Bush, Blair, Milbank & Bumiller

[paineinthearse]

Received by email, with permission to post in full.

DU - AfterDowningStreet dot org is at the tip of the spear. In existance for just a couple weeks, afterdowningstreet.org has had 1.7 MILLION hits on June 6, 2005!

Please read this article and take the appropriate action.

============================================================

Bush, Blair, and Bumiller
By David Swanson, www.afterdowningstreet.org

The corporate media today began its coverage of the Downing Street Minutes, moved to do so by a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Tony Blair, and by the pressure all of us have applied.

And, while most newspapers simply reported what Bush and Blair said, the USA Today, Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Columbus Dispatch, and Salon called www.AfterDowningStreet.org for comments. The articles are posted and linked to on our site.

And the Washington Post provided a lengthy and quite interesting chat on its website with staff writer Jefferson Morley, also available via www.afterdowningstreet.org.

But the Post's Dana Milbank declared the story over, having apparently mistaken a starting pistol for a fatal shot. Here's what he wrote: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=101 Here's how to politely tell him he's mistaken: [e-mail]

The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller published the following piece of stenography: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/international/08prexy.html This puts into new light Bumiller's famous comment that "You can’t just say the president is lying. You don’t just say that...."

From a panel broadcast on C-Span: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2481

Bumiller: That’s why it’s very hard to write those, because you can’t say George Bush is wrong here. There’s no way you can say that in the New York Times. So we contort ourselves up and say, “Actually”— I actually once wrote this sentence: “Mr. Bush’s statement did not exactly . . . ” It was some completely upside down statement that was basically saying he wasn’t telling the truth. And I got an email from somebody saying, “What’s wrong with you guys? Why can’t you just say it plainly?” But there’s just—

Loren Ghiglione (Medill School of Journalism, Moderator): Why can’t you say it plainly?

Bumiller: You can’t just say the president is lying. You don’t just say that in the . . . you just say—

Ghiglione: Well, why can’t you?



Bumiller: You can in an editorial, but I’m sorry, you can’t in a news column. Mr. Bush is lying? You can say Mr. Bush is, you can say. . . .



Bumiller : And stop the fussing! You can say Mr. Bush’s statement was not factually accurate. You can’t say the president is lying—that’s a judgment call.

How to politely ask Bumiller to report the truth even if it requires analyzing facts and making judgments: [e-mail]

[autorank]

1. This story is vital KICK

I hate the WaPost and Milbank is truly vile. So is Bumiller. They are a disgrace. This point shows how cut-off the general public is from anything resembling the truth. Don't blame the people for only 53% disapproval when it should be 70%, blame the press.

BTW, I'll never forget the twisted little face Milbank made when he was asked about Jeff Gannon on, I believe Kieth. He's embarassed and an embarassment, all at the same time.

I'll send him an email that will schorch his panzy little ass.:kick:

[katinmn]

2. Will do! Thanks.

I'm telling Milbank we're just getting started. Why doesn't he encourage greater transparency and public discussion. Shame.

1.7 million hits to afterdowning street already?
Awesome.

[babylonsister]

11. That 1.7 million hits was in

one day! :wow:

[paineinthearse]

3. Hey DU!

hello???????????

[paineinthearse]

4. I've never seen such a juicy softball go without a few good DU rips!

C'mon guys and gals, this is your opportunity to hit back at the media whores!

[cally]

5. another kick

:kick:

[Ken065]

6. I took your advice

and told Milbank as politely as I could to "pull his head out".

Unbelievable, the idiots that pass for reporters these days.

[Coexist]

7. Well, technically, she wouldn't be SAYING it, she would be TYPING it

does that help her tell the truth any better?

BTW - one of those Washington Post questions was mine - can you guess which one??!

[paineinthearse]

12. Do tell...........

I very much appreciate seeing how we impact the media and make their heads explode.

It is my goal someday to call CSPAN on a Friday morning and do that to Brian Lamb.

[Coexist]

15. sorry - had to go to the airport - here it is!

Tampa, Fla.: Mohammed El Baradei was one voice that said our intelligence was wrong. Many inside the CIA said not to trust information from "Curveball". How can the Bush administration claim that they were not fixing policy, but had bad intelligence when they chose to only listen to those who supported their view on Iraq, and shut out any voices opposing their planned invasion?

Jefferson Morley: Good question.

