Kerry on Good Morning America

[crickets]

John Kerry just ate Diane Sawyer for breakfast. She asked leading, loaded questions, pretended not to understand clear answers so that she could re-ask the same questions, and and at one point when she still couldn't trip him, she reframed the same question as though Kerry had said something he had not. He didn't budge an inch. He was firm, he was clear and concise, and he made her look silly for posing pictures of him windsurfing next to * clearing brush. Kerry finally brushed her off with "He should have been at work clearing up the problems this country faces." (paraphrased)

They mainly talked about the flip-flop issue, Iraq, Kerry's image, and the upcoming debate. Kerry handled himself very well, and in that performance Diane Sawyer has gone so far downhill since the last time I watched her (years ago) in credibility it's stunning.

Part 2 airs tomorrow. Sorry I'm not more specific, but I don't want to rewind the tape until I've caught Edwards on Imus.

Edited to add: does anyone know what time Edwards is scheduled to be on?

[RT_Fanatic]

1. "John Kerry just ate Diane Sawyer

for breakfast." How does Teresa feel about this? Does this just prove that he's really French?!

:7

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DebJ]

2. how did he respond to the flip-flop?

[crickets]

5. The main flip-flop discussed was

the $87 billion bill. Kerry made a point of mentioning the media machine the RW uses to pound out their message. He said their ads have been successful and he gives them credit for it, but their message doesn't reflect the truth. He stated his position hadn't changed.

There's a very obvious, bad (IMO) edit here, then Kerry continues, explaining that one of the ad campaign strategies is to cherry pick words or phrases taken out of context.

They showed the clip, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." He explained he had an inarticulate moment when he was dead-tired during the primaries, that he expressed himself poorly. Then he explained his position (again) and that his no vote was a protest about how the bill was funded.

My paraphrasing doesn't do credit to how well he handled the question.

[bigpathpaul]

7. Some of these may help counter-balance the recurring flip-flop theme

W.I.M.P. - Bush Flyers: "Which Is It, Mr. President?"

There are 14 of these in all (I hope do at least a dozen more before the debate). All the source material is from The Center for American Progress Action Fund (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263) which has done a great job of documenting GWB's change of heart/mind on nearly every issue imaginable. While I've highlighted 14 of their flip-flops, they have a list of at least 30:

I've shown reduced-size samples of a few. The full-size PDFs are available either through the home page at http://www.bigpath.net or you can go directly to the W.I.M.P. page at http://bigpath.net/politics/WIMP/WIMP_Start.html

[Minimus]

3. I've lost all respect for Diane - in the early years she was more

like a real journalist. I think her interview with Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (when they were "married")was the turning point. She fawned over them. :puke:

[theshadow]

4. What do you expect...

... from a woman who got her start as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon?

[helpisontheway]

6. Wow

It is amazing how two people could see the same thing so differently. There is someone on the kerry board talking about how she made Kerry look like a fool? That poster was telling us to start writing GMA. Anyway, glad to hear that it wasn't as bad as that poster claimed. I just woke up and I was starting to get upset!

[Bridget Burke]

15. Well, it's hard to believe...

But the poster on the Kerry board may not have actually been a Kerry supporter. They were just trying to spread rumors--for fun or for pay.

I've heard that disruptive posters even come to DU from time to time. That may just be a legend, though.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. Diane Sawyer went at Kerry hard

He handled it well and by the end of the interview when he said "I'm not going to act like someone I'm not." I was cheering.

Did anyone else get the impression was that the interview was heavily edited?

[indyjones1938]

9. yes

It was heavily edited.

And to the people commenting here without having seen the interview: yes, Diane Sawyer went at him extremely hard. It was a disgusting display of "journalism." Every question was loaded and she kept making strange faces.

But Kerry swung at her fastballs and hit them out of the park. He made her look like a fool. Definitely the best interview I've seen JK give. He was concise and got all of his talking points out. What more do some people want?

[crickets]

10. I did

At one point, the edit is IN THE MIDDLE of Kerry's answer. It was done in a way that was supposed to look like a camera change, but the space between one sentence and the next didn't flow properly. There's actually a slight flash on one segment of the screen just before the edit/change. I'd love to know if anyone else taped it and noticed this.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

14. My Flame to ABC

here is what I e-mailed Good Morining Amurika

I was appalled at Ms. Sawyer’s interview with John Kerry this morning. We have suffered 1050 Deaths in Iraq, killed countless thousands of civilians, are bogged down in a quagmire, have ticked off the international community, jobs are being shipped off-shore, the middle-class is losing healthcare, we are running record deficits and Ms. Sawyer is asking about WIND SURFING!!!!! Good grief! Where have your journalistic standards gone.

[babylonsister]

11. Edwards on Imus at 7:29 am CT, MSNBC

[crickets]

13. Thanks! (nt)

[Bettie]

16. I particularly liked when he told Diane

to stop twisting his words.

She was trying to get him to say that Saddam Hussein should still be in power, but he didn't let her get away with twisting his words!

I'm also glad he said that he's not going to be someone he's not after she showed him the pictures of himself windsurfing and snowboarding contrasted with W hauling logs and using a chainsaw.