Hillary's Southern Drawl in Context

Does anyone out there like being lied to? Maybe calling it a lie is a bit harsh, do you like it when the media plays you like a violin?

This past week we all saw the footage of Hillary's outrageously silly southern drawl that she adopted when speaking in front of a largely black, southern audience.



Fox news played it almost as much as they played Howard Dean's infamous "Yeaaaaaaagh!"



The conservative community was abuzz. I don't think a single conservative commentator missed the chance to poke fun at Hillary. I so badly wanted to blog about the story as soon as I'd heard the audio clip, but I was really busy this past week and didn't have time to get it up.

The narrative espoused by conservatives was that Hillary, the NEW YORK Senator, who is engaged in a battle with Obama over the southern black vote, had, in an effort to distance herself from the remarkably clean, bright, and articulate - not just any kind of articulate, we are talking storybook, man... - Barack Obama, adopted a southern drawl in what was apparently an effort to appeal to the Southern black voter.

The joke was, "I may not be black, like my opponent, but I can sound just like you, and that is why you should vote for me."

It was absurd. It was ridiculous, but when you listened to Hillary's audio clip, it all made perfect sense.

Too perfect, it turns out. When looking for the video for my Hillary Resource Center, I came across the following clip, which shows Hillary's comment in context.



When I watched this, I was pretty disappointed with Fox News, Sean Hannity, etc. The conservatives who were quick to slam Hillary over her southern accent, essentially cherry picked the audio in what was pretty clearly an out of context quote.

I see this as different than the alleged "botched joke" that Kerry claims was nothing more than a right wing smear, where we all "knew what he really meant."



Kerry expected that despite his history of saying atrocious things about American troops:





... that we would all just know that if you added a word or two here, took away a word or two there, viola, it was really a joke about President Bush... and we all KNEW IT!

No. This Hillary accent brouha is very different. I am disappointed in the conservative coverage of this. I don't like Hillary, not a bit. I don't want to see her anywhere near the White House, unless it is to congratulate Rudy when he takes office, but I want the coverage of these politicians to at least be accurate.

Fair and Balanced means playing a clip like that in context. Just like Coulter's joke about no longer being able to use the new "F" word was ill-conceived and detracts from all the intelligent things she has to say, playing clips out of context represents a sort of dishonesty that detracts from all of the other things conservative outlets have to say.

ABC Reports Surge/New Security Efforts Working

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen with my own eyes.





As much as I complain about the press not covering the good news in Iraq, there isn't much I can say about this piece.

Q&A: Cheney on Taliban and Suicide Bomber

Vice President's Remarks to the Traveling Press
Aboard Air Force Two
En Route Muscat, Oman

via White House News

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, I was -- they provided me quarters there overnight because you all know we got weathered in. It seems to me I think it was about 10:00 a.m. this morning, I heard a loud boom. And shortly after that, the Secret Service came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate, apparently a suicide bomber.

They moved me for a relatively brief period of time to one of the bomb shelters nearby, near the quarters I was staying in. And as the situation settled down, and they got a better sense in terms of what was going in, then I went back to my room. It was almost time to leave.

Q What do you think the symbolism is there for the -- for whoever carried this out? They said publicly that this was aimed at you. What does that --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Who said that?

Q The Taliban --

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I hadn't heard that.

Q It was a Taliban spokesman quoted, saying that the attack was trying to get you.

Q What we're quoting them as saying is that they took responsibility for it, and they said they were aware that you were there.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I hadn't heard that.

Q Did you at any time consider changing your itinerary about Kabul after learning this news? Or was that never--

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Never an option.

Q I guess, the question was, do you suppose in light of the current situation in Afghanistan that if a group does the act that it did and it suggests that they were going after you in some way, it's more a self-serving symbolic statement to their own people, look, we're on the attack against the Vice President, regardless of how ludicrous it is because you were so far from the scene of the actual incident?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think they clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government. Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that. But it shouldn't affect our behavior at all.

There has been much ado about this attack on the Vice President. I for one am thankful that Cheney is alright. Apparently a LOT of people don't hold the same sentiments. It is sad really, that political discourse has come to this.

