Name-Calling Cafferty Criticizes Boehner's ‘Wimp' Comment on CNN

Matthew Balan
July 13th, 2007 11:59 AM
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Sometimes, the hypocrisy of some in the mainstream media knows no bounds. On Thursday's "The Situation Room," CNN's Jack Cafferty lamented how "the debate over the Iraq war has degenerated to name-calling now, "and criticized House Minority Leader John Boehner's "wimp" comment that was directed against some Republican members of the Senate during a private meeting. This is the same Jack Cafferty who resorted to calling attorney general Alberto Gonzales a "glorified water boy" and a "weasel" only a few months ago.

Video (1:53): Real (1.39 MB) or Windows (1.16 MB), plus MP3 audio (861 kB)

At the start of the regular "The Cafferty File" on "The Situation Room," host Wolf Blitzer and Cafferty discussed the previous segment on a possible congressional vote for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. In an not-so-subtle wink and nudge to congressional Democrats, Cafferty hypothesized that "if you don't renew the funding, at some point, there is no money to conduct the war," that "the money would just run out. Just a thought."

Cafferty then went on to his criticism of Boehner:

The debate over the Iraq war has degenerated to name-calling now, among some of the not-so-distinguished members of our Congress. House Minority Leader John Boehner referred to Senate Republicans who favor a change of course in Iraq as ‘wimps.' This is the same John Boehner, you may recall, who once asked that the House be adjourned so he could go to a football game. The so-called wimps that Boehner refers to include some distinguished members of the U.S. Senate, like Pete Domenici, Richard Lugar, and George Voinovich. They've all had enough of President Bush's war and they want to start reducing the military's role in Iraq. As for the wimp comment, House Republican sources tell 'The Hill' newspaper that Boehner and Minority Whip Roy Blunt are simply calling for solidarity among party members, so they distinguish themselves from their Senate colleagues. Boehner's spokesman says the comments, ‘were intended to illustrate the fact that we just recently voted to give the troops our full support, including ample time for the Petraeus plan to work, and that too much is at stake for Congress to renege on its commitment now by approving what can only be described as another partisan stunt by the Democrats.'

I guess in Cafferty's view, if you're a Republican who is starting to lean towards the Democrats' anti-war views, you become "distinguished."

In response to Cafferty, Blitzer asked whether Boehner knew that "Chuck Hagel, one of those GOP senators, served in Vietnam, and is certainly not a wimp?" In a final rebuke to the Minority Leader, Cafferty concluded, "Well, Boehner doesn't have the greatest political skills I've ever seen, I don't think."

Think what you may of congressional Republicans, but there wouldn't be this kind of mainstream media reporting of a name-calling incident by a prominent Democrat during a private meeting. It would be much more "nuanced" in favor of the Democrat offender.