Bob Scheiffer's New Theory on FACE THE NATION.

[gennifer6]

I hope I'm not the only one who saw this, but I swear he suggested that if the nation hadn't been so consumed with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, we would have recognized Osama Bin Laden for threat he was. Every time Clinton tried to bomb terrorist camps he was accused of wagging the dog, but had he been allowed to do his job that we might have been a step closer to Bin Laden before 9/11.

.....and now he's supporting stem cell research!!!

Kudos to CBS!!!!

[AX10]

1. Scheiffer said that?!?

OMG, that's an outright defense of Bill Clinton!

I agree with that 100%!

[gennifer6]

6. He really did say that...

I'm shocked.
This is great.

And now Russert's going over *'s dropping approval ratings.

[radfringe]

13. some poll numbers - could source for summeries/etc.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls.html

President George W. Bush - Job Approval Ratings
Poll Date Approve Disapprove Spread
RCP Average 6/2 - 6/9 47.3% 51.0% -3.7%
Rasmussen 6/7 - 6/9 51% 48% +3%
Gallup 6/6 - 6/8 47% 49% -2%
AP-Ipsos 6/6 - 6/8 43% 55% -12%
ABC News/Wash Post 6/2 - 6/5 48% 52% -4%

[bullimiami]

2. Maybe he should blame who it was that pressed monica and whitewater.

corrupt republicans and the media whores. the same people that are complicit in the current destruction of america.

it wasnt the nation that was consumed. clinton was never as unpopular as bush is now.

forget the KUDOS. maybe a millikudo for them but not much more.

[Webster Green]

3. We've known that at DU for quite some time now....

Clinton's warnings about Osama to the incoming chimp administration were totally ignored.

Nice to see other folks getting up to speed though....

[POAS]

12. Interesting product placement n/t

[kevinmc]

4. Scheiffer just needed to look up this CNN Story.............

Not six months before 9/11 the Bush administration was
denouncing Clinton's focus on Osama Bin Laden:



"The State Department officially released its annual terrorism report just a little more than an hour ago, but unlike last year, there's no extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. A senior State Department official tells CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden and 'personalizing terrorism.'" -- CNN, 4/30/2001.



http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/30/terrorism.state.dept/

[reality based]

10. And who was that "senior" State Department official?

Once again the journalistic conventions of the press work against democracy, national interest, and accountability. We should be informed as to the identity of exactly which senior officials in the government were not taking Bin Laden seriously enough. Confidentiality of unnamed sources is fine when you are talking about mid level bureaucratic whistle blowers. But it borders on treason when you are talking about such malfeasance. This story itself is a smoking gun. Thanks for the post.

[libodem]

5. I've always thought that

and I don't think it was the nation who cared and much as whomever was behind Ken Star and the Boys. It was a purposeful action to keep him from being successful at his job. I still think the whole deal was orchestrated from the wings, somewhere.

[OneTwentyoNine]

7. Or the burning question Freepers NEVER answer.....

If Clinton did such a do nothing,crap job on terrorism wouldn't that have been JOB ONE for Chimp?? His em..."team" should have started in December after the SCOTUS crowned him King. He would have had almost a full NINE MONTHS to root out terrorists especially Bin Laden and prevent 9/11.

I guess they thought Clinton and his administration did the best they could given Bush's lack of action and ignoring FBI threats of phony pilots.

Of course the bottom line is that only a fool would believe that Bush really wanted to prevent 9/11,especially with his numbers dropping and the economy tanking.

[Leafy Geneva]

24. Excelent point, OneTwentyoNine

[blm]

25. 2 1/2yr study, HartRudman Report on Global Terror, was handed to Bush on

Jan 30, 2001. He refused to read it.

Imagine if that report was handed to Clinton or to Gore or to Kerry. The urgent proposals in that report regarding global terror and homeland security would have been enacted after a REAL president spoke in depth about the terror issue to the entire nation.

[sam sarrha]

8. after Dan Rathers speach... the tide may turn..

it brought me to tears

[candy331]

9. When did you hear this speech, I missed it is it somewhere to be found?n/t

[seafan]

15. Here is the link to the CSpan archive of his speech.

Investigative Journalism
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Denver, Colorado (United States)
ID: 187106 - 06/04/2005 - 0:54 - $24.95


Dan Rather, the former anchor of the "CBS Evening News," gave the keynote address at the Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference. He discussed investigative reporting, and spoke about the "60 Minutes II" report on President Bush's National Guard Service.

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=184413245


Check for replays of this late at night. It was on last night.

