Barack Obama might be taking some flak for his accusations against US troops in Afghanistan. But not to worry: the MSM has got his back. At a recent campaign event, Obama stated:
We've got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan] and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there.
The Associated Press was quick in coming to Obama's aid, putting forth a putative news article suggesting that Obama was right. Wrote the AP:
A check of the facts shows that Western forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents have been killing civilians.
But as Jim Geraghty has pointed out at the National Review Online:
Yeah, that's great. Too bad that's not what Obama said. What he said was, "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."
If Obama had said something about which side has inflicted more civilian casualties, the AP's "fact check" would be relevant. But his statement was about putting more ground troops into Afghanistan so that U.S. policy will be more than "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians." We've established that statement is horsepuckey. You would figure all the pictures of ground troops, paratroopers, and artillery would be a sign that we're not just using air power.
Hot Air [a Michelle Malkin blog] says, "That’s not an article, it’s a campaign press release."
Now NBC has chimed in, also riding to Obama's defense. At "First Read," the NBC political blog, Deputy Political Director Mark Murray [pictured here], first recites the RNC's response to Obama's comments:
It is hard to imagine that anyone who aspires to be commander-in-chief would say such a thing about our brave men and women in uniform. Obama owes our armed forces an apology -- today.
But then writes Murray : "Yet the AP has this fact-check" [emphasis added]. Murray proceeds to recite the AP "fact check" set forth above. Translation: Murray of NBC sides with AP's Obama defense, not the RNC criticism.
Barack Obama, proud graduate of the John Kerry Winter Solider School of Defaming the U.S. Military. And in a time of war, count on the MSM to align itself with our military's critics.
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
