Mark Steyn Slams AP as Semi-Treasonous Disgraceful Agents of the Enemy

Outspoken author Mark Steyn was Bill O’Reilly’s guest on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” Thursday, and he slammed the Associated Press as being “semi-treasonous,” a “disgraceful organization” that is “colluding with the enemy and demoralizing America on the home front.” After some introductory pleasantries, Steyn let loose (video available here):

I believe that the majority of American newspapers which is full of Associated Press content on the central issue of our time they are either dupes at best or actually semi-treasonous and colluding with the enemy and demoralizing America on the home front, including having agents of the enemy on their payroll. This is a disgraceful organization.

Make yourselves comfortable, for Steyn was just getting warmed up:

There is a photographer who was captured who is in U.S. custody. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer for the Associated Press and he was captured with insurgents, with traces of explosives on his clothing. The fact of the matter is that these guys who all say that if you want to be a reporter on the Burlington Free Press in Vermont you have got to go to Columbia journalism school, they are happy to hook up with any kind of local stringers in Iraq and a lot of them are actually also working for the insurgency in one faction or another.

Steyn then went after NBC’s David Gregory:

Well, I think David Gregory is not typical because he is interested in the David Gregory vaudeville show and if I was in some second-rate vaudeville house in 1873, I might think it was very entertaining. It's lame entertainment for the 21st century because that's not what it's about. This is not about landing a question on Bush. This is about strategic interest of the super power and, in fact, the question for the rest of the world is whether this country still is a super power. It's not the David Gregory show.

Steyn continued:

But what's interesting is when you look at the people who showered praise on this Iraq Study Group report, which I think is mostly the lamest kind of platitude in its generalities that anybody could produce. Any semi well informed person could produce. Plus several really bad ideas. It's not cut and run it's basically chat and run. We will do a bit of talking as we retreat. I would like to see some discussion from people like David Gregory on what's actually in that report. But there is very little of that.

Steyn then made it clear what the real media desire is: “They want Bush to lose and I think they don't understand that around the world it will be seen not as a defeat for Bush and Cheney and Rummy and the gang but a defeat for America.”

Steyn finished with his perception of what is and what isn’t being reported from Iraq:

Well, I think you don't report it from being hunkered down in the green zone in Baghdad. There are all kinds of stories going on in Iraq. You know, it's interesting to me that if so many people are getting killed and life is so terrible and there are so many explosions, actually, most of the schools in Iraq are open. Most of the hospitals in Iraq are open. Most of Iraq functions and they are simply not telling that story. And more to the point because they have been revealed to be such patsies for every obvious cockamamie insurgency media set up, the insurgents of various stripes have now factored the U.S. media into their calculations they are in fact bouncing their view of Iraq into Americans homes via the mainstream media.

What follows is a full transcript of this segment corrected from closed captioning.

O’Reilly: Now for the top story tonight, another view of this, joining us from Washington Mark Steyn, "America Alone: The End of the World as we Know It" a big bestseller. Let's get into the press first, and then we’ll backhoe into what is real and what is fictional about this terrible situation in Iraq. You said on the radio we were talking on the radio the other day, the Associated Press, you don't even want to be associated with the Associated Press. Why?

Steyn: No. Because I believe that the majority of American newspapers which is full of Associated Press content on the central issue of our time they are either dupes at best or actually semi-treasonous and colluding with the enemy and demoralizing America on the home front, including having agents of the enemy on their payroll. This is a disgraceful organization.

O’Reilly: You will have to explain that because it's a pretty explosive charge. Agents of the enemy?

Steyn: Yeah. There is a photographer who was captured who is in U.S. custody. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer for the Associated Press and he was captured with insurgents, with traces of explosives on his clothing. The fact of the matter is that these guys who all say that if you want to be a reporter on the Burlington Free Press in Vermont you have got to go to Columbia journalism school, they are happy to hook up with any kind of local stringers in Iraq and a lot of them are actually also working for the insurgency in one faction or another.

O’Reilly: Do you believe the Associated Press and other -- I'm not going to call the Associated Press liberal but certainly as I said NBC has taken a move to the left and Gregory, we don't want to pick on him but that's the best example. I will play more of that with Tony Snow in a while to give you a better flavor of it.

Steyn: Right.

O’Reilly: Do you think they want the United States to lose in Iraq or they just believe that it's -- the incompetence level is something they have to report?

Steyn: Well, I think David Gregory is not typical because he is interested in the David Gregory vaudeville show and if I was in some second-rate vaudeville house in 1873, I might think it was very entertaining. It's lame entertainment for the 21st century because that's not what it's about. This is not about landing a question on Bush. This is about strategic interest of the super power and, in fact, the question for the rest of the world is whether this country still is a super power. It's not the David Gregory show.

O’Reilly: But if Gregory feels he has an obligation to inform America that things are not going well in Iraq, if he has that obligation, and obviously that's his point of view, is he doing anything wrong?

Steyn: No. He is not. But what's interesting is when you look at the people who showered praise on this Iraq Study Group report, which I think is mostly the lamest kind of platitude in its generalities that anybody could produce. Any semi well informed person could produce. Plus several really bad ideas. It's not cut and run it's basically chat and run. We will do a bit of talking as we retreat. I would like to see some discussion from people like David Gregory on what's actually in that report. But there is very little of that.

O’Reilly: Because they want the U.S.A. to lose or they don't understand the ramifications of us withdrawing? Which is it? Do they hate Bush so much that they want us to lose or they don't understand?

Steyn: They want Bush to lose and I think they don't understand that around the world it will be seen not as a defeat for Bush and Cheney and Rummy and the gang but a defeat for America.

O’Reilly: Now, it is true that the Iraqi government is not functioning well and there is massive corruption and the security has broken down. All of those things are true. So, how do we report that and not demoralize the public?

Steyn: Well, I think you don't report it from being hunkered down in the green zone in Baghdad. There are all kinds of stories going on in Iraq. You know, it's interesting to me that if so many people are getting killed and life is so terrible and there are so many explosions, actually, most of the schools in Iraq are open. Most of the hospitals in Iraq are open. Most of Iraq functions and they are simply not telling that story. And more to the point because they have been revealed to be such patsies for every obvious cockamamie insurgency media set up, the insurgents of various stripes have now factored the U.S. media into their calculations they are in fact bouncing their view of Iraq into Americans homes via the mainstream media.

Bill: No question they use the media as the Vietnamese did. They target the media for their violence for chaos. I think it is true to say that the Maliki government can't control what's going on there. And it doesn't look like things are improving. In fact, I do believe that conclusions of the study group that things are getting worse in Iraq.

Steyn: Well, the study group is right to this extent that just sort of drifting on with the present policy is not getting us anywhere. Where they are wrong is not coming up with anything meaningful to improve the situation.

Steyn: All right. Mr. Steyn thanks very much, we appreciate it.