The "Desertion" Flap
A Net Positive for the Progressive Opposition
Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor
The Crisis Papers
January 27, 2004
In case you missed it, at the January 22 New Hampshire primary debate, ABC's Peter Jennings directed this shot at Wesley Clark:
At one point
Moore, said in front of you that President Bush -- he was saying he'd like to see a debate between you the General and President Bush who he called a deserter. Now that's a reckless charge not supported by the facts so I was curious to know why you didn't contradict him and whether or not you think it would have been a better example of ethical behavior to have done so. (For context, see Peter Neiwart's entry at our "Best of the Blogs").
Note the begged assumption (the "when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife" ploy) -- the unexamined assumption that ("as every fool surely knows") "that's a reckless charge not supported by facts."
To the contrary, of course, it is not a "reckless charge" and it is not "unsupported by facts." However, Jennings and his cohorts in the corporate media have heretofore have managed to bury this potential bombshell by treating it with near-total silence.
http://www.crisispapers.org/essays/desertion.htm