By now everyone has heard that Newsweek lied in its reporting and some Afghani people killed each other in protest. Now I know there are those of you out there who will say I am off the mark saying that Newsweek lied. You will side with them and say that they made a mistake. Mistakes happen and you will remind me that they relied on information that they got and it turned out that the information was wrong.
I would remind you that this is the same scenario with regard to the war in Iraq. I remember that the MSM and almost all the libs out there have been clamoring about Bush and his lies to get us to war. There are people who look at British memos and tell us that the fix was in and Bush lied, people died. Never mind the fact that every reputable intelligence agency in the world told us that the WMD were still there, Bush lied and people died. This was a war for oil and our nasty military killed a bunch of people because Bush lied and people died. Well if Bush is a liar for relying on information that turned out wrong then Newsweek is a liar because they did the same thing. Newsweek lied and people died.
Interestingly enough, the rest of the MSM is going to bat for Newsweek. As Surfside pointed out yesterday, the MSM is minimizing this issue. They are making light of the fact that a major news publication lied and it caused the deaths of people. Now I do not hold Newsweek entirely responsible because the people who killed each other were radicals who kill for the hell of it anyway. But, Newsweek threw the fuel on the fire and sparked the riot. At the White House press briefing today one of the reporters got snippy with Scott McClellan. Here is part of the exchange involving some intellectual named Elisabeth:
Q With respect, who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it’s appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?
MR. McCLELLAN: I’m not telling them. I’m saying that we would encourage them to help —
Q You’re pressuring them.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I’m saying that we would encourage them —
Q It’s not pressure?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, this report caused serious damage to the image of the United States abroad. And Newsweek has said that they got it wrong. I think Newsweek recognizes the responsibility they have. We appreciate the step that they took by retracting the story. Now we would encourage them to move forward and do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done by this report. And that’s all I’m saying. But, no, you’re absolutely right, it’s not my position to get into telling people what they can and cannot report….
Q Are you asking them to write a story about how great the American military is; is that what you’re saying here?
MR. McCLELLAN: Elisabeth, let me finish my sentence. Our military —
Q You’ve already said what you’re — I know what — how it ends.
Who made you editor of Newsweek? Well Elisabeth, let me ask you this. Who made you and the rest of the MSM President of the United States. Ever since Bush has been in office you and your toadies have been telling him how to run the country, how to do his job and exactly why he is not smart enough to do it on his own. You have discussed every little detail as if you and only you had the answers. You and your little Perrier drinking sycophants have proceeded to tell the American public just how the President is not doing a good job and how (fill in the blank) could do it better. Well, Lis, it is time that the folks at Newsweek took some of their own medicine. They obviously do not know how to verify a story and they sparked a riot that killed people. When there were no WMD found you sure had a field day.
Lis, I would also like to know how it is that when a few American Soldiers kill people who are being hostile, such as the Marine who shot the wounded terrorist, you folks in the MSM jump all over that. This Marine was a bad guy. He killed some wounded “insurgent” and he should go to jail. Oh how terrible that a man in a combat zone killed a wounded terrorist, boo, hoo. Well, Lis baby, the folks at Newsweek killed 17 times more unarmed people than the Marine did and only one of the two subjects was in danger. You see Lis baby, when they said the pen is mightier than the sword they were not kidding. With a few strokes an author extinguished 17 lives. You folks at the MSM and the liberal left like to cry about your rights and freedoms all the time. Well let me say this about that Lissy, with the freedom of the press comes an awful responsibility to choose your words wisely, to report accurately, and to verify everything that is written. With that freedom comes an awesome responsibility to exercise caution and to realize that what you write can have serious repercussions. You folks have yet to learn that lesson. I would have thought that Dan Rather would have taught you folks something. Then again, I guess he did.
Newsweek lied and people died.
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