Media credibility issue with Zell Miller

[Dimsdale]

I'd like to think that the Philadelphia Inquirer prints this guy's drivel just to provide laughs. Brown is about on par with Jonah Goldberg.

Unfortunately, I can't provide a direct link. The PI has gone to registration required. I think this is worth a read, though.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/9582576.htm

Media credibility issue with Zell Miller

Peter A. Brown
Orlando Sentinel
[e-mail]

The notion that the news media have a Democratic, liberal bias is neither new nor surprising.
It is as much a part of daily life as the infomercial, an annoying aspect of American culture that many accept as part of the landscape.

snip

The treatment of Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia is the best evidence why the networks should reexamine their hiring policies that damage the credibility of the entire news media.

snip

NBC's Chris Matthews, a former speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and top aide to House Speaker Tip O'Neill, was by far the worst offender toward Miller, with whom he had an on-camera confrontation.

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Instead of focusing on what Miller said and the significance of his willingness to savage the titular head of his own party, they tried to explain away his behavior or get inside Miller's head about why he would turn on his own party.

snip

Journalists don't hesitate to impugn the credibility of those in public life based on background, friendship or comments. The network honchos should understand that this skepticism is applied by the public to the news media also.

more


So, our boy Peter here, a "journalist" doesn't hesitate to impugn, eh? It must have just slipped his mind to include Miller's blatant misrepresentation of Kerry's voting record on defense.
Hiring policies that damage credibility? What about all of Fox News, working ultimately for Rupert Murdoch, being advertised as "Fair and Balanced". What's ol' Rupe's background?

Brown summed up by saying that whenever he hears Matthews, Russert, etal. tell him why something is happening or questioning a politician's motives, he can't help but question how their backgrounds figure in their analysis.
So the lying sacks of shite that are the GOP and their foot soldiers like Brown continue to attack anyone trying to get the truth out. The hypocracy involved is stunning.

[volosong]

1. Zell Miller Strikes Out

(1) ZELL MILLER IS A MEGA FLIP FLOPPER: "My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders -- and a good friend. He was once a lieutenant governor -- but he didn't stay in that office 16 years, like someone else I know. It just took two years before the people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in 1984.In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington. Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so. John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment.” - Zell Miller < Democratic Party of Georgia Jefferson Jackson Dinner 2001>

(2) What Kerry really said -- in his own acceptance speech -- is this: "I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security." That's the opposite of what Miller said Kerry "made clear."

(3) Miller didn't say that Kerry voted against the weapons on the lst he rattled off, only that he opposed them.

(4) Zell Miller: “Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts. The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40 percent of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.”

FACT: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld went to Capitol Hill June 28 to defend the President's FY 2002 defense budget request before committees in both houses of Congress. Both in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees he met stiff opposition, principally over two facets of the defense proposal: missile defense and cuts in the B-1 bomber program.Rumsfeld replied that the decision was made by the Air Force, which wanted to go from 93 B-1 bombers down to 60 and to change the basing mode from five down to two to save funds and use the savings to upgrade the remaining B-1 bombers. He noted that he was the secretary of defense in 1960 when the B-1 bomber program was first approved.http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-se0213.html

(5) Zell Miller: “The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.”

FACT: Cheney Proposed Cuts to B-2 Program, According to the RNC, B-2s Were Crucial to Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the Boston Globe, in 1990, "Defense Secretary Richard Cheney announced a cutback... of nearly 45 percent in the administration's B-2 Stealth bomber program, from 132 airplanes to 75..." (Boston Globe, 4/27/90; From RNC Research Memo, "Kerry's Military: As He Would Like It," 7/18/03

(6) Zell Miller: “The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.”

FACT: The F-14D Tomcat program was cut by "Secretary Cheney" and all F-14D tomcat production was officially terminated in March 1990.
<http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8629/14var.htm>

(7) Zell Miller: “The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican. Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.”

FACT: According to the RNC, AH-64 Apache Helicopters Were Crucial to Operation Iraqi Freedom.In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee,Cheney said, “This is just a list of some of the programs that I've recommended termination: the V-22 Osprey, the F-14D, the Army Helicopter Improvement Program, Phoenix missile, F-15E, the Apache helicopter, the M1 tank, et cetera.” In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Cheney said, “The Army, as I indicated in my earlier testimony,
recommended to me that we keep a robust Apache helicopter program going forward, AH-64…I forced the Army to make choices…So I recommended that we cancel the AH-64 program two years out.”

(8) Zell Miller: “I could go on and on and on: against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel; against the Aegis air-defense cruiser; against the Strategic Defense Initiative; against the Trident missile; against, against, against.”

FACT: Kerry supported at least $10 billion in defense authorizations for the Patriot program. Kerry has supported at least $53 billion defense authorizations for the Aegis program Congressional Quarterly Almanacs, 1986-2002; House Armed Service Committee Authorization
Conference Report Summaries; Conference Reports for Defense Authorizations, FY1986 –present)

(9) Zell Miller is in the early stages of Senile Dementia. A real Bush "asset."

(10) Zell Miller's comments were rebuffed by Laura Bush, who said, "I don't think that he (Miller) is one of us." He should be repudiated by us all.

[opihimoimoi]

2. #10 Laura Bush "I don think he is one of us" Smart move to distance

themselves from flak....let zell sink by his lonely...some loyalty these Pubs...

[Dimsdale]

3. "I could go on and on.."

Could? He DID go on and on, spewing crap that will no doubt be repeatedly debunked by the ragingly "liberal" news media.
Thanks for that reply. A great reference.

[AndyP]

4. excellent

this will come in handy in my Elections class I have this semester.

[Dimsdale]

5. If Brown wants to go back to former employers...

to gauge whether he believes Matthews etal. are credible, it's fair to mention Miller's former employer. That would be Lester Maddox, Dixiecrat. And which party in effect has absorbed the Dixiecrat platform?