Suskind, Tenet, and Morning Edition

[Plaid Adder]

The other day I listened to Steve Inskeep's belligerent and accusatory interview with Ron Suskind about The Way of the World on NPR's Morning Edition. It flabbergasted me how Inskeep could go after him as if what he was saying was completely insane and outrageous when in fact all Suskind is really doing in TWOTW is documenting a bunch of things that most of us already knew: that Iraq didn't have WMDs, that the architects of the Iraq war knew it, and that they were willing to do absolutely anything necessary to get their war on anyway. The most sensational claim Suskind makes, or was allowed to make in the interview, is that Tenet was instructed to get the CIA to forge a handwritten letter from Mohammed Atta that would have provided the administration with their Iraq-9/11 "smoking gun." This of course is the claim that will be attacked most violently in the media; I myself am skeptical only because I can't imagine that they would have gone to all that trouble to fabricate the thing and then never have used it.

However. The main argument of Suskind's book--that the Bush administration knew perfectly well that their pretext for the war was bogus, and manipulated the American people into supporting their war regardless--is perfectly reasonable in light of recent history, and there's absolutely no reason why Inskeep should have treated Suskind as if he were the most cracked pot he'd ever encountered.

What really took the cake, though, was Inskeep's little editorial coda, in which he reports Tenet's response to their questions about Suskind's claims. Tenet dismissed the forgery claim as ridiculous--as of course he would, whether it were true or not. But regarding Suskind's claim that the administration had a secret meeting with the head of Iraqi intelligence, and that he informed them that there were in fact no WMDs, Tenet had this to say: that their informant "did not persuade," and that what he said was "immaterial" to the decision about going to war.

So in other words, what Tenet told NPR was: yes, Suskind is right. The meeting took place; we ignored what the guy told us; and the decision to start the war had absolutely nothing to do with what we found out from our informant. And yet, somehow, Inskeep made it sound as if Tenet had refuted the entire story indignantly, instead of actually confirming it.

Sorry, NPR. I loved you once; but right now, you

FAIL.

The Plaid Adder

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. NPR has fallen awfully far, hasn't it?

I hardly ever listen to them any more. They're better than CNN only in that they use bigger words.

[Plaid Adder]

2. They do a good thing every once in a while.

I recently listened to "The Giant Pool of Money," which they co-produced with _This American Life_, and I thought it was fabulous. Morning Edition, though...well, it's not the same since they pushed out Bob Edwards.

The Plaid Adder

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I listen to the Bob Edwards Show on XM Radio.

The fact that NPR sacked him is further proof of their suckaliciousness.

I do like Car Talk, though.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[babylonsister]

5. Rec'd. They all are lying. nt

[ulysses]

6. heard that on the way to work.

Inskeep can jump up my ass just for the shocked - shocked! - tone of voice he had in the interview. Asshole.

[Plaid Adder]

7. I know! It's exactly as if he'd suddenly discovered

that gambling was going on on these premises.

@#$!,

The Plaid Adder

[ulysses]

9. sounded like someone had his nuts in a vise.

"Are you really implying thAt ThE PREsiDeNT LIED?"

Fuckwit.

It did provide an opportunity to reflect on how much credence we give our "leaders". I think our collective American head would explode if we resolved the cognitive dissonance.

[spanone]

8. i heard that interview and it pissed me off too. i've admired inskeep in the past for previous work

npr has been disappointing recently

[bertman]

10. Seems like lately they are pissing me off all the time. I would always listen to Morning Edition

on the way to work and All Things Considered on the way home. Now I try to find Randi Rhodes.

Right after we invaded Iraq I wrote to the NPR ombudsperson and gave them holy hell about the way NPR was beating the war drums. Never even got a reply even though I've been donating to them for almost 20 years.

No more donations from me. Last year was the last year. They've been so twisted by their corporate sponsorships that they are only slightly better than MSM. Now it's Pacifica for me.

And the internets.

[Vanje]

11. NPR is an organ of the American Enterprise Institute.

Here is a blog for discussing NPRs recent lean to the right.
http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/

[Festivito]

12. NPR has been on the dark side for quite a while.

Early on it was "On the Media" as a RW tool. (That made people think NPR was giving all sides.)
Added RW bent with Conant.
Dropped Christopher Lydon.
Dropped Bob Edwards just before he could celebrate a multiple of decade. (That was weird.)
Diane Rhem's usual replacement drops the ball on questioning RWers about major RW trouble points. (Amazing how she happens to be on there when something big breaks.)

