Of the three broadcast network evening newscasts on Thursday, only the CBS Evening News reported how a federal judge threw out Valerie Plame's lawsuit and how a Pentagon official berated Senator Hillary Clinton, but anchor Katie Couric quickly moved on to “more positive news” for her in how most believe she will be elected President. Couric relayed how “the Pentagon is lashing out tonight at Hillary Clinton. A letter written by a senior Pentagon official accuses Clinton of reinforcing enemy propaganda by demanding the military start planning for a withdrawal from Iraq. A spokesman for the Senator calls the letter 'outrageous.' In more positive news for her campaign, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows 63 percent of voters believe she's likely to win the presidency if she gets the nomination.”
Enraged by the letter from Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann opened Thursday's Countdown with a “Special Comment” on how President George W. Bush will go down in history for his “infamy” as a President who has “sold this country out.” To get the U.S. out of Iraq, Olbermann suggested Bush must be impeached “sooner rather than later.” Olbermann snidely concluded his lengthy rant: “Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations. Go there and fight your war, yourself.” (MSNBC.com's transcript)
An excerpt from a July 19 AP dispatch, “Pentagon rebukes Sen. Clinton on Iraq, by Devlin Barrett:
The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.
A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
"Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia," Edelman wrote.
He added that "such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks."
Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's answer "at once outrageous and dangerous," and said the senator would respond to his boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates....
Couric announced these back-to-back items deep into the July 19 CBS Evening News:
A federal judge today threw out Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in that CIA leak scandal. The former CIA operative accused, among others, Vice President Dick Cheney, his former aide Scooter Libby, and senior White House advisor Karl Rove of conspiring to leak her identity. But the judge ruled what the officials did was all part of their jobs. Plame's lawyer is planning to appeal.Meanwhile, the Pentagon is lashing out tonight at Hillary Clinton. A letter written by a senior Pentagon official accuses Clinton of reinforcing enemy propaganda by demanding the military start planning for a withdrawal from Iraq. A spokesman for the Senator calls the letter 'outrageous.' In more positive news for her campaign, a CBS News/New York Times poll shows 63 percent of voters believe she's likely to win the presidency if she gets the nomination. And it's due in large part to the female factor. Kelly Wallace has the numbers....
The CBSNews.com rundown of the survey, “Poll: 63% Say Clinton 'Likely' To Win; CBS/NYT Poll: Majorities Of Both Men and Women Think New York Democrat Will Be Next President.”
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center




















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They're pulling out all the
July 20, 2007 - 01:40 ET by KC MulvilleThey're pulling out all the stops to prevent progress in Iraq. The entire Democrat caucus is asking the Pentagon to prepare ... publicly ... for a course of action in direct contradiction of the executive branch's policy. The Pentagon is part of the Department of Defense, and that department answers to the president. They're asking the Pentagon, essentially, to ignore the president and do what Congress demands.
Of course, they know full well what they're doing. They're trying to undermine any possibility that the president's policy might work. They know the president is trying to assure the Iraqis that the surge will provide a window of security, and the Democrats are trying to scuttle that assurance, especially now that it just might be working. It's the equivalent of asking the Pentagon to prepare plans to nuke China, on the eve of a U.S.-China trade summit. They know full well that if the Pentagon complied with the request publicly, it would destroy any chance of progress. It doesn't matter whether the request is carried out. All they need is to make the request public, and they've sabotaged the deal.
Liberals always try the same trick: they use perceptions, spread by the media, to accomplish what they can't accomplish through open argument and debate. They try to make the public believe it's a done deal before they have to explain and justify themselves. They want everyone to assume that an imminent pullout is already a done deal, hoping they won't have to face any questions about what it might really mean.
CNNs Rosie O'Nutjob...
July 20, 2007 - 02:57 ET by Army BratThis Olbermann character...do they drug test at CNN? Are there no standards there for journalism...or what passes for it there? From what I see the answer would be a resounding NO! Happy Trails...
When KO finally endorces
July 20, 2007 - 04:19 ET by mlongWhen KO finally endorces Hill for president will MSNBC admit he's a biased reporter and take him off hosting debates?
*Sheehan-vs-Pelosi*
"This could get ugly"
Poll
July 20, 2007 - 07:06 ET by dervishIs that a new sort of opinion-poll question, or have I just not noticed it before? Whenever people are asked if they actually plan to VOTE for Clinton, she doesn't get nearly as high a mark. 63% think (either wish, or fear) that she might win -- ? What the heck does that mean, other than it's a better-looking number?
And by the way, I can't read
July 20, 2007 - 07:12 ET by dervishAnd by the way, I can't read the fine print on that graphic -- does it say the margin of error is 31%?
EDIT: I checked the CBS website and it says the error margin is 3%. It ALSO says that, even among the DEMOCRATS polled, only 43% actually want her as their candidate. Funny how they didn't mention that...
dervish -- Hillary Clinton
July 20, 2007 - 07:49 ET by Jack Bauerdervish -- Hillary Clinton has a margin of error of +100%.
lol She's not trying to
July 20, 2007 - 21:46 ET by dahliatraverslol
She's not trying to be a man, however ...
Ubermann
July 20, 2007 - 07:31 ET by Bobby JerseyIt is about time that Ubermann be "impeached" from our minds. His ratings are poor and his content of the issues of the day are worse. It is always the same, Bush bad, Clinton good. He has nothing better to do than belittle Rush and O'Rielly. He can't stand the fact that "Billo" show ratings at 4:00 a.m. est still beats his live show. He lacks the courage to have people on his show who will disagree with him because he knows that it will show him for the idiot he is. He is a joke. "This the 1,582 days of stupidity of Keith Olbermann.. today's Worst person in the world".
I am sure
July 20, 2007 - 10:09 ET by cvgbuckeyeThere is no question that if the democrats/liberals/MSM could do it secretly, they would supply the enemy with weapons and strategy for attacking our troops. They would do this to enhance their chances of winning the next election.
In essence the dems are doing it now with the MSM carrying their water.
They have become Al Media and AL demo. They are a bigger threat to our American way of life than Al Qaeda.
Clinton spokesman Philippe
July 20, 2007 - 07:51 ET by KC BeachClinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's answer "at once outrageous and dangerous,"
Yes, outrageous someone would finally make this point because it is dangerous to the liberals get out of Iraq game plan. Why more conservatives are not making this point is beyond me. We are asking the Iraqi people to "step up" while telling them we will pull out if the Dems win. History has proven that everywhere the US military has "pulled out" a bloodbath or as Kerry claimed yesterday "re-education camps" (which in Kerry's opinion are not so bad) have followed. East Germany, Viet Nam including (Cambodia and Laos), Lebanon, Iraq the first time, Somalia. The only time I can recall there was not a slaughter was Korea. The reason South Korea has not been over run by the north is that the US is still there 50+ years later. We could learn so much from an honest look at the past, unfortunately honesty seems to have no place in politics.
This point doesn't even
July 20, 2007 - 07:56 ET by dervishThis point doesn't even register with a lot of conservatives -- e.g. Bill O'Reilly -- who constantly berate the Iraqis for not stepping up and threaten to support withdrawal if they don't pick up their game. With such a wobbly ally, I'm surprised the Iraqi army and police get any recruits at all.
Nice Brent
July 20, 2007 - 08:45 ET by regimeofterrorNice roundup Brent. I think that someone from the Pentagon should have also condemned Reid's comments about "losing," Durbin's comment's about Nazi's, NEWSWEEK BS Koran story, etc. etc.. I am just glad something is finally being done because if they merely opposed the war or wanted a different strategy they don't have to undermine the whole military to do it.
Let Olberman keep reading his cue cards each night.
Saddam Hussein and terrorism. The rest of the story...
http://www.regimeoft...
worse than you think
July 20, 2007 - 08:57 ET by CatherwoodThough the discussion of Hill's big-mouth illogical rants against the war gain some surface attention, the real scary problem here is much more intense. Hill and Bill and their ilk hate the military, hate the CIA, and would spit on the Pentagon if they could. These liberals are secretly against anyone who wears a uniform or supports the military in any way. You can bet that privately the speak of all things military as being beneath their intellectual capacity. If Billary is elected president, her hatred for the Pentagon and our secret service agencies will probably get a lot of Americans killed. She'll cut funding, she'll put her people in charge, she'll do what she can to curtail the power of all things military. Of course, the public does not really see this. They see the facade Billary creates which makes her look like a supporter of the troops. It just ain't so. Liberals like the Clintones, the bores, the Edwardes, et al will always put their idealism first and the safety of the American people last.....so scary.
USNews Sen Clinton asks
July 20, 2007 - 09:03 ET by JDWUSNews
Sen Clinton asks government for detailed cut and run planning only to receive abrupt response stating the fact that this only encourages terrorists
Sen Clinton responds with a letter to the White House today asking if there is an agreement with the previous statement
JDW
News media: Scoreboard for terrorists
I heard about this all last
July 20, 2007 - 11:55 ET by bigtimerI heard about this all last evening when Ubermann was spewing his filthy leftist usual lying rant...
I wrote about some of it on the OT...
Glad I am cooled off now....I was furious with this filthy creep as usual, there is something seriously wrong with this country letting this man spew the things he does night after night on the airwaves during a time of war...(I know all about free speech folks, I know all about turning the channel, I was in a situation where I could not then, in fact I only usually catch the very end of his show if BOR has a segment on I do not care for, which happens about half the time)
I use the term man loosely when referring to him as I cannot say two things here I really want to about him, what I wish for him, and how, and my definition of what this POS is.
He is nothing but beyond a despicable treasonous traitor.
Gee, Brent, do you think Olbermann hates Bush?
July 20, 2007 - 14:45 ET by acaiguanaSounds like Kiethie's one true love, Mrs. Bill Clinton, was put on the spot and Keithie got upset.
Or did I read the transcript wrongly?
These people (Keithie, Matthews, and their ilk) are so deranged that this screed is only exposing their true ideas as just that; screeds.
So, let it be said that Keithie and friends are now in cahoots with anything that insinuates that Clintonista followers are, shall we say, not a functional family. Or in social work double speak, they are disfunctional Americans.
I have no doubt that Clinton will be the nominee of the Democrats. Great, let the good times roll. By the time the election is over, if I"m not dead by then since it is just forever away, Keithie will be coming to work wearing catsup spatter shirts to prove whatever hateful point he wants to make.
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana Notes from the Bomb Shelter' (soon to be a movie at theaters near you)
I'm laughing but you're
July 20, 2007 - 21:50 ET by dahliatraversI'm laughing but you're right, that's how intense his derangement is. (Not BDS in this case, just deranged across the board.)