ABC News Asks 60 Soldiers Who They'll Vote for - Doesn't Report the 54 For McCain
By Bill Dupray Posted in Liberals — Comments (34) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
From Right Wing Dog.
This from Major General (ret) Buckman.
My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq.
Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI’s walking past. They kept count of the GI’s and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI’s who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama, and 2 for Hillary.
Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn.
Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI’s being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton .. No mention of the 54 for McCain.
Ah, the irony of American Patriots protecting the press from harm while the reporter prepares a completely misleading story about which candidate the soldiers prefer. The reporter obviously thought her escort was comprised of brainless morons who wouldn't see what was going on in front of them. Wouldn't be the first time a reporter in the MSM turned out to be the brainless moron.
Support the troops. Pass this along.
Also find Bill Dupray at The Patriot Room
Perhaps it might be worthwhile to sponsor a poll of the military. It probably wouldn't get reported in the MSM, but it would be fun to see it in a 527 ad.
Robert L. Mayo
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.
- Goethe
If the survey is conducted by the MSM and biased survey firms, you will get the same result.
Obama up, McCain down.
We need to ensure that all through out the country, ALL election precincts are still intact.
Obama and his Chicago cheaters are now spreading cheating tactics. That's my wild guess.
If the survey is conducted by the MSM and biased survey firms, you will get the same result.
Obama up, McCain down.
We need to ensure that all through out the country, ALL election precincts are still intact.
Obama and his Chicago cheaters are now spreading cheating tactics. That's my wild guess.
If the survey is conducted by the MSM and biased survey firms, you will get the same result.
Obama up, McCain down.
We need to ensure that all through out the country, ALL election precincts are still intact.
Obama and his Chicago cheaters are now spreading cheating tactics. That's my wild guess.
in Istanbul. Six dead- the three attackers and three policemen.
I don't think we'll see much coverage on the MSM.
Oh, BTW: that's all 100%...not a vote for Bob Barr or Ron Paul or whoever.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
It is a provable fact that RonPaulRonPaulRonPaul gets all the military money and votes. I read it on the Internets, so it must be true!
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If I were the president, many, if not most of these disgusting MSM journalists would be put in jail for their false reporting of 'news'.
I wouldn't mind laws being passed to execute some of these traitors.
a lot of state department and CIA leakers in prison.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
To me, the crime of these so-called journalists and talking heads is more severe than a few leakers. They are using the bully pulpit as propaganda machine to advance their anti-America, pro-terrorists agenda.
I really wouldn't mind seeing Matthews/Olberman being executed under a new law.
Or perhaps a psychosis. They are strange feedback loop that superimposes our bad dreams on the input of reality.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." - The Chief Justice
Charlotte Corday didnt wait for government go ahead :)
"I am a jelly doughnut"
I am positive that I heard this last week or the week before, perhaps on Glenn Beck (I really cannot remember where I heard about this; anybody else?)...
Is this just now making the rounds?
Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.
-- H. H. Williams
How can journalistic standards fall so low? It sounds incredible to me... Is this absolutely confirmed? I know that most networks have their "narrative"... but come on, they cant just disregard an absolute clear finding against their narrative! Perhaps i'm naive. But i'd like to believe in the ideal of a free media.
On an unrelated note, which tv show should I watch for some unbiased coverage of the election? I dont want either conservative or liberal opinions and slants... I just want to know what happened, what the candidate said, and what their policy proposals are. I'll make my own judgments from that, thank you very much. Are there any shows remaining which fulfill this criteria? I cant believe that what was at one time a requirement for a news show is now an idealistic vision. What have we come to?
------------------------
Is it because I is black? - Ali G
It just once had no competition. I can't point to one that I'd consider really objective; watch a bunch, listen to the radio, read/post the blogs, and from that, you might be able to synthesize the truth, or at least something close to it.
In Vino Veritas
And then turn the d*** TV off!!
What you want doesn't exist. They are all interested in the horse race, not the issues.
The closest you'll ever get is Special Report with Brit Hume. He discusses some issues, but then they proceed to discuss how it is going to affect the horse race.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
ABC really should make this footage available again.
If you visit their website, the story supposedly took place on April 7, 2008. A query for Martha Raddatz in the same time frame leaves a very conspicuous absence at that same time period, at least in terms of video.
Snopes.com has been unable to unsubstantiate this story and therefore the next step is to ask ABC News if Martha Raddatz was in fact in Iraq during this trip and if so, where the footage of the interviews in question are, beyond the text of the story that is presented here:
You'll note that the article is very carefully worded so that it is technically true but doesn't say anything about the others who were not in Raddatz' handpicked group, which she chose to emphasize exclusively in the article. For example, we see paragraphs like this one:
ABC's Martha Raddatz asked American soldiers in Iraq what issues are most important to them when looking at the presidential candidates....
[and indeed she did...ask...American Soldiers.]
Though the military is generally a more conservative group, soldiers like Sgt. Justin Sarbaum are just as eager for a pull-out as the Democratic candidates.
[yup...soldiers like Sgt. Sarbaum, but apparently nobody else]
So essentially Raddatz found the 6 people who agreed with her among the 60, and publicized their stories preferentially and exclusively, absent any other context except the one she carefully constructed and weaved into her narrative, and in that way she manages to be 100% technically truthful and tell it like it ain't. Noam Chomsky must be clapping.
It's time that Raddatz made a public statement about it. You can comment in that thread at the link above, BTW.
