Matt Lauer vs. Kitty Kelley: guess who wins?

[Rev. Day-Bu]

Here's the setup, with all the NewsMax smugness and certainty:

From NewsMax:

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 9:30 a.m. EDT

Lauer to Catty Kitty: You Got My Story Wrong, Too

Poison pen celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley shot herself in the foot on the "Today" show this morning when she claimed to have inside knowledge that "Today" host Matt Lauer once played golf with President George H.W. Bush - a charge refuted by Lauer on the spot.

Lauer was questioning Kelley about why, after four years of investigating three generations of the Bush family, she couldn't find one positive thing to report:

LAUER: The reality has to be that there are some nice things that need to be said about them. And why aren't they in this book?

KELLEY: Matt, you've played golf with former President Bush.

LAUER: I've never played golf with him.

Kelley did not challenge Lauer on his denial - or explain how many sources she had for her false claim.

Still, undeterred by yet another misreport, Kelley contended that the Bush family enjoys a "Donna Reed Show" family image when the truth is closer, she claimed, to "The Sopranos."

Now, something seemed funny here. Kitty Kelley doesn't make claims that aren't true. So I did a quick bit of research: a simple Google search for three words: Lauer Bush Golf. Perhaps NewsMax should have tried a Google search, because here's what came up.

From FieldTurf:

President Bush Installs Fieldturf At Vacation Home In Kennebunk Port
George Bush Sr. loves his golf, and what better way to stay on top of his short game than with a FieldTurf putting green. President Bush had spoken to a PGA Tour player about wanting a backyard putting green, and TourTurf by FieldTurf was the recommendation.

The putting green was a gift to President Bush from some of his friends for his upcoming 80th birthday. Palmer Design did the original layout, and on site Tom Burke and President Bush made modifications. The green is a little more than 800 square feet with a two and a half foot fringe.

President Bush did an interview with Matt Lauer for the TODAY Show on his FieldTurf putting green. President Bush loves his new putting green, so much so that he decided to challenge Matt Lauer in a putting contest. Check out the video to see who wins.

And here's the video.

So that's what I found. How did I do? :)

[uhhuh]

1. Of Course

The pubs will say that they didn't play golf, they just putted, so she lied. That's exactly what will happen.

You, of course have proven that she reported an actual event, but the RWers will claim that since they didn't play a full 18 holes, they didn't golf together.

[gospelized]

2. WOW

they are so desperate that they took one off-the-cuff silly comment at the end of the interview, and wrote a whole article about it.

that is sad.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Pretty good work

The guys at NewSmacks realize that all they have to do is issue a denial.

"Proof by Assertion" is one of the main debating tactics used by bullies. I've even seen it used right here at DU. When a bully is making an assertion without the slightest shred of evidence, you can almost make book on the fact that it will be easy to bust the guy and his argument.

Bravo!

--bkl

[dave123williams]

4. A friend of mine once said...

"Anything stated assertively in the absence of a contravening argument is fact."

[dave123williams]

5. Let's hope the Daily Show runs with this video...

[Rev. Day-Bu]

6. I've just send an email to Carl Limbacher at NewsMax...

I've just send an email to Carl Limbacher at NewsMax. He's the author of the article...
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Regarding the Matt Lauer/Kitty Kelley story about Lauer allegedly golfing with George H.W. Bush

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/9/14/93142.shtml

To avoid embarassment, you might want to retract that story right away. It turns out that not only has Lauer golfed with George H.W. Bush, but there's video of them putting on no less than Bush Sr's own private putting course.

The video is here:

http://www.fieldturf.com/index.cfm?pageView=readFeature&featureID=11

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[Rev. Day-Bu]

7. Send email to [email protected]

Send email to [email protected]

:D

[Rev. Day-Bu]

8. I just sent one myself...

Hehe.... And on the heels of that, I've just sent an email to the Today show:
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From: Dave
Subject: Golfing with George Bush Sr.
Date: September 15, 2004 1:10:30 AM PDT
To: [email protected]

Good morning, Today!

Yesterday Matt Lauer interviewed Kitty Kelley. She said, "Matt, you've played golf with former President Bush."

Mr Lauer denied this, saying, "I've never played golf with him."

Well, if one of you would like to have a little fun with Matt this morning, you could play the little video clip found on this page:

http://www.fieldturf.com/index.cfm?pageView=readFeature&featureID=11

Here's a direct link to the video:

http://www.fieldturf.com/media/bush41_256.wmv

I'm sure you have the original footage and can broadcast that rather than this low-quality digital footage.

In any case, it would be pretty funny to "get" him by showing that little clip! :-D

Take care,
Rev. Day-Bu (Dave)
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I'm sure they won't do what I'm suggesting, but heck, it's worth a shot!

[benburch]

9. Good shot, Dave!

However, if GE permits this, I'd be amazed!