I think if the shoe were on the other foot, and by that I mean if the attack target had been Al Gore or Bill Clinton, I like to think that the Right would rise to the occasion, expressing outrage at the attacker, not the target of the attack. I like to think the conservative right would take the opportunity to advocate the annihilation of our enemy, not make comments like "darn, they missed." I like to think that I am right about this, and I *might* not be, but I like to think I am.

I guess it will take an attack on some moonbat on the left to test this hypothesis.

After 9/11 there was no left/right distinction. We were all Americans. An attack on one of us was an attack on all of us. Maybe that is the difference between the left and the right. The right refuses to forget 9/11 while the left refuses to acknowledge it.

I think Cheney really is a brilliant individual: "it shouldn't affect our behavior at all."

If only that were completely true. If only the press would pay more attention to the US victories over terror instead of the suicide attackers and cowardly road-bombers. If the press would take the same amount of time to report the terrorist's defeats as they do their "achievements" in carrying out the thoughtless slaughter of innocents, then terrorism would not work at all, and the Islamo-fascists would give up.

The Past 2 Weeks In Iraq

In the past 2 weeks, US Forces:
1) Opened a new high school for girls in northern Baghdad
2) Launched a new operation, "Operation Law and Order" and provided evidence of Iranian involvement in the insurgency
3) Made several weapons cache finds
4) Including a weapons cache uncovered in a Mosque
5) Captured at least 21 Suspected Al Qaeda members in one raid
6) Including a high ranking leader within Al Qaeda
7) And detained 140+ insurgents.

Undeniable proof of progress in Iraq. As each day goes by our forces take a step closer to absolute victory in Iraq.

However, was ANY of this information on the front page of any newspaper? How many articles did the AP write this past week on all the progress being made in Iraq? That's right, one big ole goose egg.

What did the AP cover? Here is a pretty typical example:

2 Baghdad car bombs kill 56, injure 127
BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two car bombs exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 56 people and injuring scores in the deadliest attack since U.S. and Iraqi forces began a major security push around the capital last week.

The twin blasts — which tore through the open-air market in the mostly Shiite district of New Baghdad — marked the first major response by militants to the sweep launched last week and a sobering reminder of the huge challenges facing any efforts against the well-armed factions.

The death toll was reported by police and ambulance service officials on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. At least 127 people were injured, they reported.

Ah yes: body counts, death and destruction, chaos. The one side of the story we do hear in America.

Here is a novel idea, terrorism wouldn't be nearly as effective if the press covered it up the same way they do the progress in the War on Terror.

Watada Trial Begins Monday

Trial of US soldier who refused to go to Iraq opens Monday

WASHINGTON (AFP) - First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first US army officer to publicly refuse orders to go to Iraq, will go on trial in a court martial Monday at Fort Lewis, Washington, according to his supporters.

Watada is being tried for his refusal in June 2006 to be deployed to Iraq on the grounds that he opposed the decision of President George W. Bush to launch the war.

I don't have much to add that I haven't already covered.

He will be found guilty. He is guilty. The press is really to blame.

Quote of the Day:

"Unproven claims successfully disguised as facts in the media can be persistent obstacles to finding the truth"

Source.

If that isn't true then there is no truth.

Iraq War Mythology

I will be writing a series of posts on what I like to call Iraq War Mythology. The purpose of these posts will be to tackle common misconceptions, or myth's, about the war in Iraq. The misconceptions exist because of foundationless anti-war/partisan attacks and the awful way the press has handled the war in Iraq. I hope to take on these issues in a comprehensive but thoughtful manner.

I will not deny my conservative leanings will factor into my approach to these issues; however, my greatest concern is for the Truth. History is ongoing; unfortunately there are people trying to rewrite it as we go. Their concern is not for the truth, is not based in fact, and is only to obtain more political power.

I think we ought to just let the facts speak for themselves. Unfortunately, most Americans do not get the facts presented to them in an unbiased and objective manner. That is my goal. Find the facts, refute the myths.

Update: Jan 5th 2007 Iraq War Mythology Part 1: Why America Invaded Iraq
Update: Jan 17th 2007 Iraq War Mythology Part II: Weapons of Mass Destruction
Update in Progress: Iraq War Mythology Part III: Iraq and 9/11