Patrick Kennedy: Press Corps Is 'Despicable' For Not Covering Afghanistan War Resolution

[IndianaGreen]

Patrick Kennedy: Press Corps Is 'Despicable' For Not Covering Afghanistan War Resolution

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) excoriated the national press on Wednesday during a debate over the war in Afghanistan, charging reporters with shirking their duty to cover the issue and instead focusing on the peccadillos of former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.).

"There's one, two press people in this gallery," he thundered. "We're talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We're talking about war and peace; $3 billion; 1,000 lives and no press! No press!"

The House is debating a resolution written by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), which would require the military to withdraw from Afghanistan within 30 days or longer if it couldn't be done safely that quickly.

"You want to know why the American public is fit? They're fit because they're not seeing their Congress do the work that they're sent to do," railed Kennedy, who is retiring at the end of this term. "It's because the press, the press of the United States, is not covering the most significant issue of national importance and that's the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country. It's despicable, the national press corps right now."

UPDATE: The resolution was defeated by a vote of 356-65, with 60 Democrats and five Republicans voting to end the war.

The roll call can be found here.

Several powerful chairmen -- David Obey (D-Wisc.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) -- voted to end the war, and Obey's opposition will be particularly noted by war proponents, given that he controls the purse strings through the Appropriations Committee.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/10/patrick-kennedy-press-cor_n_493848.html

[Common Sense Party]

1. "Fit"? Physically fit? Fit to be tied? What does he mean?

The national press corps is ALWAYS despicable.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. You have to hear it delivered to understand what he meant. He was livid and his grammar .....

.... took leave of him.

Find a clip of him saying what he said and all will be clear to you.

[Mass]

2. Well, they cant be bothered talking about real topics.

Massa is so much more fun.

[queenjane]

3. Kennedy looked 2 seconds from having an aneurysm

Saw the footage last night--haven't seen such rage in a long time. He was so frustrated, so angry, almost foaming. I wondered why he was stepping down, but now I understand. I am horrified at the shallowness and superficiality of our society, the lack of caring about ANYTHING remotely important, the proud ignorance, the sheep-like behavior. No wonder we can't recruit really intelligent, dedicated people to run for office, and are left with flotsam & dregs . . .

[polichick]

4. Parent companies of news networks make a fortune from the wars...

They'll cover "successes" and strategy, but not the idea that we shouldn't be there.

[Supersedeas]

5. Less than 24hours after his speech, Andrea Greenspan Mitchell takes his national platform to ask

What did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it about Masa?

RW Talking Points no matter how much real news surrounds them.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. You gotta give it to them. They'll cut through all the real topics to get to the heart of the

bullshit. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

[Supersedeas]

8. When the show sponsors are BigPharma, Big Insurance, and Big Auto, the script

is pretty much written for the powdered-face bubble heads in the Fourth Estate

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. I saw that part of the speech (tv rerun). I think P. Kennedy ...

is wound a little too tight for politics. His head is going to explode.

It isn't like he was all that upset with the war. He was really, really, REALLY upset with the press.

:hi: