Last evening NBC Nightly News featured the story about WWII veterans who were denied access to the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. supposedly due to the government shutdown. After being denied entry for about 15 minutes, a group of congressional officials opened the barricades and tape to allow entry of the veterans. To watch this NBC News report you would barely have any idea who lowered the barricades except for a quick innacurate mention of a "bipartisan" group.
The NBC News report with transcript is below the fold. Since this report is inaccurate in what it leaves out, there is also a video interview with Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann which fills in the holes that NBC News very conveniently left out of its report.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Finally tonight, of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion of congress, the president, and this government shutdown. no one is anxious to see innocent victims suffer because of a political fight. and yet, that is almost what happened today on the Washington Mall, remember, officially, the mall is shut down. but telling that to men who were boys when they went off to fight for this country. tonight, more on the story.
HARRY SMITH: As happens most days, buses arrived at the national mall today full of World War II veterans, men and women in their 80s and 90s, here to see the monument erected in their honor. but because of the government shutdown, access to it was cut off... These vets came on a long planned and hard to cancel flight, all were disappointed to be locked out and few were interested in having their plight hurt for political purposes.
REPORTER: Are you disappointed what congress has done?
VETERAN: That is something else, if you don't want to get involved in a political thing, what do you say?
...HARRY SMITH: There is rare bipartisan agreement among the elected officials present that closing this open air memorial was not a good idea. eventually the gates were moved and the gates came through. park officers stood aside, they were not about to stop those who stormed the beaches of Normandy and fought through island after island in the pacific. Harry Smith, NBC News.
What NBC News did not mention is that the "bipartisan" group of elected officials present included no Democrats nor that the Republican officials at the scene removed the barriers to the memorial. You can get a much more accurate picture of what actually happened in this interview with Michelle Bachmann.
Ms Bachmann generously stated that if Democrat officials were present she was sure they would also help the veterans enter the memorial. However, it was actually all Republicans who opened the memorial for the veterans...a fact completely glossed over by the NBC News report. And does anyone have the slightest doubt that if it were all Democrat officials opening the memorial that this fact wouldn't be highlighted by NBC News?
