FFFFF you, Ted Koppel

[Gabi Hayes]

he's on Daily Show, whining about how much the Iraq War cost.

well, MAYBE if you didn't pal around so much with the likes of Kissinger, or helped 43 get elected with your pathetic election coverage, or help Clinton get impeached with your slavering Monica coverage, we wouldn't be in the position we are today

I know he wised up, sort of and did some decent reporting after the fact, but who cares?

when it mattered, though, he was in the tank....one of the shows that interviewed about 400 experts, whatever, in the run up to invasion, of which THREE were against the war.

If you think I'm being harsh, read this interview, and see for yourself what an arrogant, ass covering (govt. kissing) water carrier he was. maybe he feels a little more guilty now than he did then, but it was BECAUSE respected 'journalists' like him provide a completely unbalanced discussion of the issues before the public, that there wasn't rioting in the streets when we finally played Wehrmacht v2.1

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/7/29/abcs_ted_koppel_refuses_to_apologize

[rpannier]

1. Kick, recommend, applaus, cheers, etc.

I'm always amazed at these news people who act like it was they that discovered what a failure DUH-bya was and what a disaster Iraq is.

To Koppel and the Media...:-( :mad: :puke: :eyes: :wtf: :grr: :thumbsdown:

To you Gabi Hayes
... :toast: :bounce: :beer: :hi: :loveya: :kick: :pals: :headbang: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot: :-)
:toast: :bounce: :beer: :hi: :loveya: :kick: :pals: :headbang: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot: :-)
:toast: :bounce: :beer: :hi: :loveya: :kick: :pals: :headbang: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot: :-)

[Gabi Hayes]

2. He got a HUGE Standing O from the crow, and JS applied suitable lavage.

he also brought a PUPPY along

wtf is up with these poseurs?

[Gabi Hayes]

3. he's a WANTED WAR criminal, Ted. does that bother you in the least?

A year later, as Mr. Kissinger's tenure drew to a close, Ted Koppel, then diplomatic correspondent for ABC News, told him: "It has been an extraordinary three years for me, and I have enjoyed it immensely. You are an intriguing man, and if I had a teacher like you earlier I might not have been so cynical."

"You have been a good friend," Mr. Kissinger replied. Mr. Koppel ended the conversation by saying, "We are lucky to have had you."

Newsmakers and news reporters use one another, and it may not be so surprising that they sometimes grow personally close. "Am I shocked by the notion that people were sucking up to a very powerful official they relied on for information?" asks Mr. Koppel, now the anchor of "Nightline" on ABC. "Frankly, no."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/22/politics/22kissinger.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Gabi Hayes]

6. "Henry Kissinger is, plain and simply, the best secretary of state we have had in 20, maybe 30 years

-- certainly one of the two or three great secretaries of state of our century," Koppel said in an interview (quoted in Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1989). Koppel added: "I'm proud to be a friend of Henry Kissinger. He is an extraordinary man. This country has lost a lot by not having him in a position of influence and authority."

.............

Koppel's fervent promotion of Kissinger was no anomaly. The longtime ABC newsman amassed a notable record of banging the drum for U.S. foreign policy when it counted the most -- in real time, when a crisis was underway.

Asked by Life magazine in 1988 if he'd like to be secretary of state, Koppel responded affirmatively and touted his qualifications: "Part of the job is to sell American foreign policy, not only to Congress but to the American public. I know I could do that."

Koppel made the comment while U.S. foreign policy in Central America included direct Reagan administration support for a Contra terrorist army in Nicaragua along with backing for death-squad aligned governments in El Salvador and Guatemala. Meanwhile, his Nightline program regularly gave aid and comfort to policymakers in Washington.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/ted-koppel-natural-fit_b_13944.html

[malaise]

16. You're on a roll these days

Expose all the criminals

[ReadTomPaine]

20. Great finds, Gabi. Nicely done.

Ambition can be ugly at times.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. You're on a roll this evening, Gabi. K and R. nt

[Gabi Hayes]

7. I need a DRINK!

and a few quaaludes

I am PISSED OFF!!!!!

BP starting to max out, and I don't mean oil level

[tblue37]

5. I am really getting pissed at reporters who parrot Bush's

outright lie that Saddam would not let inspectors into the country to prove he didn't have WMDS. The interview from the Democracy Now link in the OP includes this response by Koppel:

I am saying to you that it did not make any sense that Saddam Hussein would run the risk of being overthrown; of losing all the power that he had, if, indeed, in 2003 he had no weapons of mass destruction. Why in the heaven’s name did he not permit the kinds of inspections and the kinds of interviews that would have demonstrated that to the world’s satisfaction? I am not seeing that now I believe there were weapons of mass destruction immediately before the war. But I can understand why our leaders and why many of us in the media were inclined to believe that at the time.

Saddam DID let inspectors in, and they were reporting that there was no evidence of WMDs. Saddam didn't kick them out--Bush did, so he could attack Iraq.

[Gabi Hayes]

9. the only ones that didn't were not heard from, or lost their jobs.

who ever saw ANY of the Knight Ridder reporters on TV during the runup?

you saw a gigantic majority of 'journalists and experts', as has been cited, who only served as stenographers, often in the most insidious ways, as in the infamous WH-from NYT-from cheney-to Meet the Press merry go round

I fault the media more than I do the criminals in the administration, because they had their chance to tell the truth, but they didn't even look. if they did they ignored it. dunno which is worse

[LiberalFighter]

8. I got tired of watching his show at least 10 years ago when I realized

that it was meaningless. What did his show accomplished when he didn't ask the obvious questions or pursued a line of questioning. Koppel is a pompous fart.

[Gabi Hayes]

10. I got tired of watching his show the first night it was on, as it was clearly

an adjunct of the neocons who were trying to get back into the WH

that's all he is/ever was, a neo-liberal stooge

[LiberalFighter]

18. When did you first watch it?

[Gabi Hayes]

19. America held hostage, day 1. 1979

clearly anti Carter. he had one year left, and the media made it CLEAR before his term even started that they were not of his ilk, and he was not going to be one of the cool kids

see Sally Quinn's (Maureen Dowd of her day) catty trash of that era, or better yet, see if you can get a copy of Walter Karp's "Liberty Under Siege"....you can get it through interlibrary loan, if nowhere else

people like Koppel are among the most insidious, because most think he's some sort of liberal. and he is, in many ways (obvious and peripheral), but where and when it matters, you can COUNT him to be with his pals like Kissinger

[spag68]

11. Ted Koppel had a show?????

He joins a large group of pompous old farts still making millions selling us shit on the tv.

[Algorem]

12. Wasn't he dead?

What happened?

[provis99]

13. his talking head is still alive

He's been morally dead for three decades.

[bedazzled]

14. i'll never forget - a day or so after 9/11

i couldn't sleep so i turned on the TV in the middle of the night.
ted was interviewing someone (wish i remember who) who started to
talk about what a failure and a tragedy the president was, and ted
shut him down in mid-sentence.

haven't listened to a word he's said since

[undeterred]

15. Yes, that's when a lot of them sold out.

He's a very intelligent man, but he didn't figure this administration out until pretty late.

[lebkuchen]

17. Does Ted still have his house?

What's he asking for it now?