Rather implored journalists to truthfully report on the hard realities, and not to be silenced by those who despise and detest them, nor by those who wish to feed their own manufactured version of reality to the American people. He broke down in tears at the end of his speech, again imploring all journalists to have courage and to report the truth to the American people. (all paraphrased)


Good luck finding this video. It is a keeper!

[candy331]

18. Thanks, I surely do want to hear it n/t

[gratuitous]

11. It was the NATION that was consumed with the Lewinsky scandal?

Uh, Bob? You might want to do a little actual research as it appears your memory of the events of less than 10 years ago have been consumed by encroaching Alzheimer's or something.

But I'm sure that Schieffer, consummate journo that he is, had lots and lots of clips about his own reportage that focused on the threats posed by terrorism in the late 1990s, right? I mean, hard news tough guy that he is, I'm sure he didn't file one report on the Lewinsky diversion but focused like a laser beam on the real news story that was horribly underreported. Right? Right?

[senseandsensibility]

20. Exactly

Let's not hold our breath waiting for those clips. Blaming it on "the people" ain't gonna cut it. The media whores en masse pushed this story down our throats and were thrilled to do so.

[cestpaspossible]

14. Not really a new idea, but I'm glad he said it

[RUMPLEMINTZ]

16. This sounds more like a slam

on Clinton than a defense. Is Shieffer saying that a few whining repukes kept Clinton from focusing on bin Laden?

[Sick_of_Rethuggery]

17. I have always believed that!

In fact, back in 1998, when Clinton was trying to act against the real threats and some of my liberal colleagues were sceptical of his motives, I kept saying that it was they themselves, influenced by the idiot media, that were focusing on the wrong thing -- that the whole proposition of "wag the dog" syndrome was bizarre since those in the executive branch were the ones acting responsibly but that it was the Rethug/Media cabal that was wagging the Monica distraction around...

The Rethug/Media noise machine has been unbelievably successful both in diluting Clinton/Gore's responsible behavior in the public's mind, while at the same time covering up the irresponsibility of those currently holding power -- it is a bizzarro world out there.

It is completely disquieting to contemplate, but this cabal is one of the cruelest cuts dealt to democracy. Their brazenness makes their success seem incongrous -- but add in a populace stressed out chasing survival, and you have the prescription for the unfolding twilight zone nature of events...

Our only hope for real change in people's attitudes is the deepening of the gulf between the noise machine's inanities and reality -- in fact, I contend this accounts for the slowly decaying approval ratings for everyone involved in the cabal...

[blm]

19. Clinton had about 70% approval during Monica, so the nation TOLD the media

it didn't matter but they showved it down our throats 24/7 for A YEAR, anyway.

Now the media is trying to BULLSHIT us that the public isn't concerned about the DSMinutes, but most people have no clue about the Minutes because the broadcast media isn't talking about them or giving them any details.

The GOP controls most of the media and it's PAST TIME the DNC takes on this issue. If we HAD a decent media, the election fraud and vote rigging would have been the story of the century.

[mandomom]

21. Too little too late.

He threw the presidential debate to Bush with his "let 'em drink lattes" softball questions to Bush. He was a disgrace. He also did nothing during the runups to the Clinton impeachment and the invasion of Iraq to bring constitutional sense and common truth to the reportage on those events.

[mandomom]

23. And...

it was the "nation" that told the Senate in concrete poll after poll, as well as in letters and calls, that the "nation" opposed what the House and done and more so what the GOP senators tried to do. It was the nation that forced the Senate to acquit Clinton. Just as the nation now, given the opportunity, would push the House to open an impeachment inquiry on Bush. We have the power. This I know becaue Dean told me so.

[chieftain]

22. I am amazed. Sheiffer is such a Bush apologist.

If an accurate history of the times is ever written, Louis Freeh is going to bear substantial responsibility for both the excesses of the impeachment coup attempt and 9/11.Freeh and his buddies in the Radical Republican Party have a lot to answer for as does Sheiffer and his colleagues who pumped the coup and have been in a sleep walk about what really happened in the the attack on civilians on our soil.

[mandomom]

26. Never forget

to point out that many of the madmen criminals of the great Nixonian debacle are covering the airwaves with their unapologetic versions of reality. There are also numberous powerful Bushian men in positions of great sway who once worked to try to help Nixon control the press and the congress. Scheifer was around then, too. No excuses for his abject failure to keep viewers/listeners apprised of historical facts to "balance" the Bush fanatic version of reality.

[peekaloo]

27. Face my arse you old bastid. The Republican media obsession was not

shared by the majority of U.S. citizens. They are not one and the same.

[Writer]

28. I'm waiting. Tomorrow sometime I'm sure he'll say something

to get him branded a media whore.

Oh when will we decide? :eyes: