The “Worst of the Week” from the Media Research Center: On the May 16 American Morning, CNN permitted Clinton campaign advisor Jamie Rubin to slam Republican John McCain as a "flip-flopper" and a "hypocrite," all based on a tightly-edited 41-second video clip supplied by Rubin himself. After summarizing McCain's recent jabs at Democrat Barack Obama's Middle East policies, fill-in co-anchor Kyra Phillips touted: "But there's word this morning that McCain hasn't actually been consistent in his opposition to [the Palestinian terrorist group] Hamas."
CNN then showed the edited clip of Rubin's January 28, 2006 SkyNews interview with McCain, in which he seemed to suggest dealing with Hamas without preconditions. In a six-minute interview with Phillips, Rubin blasted McCain's supposed change in positions as "the ultimate flip-flop in American politics" and "the height of hypocrisy." No Republican appeared to balance Rubin, and Phillips never indicated whether CNN even sought a response from McCain. [Audio/video (1:56): Windows Media (7.14 MB) and MP3 audio (539 kB)]
But CNN could easily have checked for themselves — the network interviewed McCain the exact same day he spoke to Rubin. At the time, CNN reporter Elaine Quijano said McCain was taking a hard line: "One prominent senator says it's an untenable position to have a government in the Middle East led by a group committed to the destruction of its neighbor, Israel." Then a clip of McCain: "Hopefully, that Hamas, now that they are going to govern, will be motivated to renounce this commitment to the extinction of the state of Israel. Then we can do business again....It's very, very important, though, that they renounce this commitment." [Audio/video (0:35): Windows Media (2.09 MB) and MP3 audio (152 kB)]
Eleven hours later, CNN's Lou Dobbs discovered McCain had told Rubin pretty much the same thing ("The U.S. should take a step back and see what they do....Part of the relationship will be dictated by how Hamas acts, not how the U.S. acts."), but that portion was removed from the edited clip Rubin gave CNN that morning. "Well, that seems certainly to...substantiate precisely what Senator McCain is saying," Dobbs told reporter Dana Bash.
But for most of the day, CNN had trusted their partisan source and ignored their own tape. How convenient for Democrats — and disturbing for those hoping for fair and balanced campaign coverage this year.
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Newsbusters is missing Amanpour angle on this story
May 20, 2008 - 11:47 ET by ArminiusBefore Rubin appeared on CNN on May 16, Christiane Amanpour pretrty much carried the same water for the Democrats against McCain and Bush. The only difference between Rubin and Amanpour's presentations was Amanpour could only go so far as a "journalist."
CNN never once disclosed that Rubin and Amanpour are husband and wife.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E3D8103BF93AA3575BC0A96E958260
It appears to me that the Rubins essentially coordinate their messages in cases ike this.
Another case occurred last summer when Amanpour had the following exchange with CNN’s Larry King on August 20, 2007, while discussing her series on “God’s Warriors”: KING: But how much does the Israeli-Palestinian situation affect the Muslim situation, affect the Christian opinion, when they all intermingle here?AMANPOUR: Well, they do intermingle a lot. So, you know, I’m sort of keeping the two separate at the moment as I discuss this.But for sure, the constant open witnessed that is Israel-Palestine, the war that exists in Israel and the occupied territories is a powerful recruiting tool for those disaffected in the Islamic world. There is absolutely no doubt about that.But, also, right now, another powerful recruiting tool is the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. It is—it’s equaled or surpassed, at the moment, the pool of recruits for those who would come into terrorism and who would do America harm.And I think, you know, there’s a new Pew poll, a recent Pew poll that has just been published which has, I think, rather troubling results.It talks about how these phenomenal values that the United States espouses and has exported, you know, for decades, are now being viewed with suspicion and with distrust and mistrust.
So, really, the challenge for America and for American leadership is to get that back, to reclaim its values, to reclaim its position in global society and to be able to once again be considered the exporter of great and valuable morals and values.
Amanpour’s claim echoed a statement offered by Jamie Rubin just a few weeks earlier. “It will take years, decades to retrieve the respect that we once had before [the Bush] people took office,” Rubin said.
http://www.observer.com/2007/james-rubin-hillary-barack-and-anything-bush
www.sinsofthehusband.com
Words Matter!
May 20, 2008 - 12:05 ET by ChasvsBHO is fond of saying that Words Do Matter! Of course as with all the other Liberal Facists out there, it's only the words they want you to hear that matter!
Just as NBC has just edited the President's response from a recent interview, they will edit the truth out of anything the Republicans say to turn it on its head!
We are SO SCREWED!
CNN Journalistic Standards
May 20, 2008 - 12:36 ET by allanfDidn't CNN essentially fire hostess Daryn Kagan for associating with Rush Limbaugh? (Her contract was not renewed).
Given that standard how can the extremely left wing Arampour work for CNN while husband Rubin advises the Obama campaign.
CNN sees no conflicts of interest
May 20, 2008 - 12:54 ET by ArminiusCNN also had Andrea Koppel (Ted's daughter) as state department correspondent at the very same time that her husband, Kenneth Pollack (of "The Threatening Storm" fame), was part of Bill Clinton's national security team.
Liberals might counter that CNN is currently in a similar situation with Campbell Brown and Dan Senor, who were married in 2006. Brown joined CNN in 2007 after leaving NBC News. Senor served as a senior advisor to then-Presidential Envoy L. Paul Bremer III, administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. However, Senor is no longer part of the Bush administration. In addition, Brown, unlike Amanpour, does not appear to carrying water for her husband’s former employers. The daughter of a former Louisiana Democratic state senator, secretary of state, and insurance commissioner, Brown reportedly played host to Joe Wilson at her home in October 2003. In addition, in her November 28, 2007 CNN program called Broken Government – Campaign Killers, Brown characterized conservative David Bossie and his group, the 500,000-member Citizens United, as being part of a “fringe militia.” She also called Bossie a “dirty trickster.” Citizens United announced on December 4 that it would “bring legal action to hold CNN accountable for these and other misrepresented facts” if no apology and public retraction were forthcoming.
www.sinsofthehusband.com
They All Support BHO
May 20, 2008 - 12:56 ET by ChasvsSince they both support BHO for God why should they care?
They'd better not piss off
May 20, 2008 - 12:59 ET by mattmThey'd better not piss off McCain, he has a volatile temper, y'know.
Tony Snow
May 20, 2008 - 13:30 ET by TjexciteHard to belive that Tony Snow joined CNN for the token role. How long will that last.
CNN: most busted name in news
May 20, 2008 - 14:03 ET by j17ghsCNN has yet to correct the typo on its running graphics to "CNN: the most busted name in news" from "CNN: the most trusted name in news" (which, if not an error, is then an outlandish lie, to be sure)