Clark supporters: Complain to Newsweek for horrible journalism!

[Tweed]

Newsweek has their Conventional Wisdom area. This week:

They gave Clark a "down arrow" and said, "spreads Kerry intern rumor, then endorses Kerry in hopes of VP nod. Dis-missed"

They used Drudge's article for their source of course. Since then, no journalist has been able to confer that Clark said anything of the sort.

Write Newsweek an E-mail complaining about their lack of journalism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032542/
(you have to go all the way close to the bottom of the page to E-mail)

[incapsulated]

1. The fucking beatings never stop

For gods sake when will they let up! He's out of the race already! :grr: Spreading Drudge rumors about him is really worth the effort. Motherfuckers.

[lancdem]

2. That is bad

Clark did no such thing. Reporters who were there confirmed he never mentioned an intern.

[revcarol]

5. Sneakeee.

don't think any one else 'got it.'

[madmax]

3. I hate the media!!!!!!!!!!!

:mad:

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Tom Oliphant printed the charge in the Boston Globe....

Was Newsweek's source Oliphant, Matt Drudge, or a reporter who heard the remarks? I'm guessing Drudge was the source for both Oliphant and Newsweek -- but wonder if they'd admit it.

[Adelante]

9. Miami Herald, too nt

[mot78]

6. Even though Clark has dropped out, they still fear him

Maybe they have a crystal ball and are planning for 2008.:shrug:

[incapsulated]

7. I think..

It's just in case Kerry is considering him for VP.

I could be wrong, though. They may just fear him, period.

[Adelante]

8. I will

I'd like to see the item, though. Is it in the print version only? I don't see it through the link. Thanks.

[Leilani]

10. Go to Newsweek

Then look for periscope, then conventional wisdom.

[Adelante]

13. Maybe they took it down?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4271753/

Unless I'm blind, which I almost am by now.

Thanks, Leilani.

[BootinUp]

15. deleted

[AbbeyRoad]

12. Anger inducing, no doubt

I sent Newsweek an email at [e-mail]

I basically told them I expected better from their publication than rumor spreading. I also asked if they had gotten their information from a source other than Drudge.

[Adelante]

18. I emailed

Newsweek

To the Editor:

The item you published in your February 23 "Conventional Wisdom: Wagging Tongues" section of Periscope: "Clark - (Down Arrow) - Drops out, spreads Kerry rumor, then endorses him with hope of being veep. Dis-missed" is entirely inaccurate. Gen. Wesley Clark had nothing to do with the unfortunate and false assertions by the internet Drudge Report and then compounded by the European scandal press and right wing media in this country.

When conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity claimed: "The reason this story is out there is because Wesley Clark wanted it out there," Washington Post reporter Cici Connally corrected this assumption to a panel on his FOX television show. She said she had spoken with the journalists present at the off-the-record conversation during which Gen. Clark is supposed to have remarked on an impending scandal concerning Senator Kerry and an "intern." She verified that Gen. Clark had said no such thing; in fact, the topic was never under discussion.

Ryan Lizza in his February 17 entry to "Campaign Journal" for The New Republic, who was present when the remark allegedly was made by Gen. Clark, agreed. Lizza questioned every reporter who was there; they all stated that Wesley Clark never said anything about Sen. Kerry and an upcoming sex scandal.

Craig Crawford, formerly with the Congressional Quarterly and now a columnist with MSNBC, retracted a statement cited in a leaked to Drudge memo of his that pointed to Chris Lehane of Clark's staff as the originator of the smear against Sen. Kerry. He told Joe Conason of Salon on February 13: "The comments attributed to me are from a private email to television news associates based on conversations with Democratic campaign operatives. I did not consider any of it confirmed enough to report or publish. I can only verify that Chris Lehane's rivals in other Democratic campaigns made these claims and I have found no independent source to confirm it. Which is why we did not go with the story. But then someone sent my email to others, which is the only reason it got into the public domain."

Further, Gen. Clark has denied any such statement and Chris Lehane has denied peddling the potential scandal. And, of course, the young woman and Sen. Kerry have both denied there was ever an affair in the first place.

Yes, Gen. Clark endorsed Sen. Kerry on Friday, February 13, in Wisconsin, two days after his own withdrawal from the primary race. Would he have done so if he thought Kerry's campaign was about to "implode" over a sex scandal? Would he associate himself so thoroughly with a campaign on the skids? Common sense dictates, if Gen. Clark believed Kerry's campaign would soon be bogged down by scandal, he would have stayed in the race himself past Tennessee and on to Wisconsin, where he was doing very well in the polls and had considerable support on the ground. (Where, in fact, he garnered almost 13,000 primary votes after withdrawing from the race.) That he would have dropped out in order to be vice president to a candidate he believed would not be president is ludicrous.

I hope you will see fit to publish a clarification. The idea that yet another presidential election year will be subject to a media frenzy feeding on inaccurate, slanderous, unfounded rumor is stomach-turning. So far, this time, the responsible press response has been, for the most part, reassuring. I hope it continues. Thank you.

[spooky3]

19. good letter

[incapsulated]

20. Jersey...

You da :nuke:

[Adelante]

27. Nah, Incap

I'm just :nuke:ed

:beer: :beer: :beer:

[AbbeyRoad]

21. I agree with Spooky3

That's a very good, detail filled letter.

[BootinUp]

11. I'll write something

That is really just horrendous and other words I won't make you all read.

[AbbeyRoad]

14. Here's a direct link

to the aforementioned "Conventional Wisdom" section for all those who were having trouble finding it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4136714/

[Adelante]

16. Perfect

Thanks very much.

These things drive me around the bend. They truly do.

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Where is the article that says Clark did NOT say that?

I want to send it to Newsweek. I HATE THE MEDIA!!!! :grr:

[Jai4WKC08]

23. Ask and ye shall receive

The New Repubic Online
Campaign Journal by Ryan Lizza

02.17.04

HE DID SPELL JOHN KERRY CORRECTLY: Just in case anybody was still wondering whether anything in the original Drudge item about John Kerry was accurate, I can confirm that Wesley Clark did not say what Drudge says he said at that off-the-record conversation with reporters in Nashville one week ago. I was there when Clark spoke, and just to make sure I didn't miss anything, I've also checked with other reporters who were there. Since it was off the record (sort of), I can't get into what Clark actually said (let's just say it was not his finest moment on the campaign trail), but I can report that the quote Drudge attributes to him--"Kerry will implode over an intern issue"--is not accurate. He never said that.

http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal

[Mz Pip]

22. I read it

and responded.

What is the definition of slander? Seems that printing rumor as if it were true should qualify.

MzPip
:dem:

[Donna Zen]

25. One would think so!

Especially since the so-called "rumor" had already been debunked.

BTW, I too wrote and I wish I believed it would do some good. Damn, I truly think we are doomed by all the liars in the media.

[HuskerDem]

24. Idiot bastards.

I guess Drudge rumor and innuendo really is the word of the lord now.

Sunsa bitches won't be happy till Clark is flayed with razors in a public square.

RESEARCH IS DIFFICULT AND BORING............. LET'S MAKE SHIT UP INSTEAD!

[DeepModem Mom]

26. Ceci Connolly quote, and Boston Phoenix talk w/ Oliphant

Connolly, of the Washington Post on Fox News Sunday:

JUAN WILLIAMS: Now, let me just say that Democrats, including the man who endorsed this week, General Wesley Clark, was overheard saying, “Oh, you know, Kerry’s campaign is going to implode over an intern,” that kind of thing. That adds to it. And I think—
CONNOLLY: You know, what, though? That’s not accurate. That’s not accurate. That’s the way that Drudge reported that supposed off-the-record conversation. But I’ve spoken to reporters who were there, and that’s not even what General Clark accused. It was something far more peripheral, and it was pinned to a tabloid.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh021704.shtml


The Boston Phoenix spoke with Tom Oliphant, and has a more complicated view of the matter:

Tom Oliphant:

I used quotes only around "intern", obviously not to quote Drudge but to use the one word everyone I talked to used. From the accounts I heard from reporters there and people in their home offices to whom they talked, the verb implode fits the various accounts, though self-destruct and blow up were other examples.

In addition to summarizing the background to Clark's behavior, I also wrote that his comments directed attention (some said specifically mentioned) the piece in The National Enquirer before it was published. The piece was transparently a clip job, but the effect was to increase the level of chatter by a lot. Drudge took it down to the next level, which I described as a frenzy about a story that hadn't been written concerning an allegation that hadn't been made. Clark's role - and by now I would suppose that one of the reporters there will consider writing the whole thing up - was not isolated; its context was weeks of unfocused gossip-mongering behind the scenes. It is not true that one consultant or one campaign was responsible; as usually happens this was much more generic, and as is usually the case the origin of the chatter about "something" is obscured.

Dan Kennedy, Boston Phoenix:

In a subsequent phone conversation, Oliphant told me, "There are at least six or seven accounts of this thing. They don't differ in basic thrust, but they differ enough that you know you can't possibly get a handle on it as if it were a transcript of a White House press briefing."

He added: "I was just trying to make the judgment, did Clark play a role in this? And my answer is, yes, but it's not clear-cut-and-dried except in context." Clark's remarks, he explained, would have amounted to no more than "idle chatter" if they hadn't occurred in the context of the buzz that had been making the political and media rounds for at least several weeks previously - buzz that put everyone in "precisely the wrong frame of mind to handle a virus like Drudge."

More from Kennedy and Oliphant:

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/medialog/2004_02_15_archive.asp

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

28. Anyone See The Incredible Smear By Chris Matthews Last Week?

Chris Matthews was promoting Hardball on the Lester Holt Live show last week. Holt asked Matthews who he thought might be Kerry's VP pick. Matthews didn't bring up the Druge report, but he did suggest that Clark was untrustworthy and unethical and that he would be a "mole" ("Clinton mole" the term he used) or spy in the Kerry campaign for the Clintons. He said it matter-of-factly and categorically, as though he had a crystal ball in front of him and could somehow read into Clark's mind. Matthews has really hit a new low. I hated Chris Matthews before, but now I want to throw up every time I see his ugly face. No mention has ever been made on any media outlet that I have seen that all of the reporters who interviewed Clark have denied ever hearing him say anything about an alleged intern issue with Kerry. In fact, on Fox News' program NewsWatch today, James Pinkerton of Newsday mentioned that the real story in the Kerry intern story was how the Drudge rumor started. He specifically suggested that Clark should be investigated and made no mention about the Ryan Lizza article (Lizza was there as a reporter for New Republic and heard no mention by Clark about the Kerry intern story).

[BootinUp]

30. Its getting to the point where

I am starting to wish bodily harm on people.

[King of New Orleans]

29. Just sent my email in

It wasn't as detailed and purdy as WesDem's, but it got the point across without being to profane.

Makes me want Clark to be chosen as V-P all the more.