More media cheap shots at JK, covered nicely by Media Matters

[whometense]

here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200602140015

Don't miss the comments - for a change, they are uniformly supportive!!

CNN's Morton: Bush "likes to hunt quail"; Cheney "loves to hunt" -- but Kerry "spent time posing with guns"

Summary: In a report on hunting and politics, CNN's Bruce Morton commented that President Bush "likes to hunt quail with family and friends" and Vice President Dick Cheney "loves to hunt," but -- using language that echoed that of Cheney during the 2004 campaign -- said Sen. John Kerry "spent time posing with guns" during the 2004 presidential campaign, and that "voters probably saw more of him pursuing exotic sports, windsurfing and so on."

During a report on hunting and politics on the February 13 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN national correspondent Bruce Morton commented that President Bush "likes to hunt quail with family and friends" and Vice President Dick Cheney -- who accidentally shot a member of his quail-hunting party on February 11 -- "loves to hunt," but Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) "spent time posing with guns" during the 2004 presidential campaign, and that "voters probably saw more of him pursuing exotic sports, windsurfing and so on." Morton's jab echoed language Cheney used during the 2004 campaign to attack Kerry as effete and elitist.

Kerry reportedly has been a hunter since the age of 12...

Edited to add: I cannot believe they think they're going to get cover for Big Dick by taking shots at JK at this point. Is there a soul out there who would miss just how cheap a ploy this is? As the commenters point out, Dick's escapade just helps to reinforce his lack of knowledge about simple hunting rules, not to mention gun safety.

[jillan]

1. I heard the Kerry comment too.

This must be their new tactic.

Everyone is sick of them blaming Clinton for everything,
so they moved on to Kerry?

[karynnj]

2. I think they are striking out in a million directions

They're in a weird situation where a part of their base, the NRA, has to be incredibly aware that they are lying. They are yelling, "liberal media", bringing up Senator Kennedy's accident and Cheney is making things worse by insisting that the way they released the story was the best way.

I think they are concerned that in reality this brings Mr Cheney's competence as a hunter into question. They likely already knew that the canned game hunts he went on were nothing to brag about. The reason the RW is even bringing up Kerry is likely that just as they hate that he, not W, was the real war hero, Kerry is the real outdoorsman and athlete, not Bush or Cheney. Being from Massachusetts and being a liberal/moderate Democrat doesn't change this. The RW has labelled him a phony for decades, but he is clearly the real alpha male of the candidates of 2004.

The funny thing is that these virtues are way more important to the RW than to us. None of these things are important to most liberals in picking candidates.

[ginnyinWI]

3. Oliphant commented today on Franken's show

He said that this shooting is one of those events that resonates as a metaphor--because the fact is that Cheney has been incompetent as a veep, regardless of how they try to spin it. He has failed at every major initiative he's undertaken. So now we see just how absolutely incompetent he is at handling a gun--and it reverberates all over the place. Cheney's selection as veep was just the first in a long, long list of mistakes made by bushco.