The reason that the Downing Street Memo story is so potentially big and politically difficult to address is because it radically challenges the Bush administration's account of the "intelligence failure" on Iraqi WMD.

_______________________

[paineinthearse]

23. link, please? nt

[Coexist]

24. there is a link to the full transcript at Afterdowningstreet

at your link in OP, but here is one to the actual World Opinion Roundup

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/06/02/DI2005060201359.html

[Spectral]

30. Thanks

:donut:

[ngGale]

33. I can't wait for that call...

I love it when his face goes blank.

[Coexist]

8. my email - POTUS and the truth

Mr. Bumiller,
In your C-Span panel, you stated that even if you knew that George Bush was telling a lie - had proof of it, that you couldn't say so in the New York Times. I am having a hard time with that statement. The Times doesn't normally do the kind of wishy-washy reporting that you would see in other papers. You don't dance around difficult issues. How can you not call a spade a spade? Why do you feel it is necessary to call it a black, oddly-shaped object if the President is holding it up?

Please explain this to me - I am confused and disappointed.

Sincerely,

[spooky3]

9. Wow, the Dispatch followed up? The tide is turning!

[Vincardog]

10. here is my note and my kick

There is nothing wrong with saying Mr. Bush lied. Especially when he continues to lie. Read the Minutes and print the truth.

[paineinthearse]

13. Keep it coming, folks, I want to see 75,000 messages to NYT

with copies here!

[yorkiemommie1]

14. Ok ...... he didn't 'lie'

He ' disassembled '. Quote from GWB: " That means lying ".

[annabanana]

16. my letter:

Everyone is NOT entitled to their own FACTS! A deliberate untruth is a lie. If you call it a “prevarication”, a certain percentage of the population might not get the information (the information that it is a LIE). If you throw in a bunch of qualifiers, when you know it to be a deliberate untruth, you are complicit in that lie.

I know it’s hard to say. No one really wants to believe that our President is a liar. But if that is what he is, your job is to call it, on behalf of the American people. You job is to show, in the simplest way possible, how what he said cannot be true. If your facts are correct, you are doing your job.

Their BIG beef with the media is that the FACTS are not favorable to their agenda.

Go on. Do a “timeline” on the lead up to war (with the Downing St. Minutes in their proper place). People will see what happened, and be informed enough to do what the American people must do to save lives, and make things right in this country again.

[Coexist]

19. great letter!

[grasswire]

17. Milbank and Mr. Bumiller -- YALIES

Dana Milbank is Skull & Bones. Mr. Bumiller is a classmate of George Bush's.

Never forget.

[paineinthearse]

26. Another piece of the jigsaw falls into place.

Thanks for this detail.

[Spectral]

28. What is "Skull and Bones"?

I've heard of it but I don't know what it is supposed to do.

[Cha]

18. Here it is in black and white...

two of the biggest and most disgraceful mediawhores in action.

[NoFederales]

20. My Response to Milbank

Where is the LIE in the Downing Street Minutes

We learn very early in life the stuff of lies. They save us from
punishment and embarrassment. Lies portray us as victims, and as such
we cannot be held accountable. Lies are powerful tools for those who
would wield them with impunity, the gain for which greed, control, and
power would be our lustful sin.

We also learn early in life that there are checks and balances, scrutiny
with consequences--no man lives in a bubble untouched. Granted that
self-reflection is easily abdicated, but do talented people choose to do
so? I believe that talented people have a higher responsibility to
community, to the welfare of those with which we live and associate.

However your ideology persuades you to believe, unless you are
editorializing, your readers deserve the truth when reporting about the
events at home and abroad. I am embarrassed for the American Press
Corps and their whoring desires to be enthralled during the
administration of GW Bush.

Dismiss this if so inclined, but I implore you to brandish your reports
with the conviction that truth, not lies, defines our social framework.
Without that framework, and without those of us who would be the
guardians thereof, our Democracy will fade away, yet another footnoted
warning in somebody else's history texts.

Regards,

I had intended to flame away, venom a spewin', I've been so enraged at the Press. I dunno WTF came over me; shit happens.

NoFederales

[Spectral]

29. Have you gotten a response yet?

:kick:

[NoFederales]

31. No response

NoFederales

[Spectral]

21. kick

You can't say Bush is lying? Really?

[annabanana]

22. kickin in the morning. . .n/t

[cally]

25. Let's write those letters and emails

another :kick:

[Spectral]

27. We all need to act on this!

:kick:

[Spectral]

32. kick

:donut: