[Peace-discuss] [Fwd: More exposing of Reep lies and distortions]

[Alfred Kagan]

FYI

>Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 17:10:57 -0600
>From: "Maurice J. Freedman" <freedman at wlsmail.org>
>X-Accept-Language: en
>To: "S.Michael Malinconico" <mmalinco at slis.ua.edu>,
>    Alfred Kagan <akagan at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: [Fwd: More exposing of Reep lies and distortions]
>X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
>X-Spam-Status: No, hits=1.4 required=5.0
>	tests=FWD_MSG,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,SPAM_PHRASE_00_01,
>	      USER_AGENT_MOZILLA_XM,X_ACCEPT_LANG
>	version=2.41
>X-Spam-Level: *
>
>Something from my nephew you might find interesting to know about if you
>weren't aware of it already.
>
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: More exposing of Reep lies and distortions
>Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:29:30 -0800
>From: "Mitch Freedman" <freedman at smtek.com>
>To: <bjamm at adelphia.net>, <ColinCLP at aol.com>,
><CFreed934 at aol.com>,<freedman at wlsmail.org>, <clifton.bowen at ucop.edu>,
><futureworks2 at cox.net>
>
>The incomparable Daily Howler on the Web exposes the latest mendacity of
>our wingnut commentators in the television media.  Have these people no
>shame?  No, they have no shame.  The Daily Howler is a treasure on the
>web and has been for the three or four years of its existence.  When the
>proprietor Bob Somerby finishes his book on the press coverage of Bush
>v. Gore, it will become required reading in journalism courses around
>the nation.  Somerby is a former Baltimore Sun reporter and nails it
>better than most people every time.  Regardless of the charges of
>political bias, back and forth, the press corps is lazy, vain, and
>vindictive.  That is Somerby's most damning message.  For he attacks the
>press corps' entire assumption of professionalism.
>
>MJF
>
>  MAKE A SAD SONG BETTER! In Minnesota, Rick Kahn went over the top. In
>Washington, the lies quickly started:
>
>
>THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2002
>KELLYANNE CONWAY'S PROBLEM WITH THE TRUTH: We thought Rick Kahn showed
>very poor judgment in Tuesday night's eulogy of Senator Wellstone. Kahn
>created an awkward, surreal situation by urging Republican pols in
>attendance to help "win this election for Paul Wellstone." Minnesota
>Dems are now paying the price. And by the way, this is almost surely not
>the way Wellstone would have wanted the event to be handled. Among his
>other public virtues, Wellstone was courteous and fair.
>
>Everyone claimed to be upset by what happened. But back in Washington,
>it didn't take long for the lying to start about Tuesday night's event.
>On Wednesday morning's Washington Journal, for example, Kellyanne Conway
>(formerly Fitzpatrick)-one of our most disingenuous pundits-made the
>following ludicrous statement. Try to believe that she said it:
>
>CONWAY: I would commend the viewers' attention to this morning's
>Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which I thought did a bang-up job of reporting
>on this memorial service. Among the excerpts, Steve and Celinda, you'll
>note that the Star-Tribune covers the fact that the people who were in
>attendance were told by screen when to cheer and when to jeer, and they
>were told to cheer when the Clintons and Ted Kennedy were displayed and
>they were told to jeer when Trent Lott and Rod Grams, former senator of
>Minnesota who lost in 2000, were displayed.
>Amazing, isn't it? Who on earth could really believe that attendees were
>"told by screen" when to jeer? The Star-Tribune, of course, had said no
>such thing; we provide the paper's report below. But that didn't keep
>the hatchet-heart Conway from lying to her host, Steve Scully. Nor was
>she kept from her favorite pastime-lying in the faces of viewers.
>And Conway was hardly alone in her conduct. On Crossfire, Tucker Carlson
>quickly engaged in some pleasing embellishment. He offered this gonzo
>misstatement:
>
>CARLSON: Walter Mondale. The political world is still reeling tonight
>from yesterday's nauseating display in Minnesota, where a memorial
>service for the late Senator Paul Wellstone was hijacked by partisan
>zealots and turned into a political rally. Republican friends of Senator
>Wellstone were booed and shouted down as they tried to speak.
>Clearly, Carlson knows a few things about "nauseating displays." But
>were Republicans "booed and shouted down as they tried to speak?" To
>state the obvious, no, they were not. Maybe Carlson just didn't know. Or
>maybe he was-yes-simply lying.
>The pattern continued when Greta Van Susteren went On the Record a few
>hours later. Bill Kristol was one of her guests. He too (lightly)
>embroidered:
>
>KRISTOL: When Rick-when Rick Kahn said, "We can redeem the sacrifice of
>Paul Wellstone's life if you help win this election with Walter
>Mondale," that's a little crazy. I mean, you can't redeem the sacrifice
>of Paul Wellstone's life by electing Walter Mondale. So there's a kind
>of, there's a kind of politicization of things like death, which is a
>little weird.
>That's the way the official Fox transcript is punctuated, and that's the
>way the statement sounded. Kahn, of course, didn't mention Mondale's
>name. Neither did any other speaker at the "politicized" event.
>Readers, we haven't made any special attempt to compile examples of lies
>and embellishment. These are simply three examples we encountered in our
>personal viewing. But what does it mean when bald misstatement is such a
>staple of our discourse? What does it mean when rank deception is
>encountered so routinely?
>
>Let's consider Conway's performance-the type of performance she offers
>so frequently. Affecting the friendly style that is her trademark,
>Conway lied in the face of her host-and lied in the face of American
>voters. And she dragged our discourse into the weeds with a claim so
>absurd as to be insulting. But what does it mean? What does it mean when
>such a disingenuous person is invited back, again and again, to engage
>in more of her televised lying? Conway, of course, is the loathsome
>beast who has always stalked democracy. But what does it mean when such
>dishonest people are the stewards of our devolved public discourse?
>
>Like many others, we greatly admire the work done by C-SPAN. But we have
>two questions for the estimable Scully, whose work we also greatly
>admire. Steve: How will C-SPAN inform its viewers that they were
>misled-once again-by Conway? And why in the world does a net like C-SPAN
>keep putting such a person on the air?
>
>WHAT THE STAR-TRIB SAID: What sane person could believe Conway's
>statement? Just for the record, here is the passage to which she
>referred. "Republicans decry service as partisan," said the Star-Tribune
>headline. Lead writer: Kavita Kumar:
>
>KUMAR: State House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said it was
>disrespectful that the crowd cheered when former President Bill Clinton,
>Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., appeared on
>the big monitors and that the crowd jeered when U.S. Senate Minority
>Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former GOP Sen. Rod Grams of Minnesota
>were on the screens.
>"Paul Wellstone needed to have a memorial service as tribute to
>a...wonderful life, not a political rally," he said.
>Sviggum is right about the jeering-although, with 20,000 people in
>attendance, it's hard to insist on perfect decorum. But Steve and
>Celinda, "you'll note" that nothing in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune said
>that attendees were directed, "by screen," to engage in such conduct.
>That was just the latest example of Conway's repetitive, gonzo
>dissembling. What does it mean when nonsense like this is larded all
>through our great discourse?
>
>For the record, Conway went on to imply what many have said-that Lott
>left early because he was jeered. That turns out to be untrue too (and
>it wasn't reported in the Star-Tribune). In today's Star-Trib, Rochelle
>Olson reports:
>
>OLSON: Daschle dismissed reports that Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott,
>R-Miss., left because the memorial turned political. "It had nothing to
>do with it," said Daschle. "He made a point of emphasizing that to me
>before he left."
>Daschle said Lott had a flight to catch, which was confirmed by a Lott
>aide Wednesday.
>Final question: To what extent were Lott and Grams jeered? At THE
>HOWLER, we don't have a clue. We watched almost all of Tuesday's event,
>but we missed the very earliest segments, when the conduct would have
>occurred. But the Star-Tribune described the conduct on October 30,
>before it became a cause celebre. Lead writer: Chuck Haga:
>
>HAGA: The biggest cheer was for Walter Mondale, the former senator and
>vice president who is expected to announce today that he will seek to
>take Wellstone's place on the ticket. Moments later, scattered boos
>greeted Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., as he entered the
>arena. Lott smiled and waved.
>In a crowd of 20,000, the Star-Tribune reported "scattered boos." But
>don't worry. Twenty-four hours later, Carlson had Republican speakers
>"shouted down" as CNN's viewers were deceived once again. But this is
>how our discourse now works. Our question: Why are people who dissemble
>so freely hired to go on our air?
>A NOTE ON LINGO: Why do we call Conway's statement a "lie?" Because her
>misstatements are so grindingly common. We wouldn't make such a judgment
>about Kristol, for example; Kristol is smart, mature and fair. He
>routinely makes the kind of statement he made earlier on On the Record:
>
>KRISTOL: I think Norm Coleman has behaved quite well in these very
>difficult circumstances. You know, you don't want to look political.
>He's been appropriately respectful of the late Senator Wellstone. He
>hasn't tried to grandstand...Some Republicans I've talked to I think are
>a little silly. They think they're going to attack Mondale for votes he
>made 30 years ago in the Senate or for being Carter's vice president. I
>don't think that works. I think Coleman's best tack is to stay very
>positive and say "I've been making my case to the citizens of Minnesota.
>I now have a new opponent, due to these tragic circumstances. The
>citizens deserve to see us the two of us having a very civilized,
>serious debate Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night on TV
>statewide on the issues."
>An intelligent discourse, built on good faith? It would feature men and
>women of the left, right and center who were able to show some maturity
>and balance. Conway isn't that kind of person. What does it mean when a
>great net like C-SPAN keeps putting her lies on the air?
>
>
>VISIT OUR INCOMPARABLE ARCHIVES: Conway loves to make things up. For a
>comic example from Campaign 2000, see THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/24/99.


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu