38. Hot? No thanks, I think I'll pass...

We've got enough "hot" with Palin, and shudder at the thought of her running the local PTA, let alone the vice presidency.

They said Ann Coulter was hot, too. :eyes:

[JonLP24]

23. People should turn to Olberman for real "no bull"

He already fact checked this and he didn't make a such promise that I keep hearing on the airwaves. I don't know who it was or if I even got this quote correctly but a lie travels faster then the truth and this is one of the constant lies I keep hearing that never goes away. Didn't she used to work for Fox News? I recall after her Franken interview in which he shut her down, she lied then claimed she didn't lie and Olbermann said "you can take the anchor from Fox News but you can't take Fox News from the anchor."

[Mari333]

29. Just look at the bio of her husband...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Senor
enor spent much of the 1990s working in Congress, as both a foreign policy advisor and Communications Director to former U.S. Senator and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (R-MI).

From 2001 to 2003, he was an investment professional at the Carlyle Group.<4>

Iraq

In early 2003, Senor joined the Administration of George W. Bush, as deputy to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.<4>. In the lead-up to the Iraq war and during the war, he was a Pentagon and White House advisor based in Doha, Qatar at U.S. Central Command Forward; he was subsequently based in Kuwait working with General Jay Garner during the final days of the war and in southern Iraq when the Iraqi regime fell; and formally re-located to Baghdad on April 20, 2003, when he traveled with General Garner’s team in the first post-war civilian convoy. Senor remained in Iraq until the summer of 2004.'
'

an advisor to the Carlyle group, indeed. and an advisor to Fox news.

[Marie26]

30. That's true

Except that the 527's did try some attacks, but their time has passed.

[Marie26]

31. .

[Thorandmjolnir]

33. Let's not forget why

John McCain accepted public financing.

He was forced to.

When his campaign was short on money and not during too well, he borrowed money against the prospect of receiving further public financing for his campaign.

When it looked like he could raise more with private funds, the DNC basically threatened to sue hinm for fraud if he did not accept public financing.

That is why McCain did not raise private funds. Not because he did not wanted too or couldn't but because he was forced to, in order not to violate the election laws..

[Wednesdays]

39. Awww...

:nopity:

[Stellabella]

36. I was immediately suspicious when I heard the title of her show.

Methinks she doth protest too much.

[kevinbgoode]

40. Anytime a media outlet or personality has to publicize a lack of bias,

they absolutely have one. If she was a trained, ethical journalist, a lack of bias would be obvious and it wouldn't be necessary to make a claim.

I've watched her show - sensationalized hype and lots of personal projection. I wouldn't trust that network for my primary information on anything.

[punkin87]

41. She sucks!

[obiwan]

42. It's not about integrity, it's about ratings.

Reminds me of what CNN tried to do with Anderson Cooper a couple of years ago.

Fuck em. If they want to run around, pee on trees, and sniff each other's butts, let em. I have the channel changer right here in my sweaty little hand.

[Triana]

43. "those attacks never materialized"?

And JUST what is SHE doing right now?

ATTACKING Obama.

Pffft! Beyatch needs to look in the mirror.

YET ANOTHER coiffed, painted, acid-mouthed bimbo spewing for the lame$tream propaganda machine.

[iamthebandfanman]

44. interesting, ive actually heard other CNN hosts debunk that. n/t