Also there were RWers Mara Liason and Juan Williams.

[Gabi Hayes]

14. spot on with those comments. Salon's Table Talk had a thread that

lasted YEARS on Talk of the Nation, when Suarez and Williams were the hosts



Neal Conan is BY FAR the worst host, making Juan Williams look like Abby Hoffman. his right wing slant every so often rears its head in the most obvious and egregious fashion

[Festivito]

15. It's amazing to read DU, then listen to the radio spin same day.

npr infuriates me.

I only like Diane's show when Diane is on. The rest should be flushed without mercy.

[Gabi Hayes]

16. Fresh Air is OK, but she falls down on political interviews

Living on Earth is quite good, as well

the best show on my station is Harry Shearer, but he's only on a very few NPR outlets


he's the best thing on radio

http://www.harryshearer.com/

[Festivito]

21. Terry Gross is good, but MOSTLY does non-political.

There's too much going on for weekly updates.

Interviewers need to call the interviewees on their sidestepping.

Even Diane only does it for one level of sidestep.

It's pitiful.

[Vanje]

18. Neal Conan....Aaargh. Dont get me started.

I wish he would go back to writing fluffy little books about baseball.

[Festivito]

22. Oh, darn, my magic wand won't puff. /nt

[Hamlette]

13. The failure in Iraq is as much a failure of the media as it is a Bush failure

they know their job is to question authority and they failed to do it. They don't like being reminded of it.

So they keep making excuses and will continue to do so until a Dem gets elected. Then they'll be talking the scandal of the day.

Wonder why they don't see it?

[lutherj]

17. I found Suskind's revelation only mildly interesting, because the fact

that they lied us into this war is abundantly obvious, and already proven beyond any reasonable doubt. The day that Bush kicked the unscom inspectors out of Iraq so he could start the shock & awe, I knew it was all pretext.

[here_is_to_hope]

19. I haven't bothered with NPR as a news source in years. n/t

[Spiffarino]

20. FAIL is too kind. "Suck" hits closer to the mark IMHO.

We quit giving money to NPR five years ago after having being regular contributors for many years. I hate to be part of their downfall, but since they've started taking money from hard-right loony foundations (Olin, Annenberg, et al) I just don't see the point of helping them when they cave in to big business. I can get better information from the internet than I can from NPR anyway.

[scarface2004]

23. inskeep is a suckass!

he should be fired! where s scott simon and dan schorr when you need em?

[KharmaTrain]

24. Another Reason Why Elections Matter

NPR has turned into another GOOP patronage shop...using our tax dollars to spew this type of noise. It's amazing after all the evidence that has come forward how tepid or downright dismissive so many in the corporate media (and NPR) are of both this regime's rush to war and the manchild's pathological lying and fascist regime.

Suskind is a Pulitzer winner...not some hack...he's documented his book and despite all the attempts to slime him, his reporting stands and so do the facts. We were lied into a war for profit...and nothing NPR or any of these propaganda outlets can prove different. History will treat those who destroyed this country and enabled them harshly.

Here's another case why elections matter...a Democratic win means the GOOP scum can be swept out of our Public Broadcasting and maybe this once stellar network can shine again.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. true and all, but I think Clinton appointed a real asshole as head of NPR, didn't he?

this whole thing makes me very sad, because my very idealistic niece just started working for them as a features reporter. I hope things change, because she's going to become very unhappy working for Pravda

[KharmaTrain]

28. You Must Be Thinking Of Kenneth Tomlinson

He was brought in by this regime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Tomlinson

Here's a golden oldie from MMFA...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200506220009

The leaked emails also disprove Tomlinson's broader assertions -- put forth in a May 9 Los Angeles Times article and on the May 12 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor -- that he had no contact with White House officials concerning public broadcasting matters. In his correspondence with Cox, Tomlinson wrote that he had discussed Andrews with White House officials who insisted the title of her new position at CPB be "senior adviser to the president." And, according to the May 2 Times article, last year Tomlinson enlisted presidential adviser Karl Rove to help kill a legislative proposal that would change the composition of CPB's board of directors by requiring the president to fill about half the seats with people who had experience in local radio and television. The proposal was dropped after Rove and the White House criticized it.

I still pop on a nearby NPR station...Wisconsin Public Radio...their local/state coverage is excellent, but I rarely listen to Morning Edition or All Things Considered. Thank goodness they still have Garrison Keilor.

Cheers...

[Gabi Hayes]

30. thanks...that's the one I was thinking about....CPB, not NPR

afa the Wisconsin station, I rarely can get it in....do you stream, or have a really good FM receiver? I can get it in my car sometimes

I've called in a few times, when they've had a really egregious guest. their female morning host is usually pretty good; much better than anyone they have on the national level, except the guy from San Francisco, who I used to listen to on Sirius

WBEZ is pathetic, especially overnight. unlistenable propaganda from China, Poland, Russia, etc. why not CBC instead. really bad programming choices, for the most part

have you ever tried to listen to the ass that follows Harry Shearer on Sunday nights? not Ken Nordine (actual genius), but the guy right after LeShow

and what's the deal with Car Talk? how can anyone stand those braying hyenas?

[KharmaTrain]

33. WBEZ Has Really Gone Downhill

I used to enjoy listening to the late Sondra Gair...my late mother listened to her religiously. Now the only times I pop on are for Prarie Home Companion and, if I don't catch it online...LaShow. I could never stomache the car talk dudes...a week ago I saw they did a Nova program...and as they say, these guys definitely had a face for radio. Words can't describe Ken Nordine...I grew up studying the man's style and was fortunate to have met him and him work several times...hopefully one day a new generation will hear and appreciate his Word Jazz.

I get WPR from a station in Elgin at 88.9FM...fortunately it comes in real strong in my area and can hear it in most of the Northwest and West burbs...even out to DeKalb. Other times I can get a pretty decent signal on 90.7 from Milwaukee. The Elgin station does their own morning show (reading the school lunch menu) but carries the network non-stop the rest of the day.

There's so little to hear on radio in this area...and a real shame...there used to be a lot of very creative and innovative people here. Now it's all being done on the cheap.

Cheers...

[dougolat]

25. Thank god my local NPR mixes in PRI, Pacifica, Democracy Now

We even heard Glenn Greenwald two days ago!
NPR itself took a strong stand fighting micro stations.
The corPIRATE tentacles are everywhere, folks.

[MasonJar]

26. I just sent them a nasty e-mail. I told them that it was time for Bob

Edwards to come back. They will not read mine on the air.

[The Wizard]

29. NPR

Nazi Propaganda Radio. Goebbels lives.

[bushmeister0]

31. Mourning Edition.

That what I suggested to them they should call it during their over the top Reagan funeral coverage. My God, you would have thought the Pope and Jesus had died along with him the way they were carrying on. I remember the old NPR from the early eighties and such coverage would have been unthinkable. Especially for that cretin.

I have a friend whose dad works there and I asked once about whether they were going to so a story on the marines dropping white phosphorous on civilans in Fallujah. The item was on the story board he said . . . and then it wasn't.

They only did something on it almost a year later when an Italian documentary came out with photos of the greusome evidence. Naturally, they did a five minute piece on it consisting entirely of John Pike of globalsecurity.com pooh poohing the whole thing. 'Oh, who can tell if those bodies are brned or not, they could just be decomposing.' That's good enough for NPR. End of story.

Inskeep: "Are you alledging that the President didn't just screw up, or that his people didn't screw up, but that the President himself knowingly lied about what Iraq's situation was?"

Suskind: "The evidence is clear, that the Presdident knew there were no weapons, or certainly had plenty of evidence there were no weapons in Iraq prior to the invasion."

Inskeep: "Let me ask, though, you're talking about one high level Iraqi official, very high level, credible sounding, but he's one offcial, and I wonder if you as a reporter would be willing to base you entire book, say, mush less a matter of life and death, on a single source like that?"

Like what?

What about "Curveball" Steve? The administration based their whole war on the word of one source who lied his ass off for Ahmad Chalabi.

I like how he tries to make it sound like the president screwing up isn't so bad. I mean, it was only a war, right? People make mistakes.

[Duncan]

32. NPR morning edition is corporate propaganda

Thats why they pretended John Edwards did not exist throughout his campaign.

Its even more harmful than most MSm in a way because so many people think it is moderate or even liberal.

[asdjrocky]

34. Here here on that one.

I worked with a woman who once worked for NPR while I was on the Edwards campaign. She acted like she had no idea what I was talking about when I confronted her on the coverage, or lack of, for Edwards.

[blackspade]

35. More like a...

Shipload of FAIL!!!

[LynnTheDem]

36. You said; " I myself am skeptical only because I can't imagine

that they would have gone to all that trouble to fabricate the thing and then never have used it."

Actually, they did use it. Tom "I heart bush" Brokaw "reported" on it, December, 2003.