Tim Russert accuses McClellan of promoting war propaganda. haz irony?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

MR. RUSSERT: Were you shading the truth? Were you part of the innuendo? Were you part of the propaganda campaign?

MR. McCLELLAN: I was part of this propaganda campaign, absolutely. And, Tim, let me mention a couple of things. First, you know, there's--there was the legendary British economist John Maynard Keynes who used to be accused of frequently changing his positions. When one accuser attacked him, he responded, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" And when I was able to step out of that White House bubble--when you're in that White House bubble, it's all-consuming. You know what it's like, 18-hour days.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24916139/page/2/

[Faygo Kid]

1. Tim Russert: Tongue firmly up Rush Limbaugh's butt.

I will never, ever forgive Tim Russert for being Rush Limbaugh's enabler. He did two lengthy interviews with the walking pilodinal cyst and never once challenged him. On anything.

Tim Russert sucks. He is the lowest.

[billybob537]

2. Couldn't have done it without you TIMMEH!

You were Bush's chief cheerleader.
Thanks for all the water carrying You TOOL!

[Gabi Hayes]

3. two words

Cathie Martin

[annabanana]

4. Never forget THIS about Timmeh:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501951.html

(from the Plame/Libby trial)

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

His show should have been shut down the NEXT DAY! He was totally pants'd. No one in CorpoMedia has EVER addressed this tidbit.

[wtmusic]

5. When it comes to "controlling the message", it's all in the family

Cathie is wife of Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. How cozy.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. exactly. I was hoping twatty scotty would bring that up, ala Russert himself.

but he's such a squid.

one thing: did that list contain ANY 'cons' to go against that 'pro?'

[annabanana]

10. Not that we got to hear, IIRC. . . . n/t

[creeksneakers2]

7. Jessica Yellin said she was pressured to follow the White House

line when she was at MSNBC. At first she blamed the corporation but then she said it was lower down, producers and editors. If Yellin was working out of the White House, did that fall under the NBC Washington bureau? I believe Russert is the editor there. Nobody has followed up to see if Russert pressured Yellin.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. thanks, De Swiss for this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/DeSwiss/820

Well, that didn't take long.

Today on the network's website, there's a noticeably terse statement from CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin attempting to, ahem, "clarify" her admission, made a couple of nights ago on Anderson Cooper 360°, that during the run-up to the Iraq war, she was pressured into altering or killing stories that were critical of the White House. Yellin makes a point to reassure viewers that she wasn't at CNN back in 2003 -- she was a pentagon reporter for MSNBC at the time -- then flips a pretty sharp U-turn from her previous claim:


"Let me say: No, senior corporate leadership never asked me to take out a line in a script or re-write an anchor intro. I did not mean to leave the impression that corporate executives were interfering in my daily work; my interaction was with senior producers. What was clear to me is that many people running the broadcasts wanted coverage that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the country at the time. It was clear to me they wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country." The statement ends, amusingly, with Yellin saying, "And now I'm going back to work covering the Puerto Rico primary from San Juan."

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

9. A glimpse indeed. Russert testified under oath he took calls from the WH and not as journalist

but more as a Customer Service rep, tasked with providing the platform and spin the WH desired.

His accusation that McClellan participated in the war campaign propaganda, is his first step in disconnecting from accountability. It's his attempt to act as if he didn't publicly enable Bush, Cheney, Rice and Powell to speak their piece and catapult the propaganda unrestricted and unchallenged on his show.

Within a few months to a year's time, at the most, he'll be doing his "read along with me" grilling of anyone who DARED suggest it was a feasible idea to unilaterally attack Iraq in the run up to the war.

Will he be challenged? It remains to be seen.

There are so many in the MSM who are culpable in how this played out, but Big Daddy Russert is King of the Pravda wing of the fourth estate. Takes one to know one, eh, Timmeh?

[blm]

12. Well, he was part of inner circle that served BushInc - Mary Matalin and Carville are his closest

friends, and we all know Carville has worked for Clintons and Bushes and their political alliance.

Dog and pony show. Complicit media.

[MinM]

11. Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

WashingtonPost: In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/28/gibson/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/russert-watch/

[Supersedeas]

13. the preferred avenue of WH talking points -- Timmy Potato-head

[underpants]

14. Thanks I knew there was a video I wanted to dial up when I got back from the weekend

I need to see how DC officially (via Russert) will handle McLellan