ABC News has an enormous firewall of protection set up around it designed to prevent people from making direct email or telephone inquiries. Their main contact page is here and people can submit emails through a form. For the most part, the company has had to institute that policy because of the abuse it has received when people from Democratic Underground flooded their email inboxes and telephone network because ABC News wasn't leftwing enough during the primary season debates. Raddatz herself has thusfar been mum, and the Snopes file is still wide open.
She should explain what the truth was in her own words.
It looks like ABC has also posted the video to the site now as well. It doesn't change anything about the handpicked nature of the group she highlighted for the piece.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/raddatz.asp
They represent an email from Raddatz denying Katelyn's story. I'm personally inclined to believe that Raddatz would tend to skew the story, but I don't see any way to verify this either way.
Their status is "undetermined" and indeed it is, because Raddatz and ABC aren't talking about the story. They're not providing the video outtakes or any other evidence that could confirm or deny the allegations, although Snopes is skeptical about how representative Raddatz' report was. They call the debate "argumentative" and "subjective" and I think that's how ABC intends to leave it: it is to their benefit right now to leave it that way and not elaborate on it much further.
I expect that if there is any further elaboration from Raddatz herself, she'll say something that backs up the story she filed.
Normally I don't go for stories like these or recommend them, but watching the story she filed I support the questions that people are raising about the objectivity and intent of the piece, in particular the way that it presents an Obama/Clinton supporters 6:1 and is worded and phrased very carefully.
"There were some McCain supporters...." for example. I think it's a fair bet that "some" were really "most" and the people Raddatz chose for the piece were actually in the minority, although the story gives the reader the exact opposite impression.
"Selection bias" and I think Raddatz used it very skillfully and manipulatively in this story to tell the tale the way she wanted it to come out during World News with Charles Gibson. And Gibson himself goes along with it. He could have led into it, for example, by saying:
"Martha Raddatz has gone to Iraq to interview some of the troops, and she highlights a group of them who are supporting Democrats in the 2008 election out of the many she interviewed."
At least that would have been playing it straight. Professional writers put that stuff on the TelePrompTer and the anchors rehearse it: they know how to choose their words for television. This is not the first time Martha Raddatz has done a biased story and it's certainly not the first time Charles Gibson has segued into one.
I'm not inclined to defend Raddatz, but in this email, which snopes represents as hers, she claims she interviewed not much more than a dozen soldiers. Also, she says that she was there with Cheney, not McCain. And she says it was while she was moving down a rope line, not at soldiers passed by. These are two incompatible stories.
I don't see how we even verify that this is an email from Raddatz or Buckman much less Katelyn as a real witness.
I'm inclined to believe Raddatz. The clip appears to be a typical left-wing TV spin job. The words say one thing, but the impression left is that the troops support the Democrats by a wide margin.
Even the Snopes entry leaves a bit to be desired. Using phrases like "(as many might expect) reflexively endorsing" John McCain implies that Obama supporters are thinking voters, whereas McCain supporters simply vote reflexively for whomever is sending them into war (which itself doesn't makes any sense).
It's pretty clear that the Obama supporters she talked to want to go home, and who can blame them. Sgt. Sarbaum was on his third tour.
In all, Raddatz's response was very clear and direct, without weasel-wording or evasiveness. Combine that with the fact that some of the details of the original letter are pretty far-fetched. That's why I give her the benefit of the doubt.
Still, it seems to me that nobody should be surprised that many servicemen should support the guy who claims he'll bring them home starting immediately. The surprising thing is that many go with the one who seems to be in it to win, and they volunteer to return multiple times. Now THAT is worth a story.
Pluto, the Ninth Planet - Forever!
Reading the comments it seems that alot of people picked up the obvious bias in the portrayal of the interviews.
anyone that objectively reads the article knows it's meant to be presented as a coup for Obama....but knowing and having proof are two different things.
I'd like to see this get some more prominent airing.
Unless I missed it, there is no source whatsoever for "Rest of the Story."
In addition to that, the "General" apparently spelled Balaad (more commonly known as LSAA Anaconda) "Baluud." Balaad is pronounced exactly how it is spelled. I have a hard time believing that a General would make such an error about the largest base outside of Baghdad, especially when his niece is stationed there.
On top of all that, any general would be able to bring this story to a competitor. Stuff like this is made for Fox News.
Still on top of that, we don't really refer to ourselves as "GIs" all the time; its something they do in hollywar. The whole thing is suspect.
Is there a more legitimate source then some guy with a crappy wordpress site and no links to anything resembling a source?
Have you added to the population of the McCain 2008 minicity yet today?
I drive a car powered by hydrogen - C8H18 to be exact.
I did a google search on "Baluud Iraq" and every single hit referenced this piece of fiction we are now discussing.
First it is Balad not Balaad and not Baluud
Second just because he was a general at some point doesn't mean he knows anything about Iraq...he could have been a Gen. who focused on the Pacific Theater...like Korea and Japan
So this basically neither confirms or negates the story.
I don't know whether it's true or not but your reasons for doubting really aren't proof.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." - The Chief Justice
I never trust anything they say...
And Elvis is still alive?
I can forward those emails too if you like.
"Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. ... including extensive freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market or mixed economy,
Unbelievable. The liberal media has lied and mislead so many hundreds of millions of people over the last several decades. Imagine what this country would be like if the media was 90% conservative instead. McCain would be considered a staunch liberal and Bush would be considered a moderate.