How Kerry's "bragging" about abandoning troops was fed to the press...

[DeepModem Mom]

and how they ate it right up, as they always do:

New York Times, 7/14/04
"In Bush's War Room, the Gloves Are Always Off"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/14/politics/campaign/14r...

....After sitting impatiently through what seemed to be a typical stump speech, (the Bush campaign war room) found one: Mr. Kerry said he was "PROUD" of votes by him and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, last fall against the president's requested $87 billion appropriation for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a vote that Republicans have used to make a case that Mr. Kerry has been failing to support the troops after voting to authorize the war.

Within an hour or so, Mr. Bush's team, at the campaign's headquarters in a corporate office building in suburban Virginia, across the Potomac River from the White House, had sent a release via E-MAIL TO HUNDREDS OF JOURNALISTS, supporters and campaign surrogates. The e-mail message included the new quote and one from September, when Mr. Kerry implied it would be "irresponsible'' to vote against such spending. THE QUOTATION, along with the idea that Mr. Kerry's position on the money had evolved, FOUND ITS WAY ONTO FOX NEWS AND into articles in THE WASHINGTON POST, USA TODAY, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE BOSTON GLOBE and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS....

(KERRY, the article states,"WAS ACTUALLY REFERRING TO MR. EDWARDS when he said: 'I'm proud to say that John joined me in voting against that $87 billion when we knew the policy had to be changed.'")

***

After Republicans sent an e-mail message about the comment to their vast list of reporters, Mr. Schmidt followed up with TELEPHONE CALLS TO SELECT REPORTERS TRAVELING WITH MR. KERRY to make sure they noticed it. "THE NEWS OF THE DAY," MR. SCHMIDT PROCLAIMED in one phone call to a reporter, "IS an evolution on the $87 billion. Now John Kerry said he was proud."....On Tuesday, Mr. Bush's aides, while careful not to credit themselves for persuading reporters to jump on the quote, were clearly pleased that it popped up in many articles. Even so, they were not entirely satisfied. Mr. Schmidt said he would ask some of the campaign's SURROGATES TO BRING IT UP AGAIN DURING TELEVISION APPEARANCES....But in the end, surrogates were not necessary. Mr. BUSH, apprised of the quote by campaign aides, brought it up in a speech in Michigan on Tuesday....That SOUND BITE was featured prominently near the beginning of "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT" ON ABC on Tuesday. The program's average, nightly audience far outreaches any single newspaper: MORE THAN EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE.

[BurtWorm]

1. In a nutshell, here's why journalists are such whores for Bush

"Several journalists who cover Mr. Kerry later said they were too embarrassed to say publicly that it took the Bush operatives to spot what was notable in Mr. Kerry's remarks."

:wtf:

[MsUnderstood]

2. Did you catch Wolf Blitzer on the daily show

John "Now Wolf, I'm not a journalist but you are. . ." (pause for crowd's laughter to die down) "but where was the media when this bad intelligence was presented last year?"

Wolf "Humm, umm, er. . .ah . . .We made a mistake. We should have been more skeptical."

Wow, when I'll bet the Drunk Drivers sitting in jail, pot growers, wasting in prison, employees fired from their job for attendance all wished that excuse would work!

So, the media sees that it made a mistake by not being skeptical, but then a quote taken out of context by the BUSH ADMINISTRATION and sent to the press is eaten like pirahna feeding on fresh meat?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Forgot to include that remark -- BurtWorm, it takes the cake!!!

What kind of clueless, numb-skulls are these, calling themselves journalists?

Thanks for adding the quote --