The media’s anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war drumbeat shows no sign of letting up, certainly not with a presidential election just six months away. Here are some recent gems from our overpaid, overrated and allegedly objective newshounds as rounded up by the invaluable Media Research Center (www.mrc.org):
Mocking Bush
Bob Woodward: “The president still believes, with some conviction, that this [the Iraq war] was absolutely the right thing, that he has the duty to free people, to liberate people, and this was his moment.”
Mike Wallace: “Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around the world?”
Woodward: “That’s a really good question. The Constitution doesn’t say that’s part of the Commander- in-Chief?s duties.”
Wallace: “The president of the United States, without a great deal of background in foreign policy, makes up his mind and believes he was sent by somebody to free the people – not just in Iraq, but around the world?”
Woodward: “That’s his stated purpose. It is far-reaching, and ambitious, and I think will cause many people to tremble.”
* Exchange on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” April 18.
Kerry’s Loyal Media Servants
“How do you explain to Americans how you got that so wrong, and how do you answer your opponents who say that you took this nation to war on the basis of what have turned out to be a series of false premises?”
* ABC’s Terry Moran to President Bush at his prime time news conference on April 13.
“Two and a half years later, do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11?”
* New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller to Bush.
“Two weeks ago, a former counter-terrorism official at the NSC, Richard Clarke, offered an unequivocal apology to the American people for failing them prior to 9/11. Do you believe the American people deserve a similar apology from you, and would you be prepared to give them one?”
* CBS’s John Roberts to Bush.
“One of the biggest criticisms of you is that whether it’s WMD in Iraq, post-war planning in Iraq, or even the question of whether this administration did enough to ward off 9/11, you never admit a mistake. Is that a fair criticism? And do you believe that there were any errors in judgment that you made related to any of those topics I brought up?”
NBC’s David Gregory to Bush.
“With public support for your policies in Iraq falling off … quite significantly over the past couple of months, I’d like to know if you feel that you’ve failed as a communicator?
* National Public Radio’s Don Gonyea to Bush.
Ted Kennedy’s Amen Corner
“Senator Ted Kennedy said Iraq is “George Bush’s Vietnam.” Given the fact that, that U.S. forces are committed there for the long haul, what steps do we need to take, Ambassador Bremer, to make sure that Iraq does not turn into another Vietnam?”
* NBC’s Matt Lauer to Ambassador Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, on “Today,” April 6.
“You say commit more troops. But that?s the same thing LBJ did in Vietnam. Do you worry that this is another Vietnam?”
* Katie Couric to Hillary Clinton on “Dateline,” April 16.
Retired Major General William Nash: “It’s an insurgency against a public security mission that the soldiers are trying to perform for the people of Iraq. And so they are not able to engage regular military forces using the strengths that we have to attack their weaknesses.”
Peter Jennings: “Well, that sounds like Vietnam.”
* ABC’s “World News Tonight,” April 7.
“In Najaf, the militant Shiite cleric Al-Sadr echoed the refrain Iraq could become quote, “another Vietnam” for America.”
* Dan Rather on the April 7 “CBS Evening News.