I certainly don’t contend he was the only one that was wrong about the WMD’s, but it looks like he would like to pretend that he never said the things he did. Why not just own up to them and go on. Isn’t that what personal responsibility is all about?

While it is difficult to be more dishonest than Ledeen, it is difficult to be more wrong than Charles Krauthammer. Prior to the invasion, Krauthammer used his various media platforms—his column at the Washington Post and his almost daily appearances on Fox News—to warn that Iraq was rapidly building up its WMD capabilities and that the U.S. risked running out of time if it did not invade immediately. He assured Americans that the war would pay for itself with oil revenues and that Iraqis would greet Americans as liberators.

http://www.amconmag.com/2007/2007_01_15/article1.html

In all honesty, I think Bill should be worried because he is what causes FNC to be accused of Republican-leaning ideas! I mean, many of the reporters do nothing more than that, report, but the commentative hosts are what is the main focus of the network. I mean, if you walked up to some random person and asked them about FNC, they’d probably say they know names like O’Reilly or Hannity, but would wonder who in the world is this Jon Scott, Shepard Smith, or Martha MacCallum?

Back to O’Reilly vs. NBC, I think it’s time FOX fights back against all the slams of conservative bias by exposing the rampant liberal bias in the mainstream media, especially at NBC. To borrow a football term, the best defense is a good offense. Exposing liberal bias in the MSM can only help FOX.

The thing I like about Matthews is that he is the only anchor on MSNBC or CNN who wears his liberal viewpoint on his sleeve. And that’s a GOOD thing; FNC has lots of anchors who readily admit their liberal or conservative leaning bias: John Gibson, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, Bob Beckel, Brit Hume, Geraldo Rivera, Rich Lowry. CNN has NONE! MSNBC has one admitted conservative, one admitted libertarian, and one admitted liberal. FNC doesn’t deny that their hosts/anchors lean more right than left; they simply promise that we’re going to hear both sides of the debate.

I agree with O’Reilly that Matthews, and many others on the left, are invested in losing the war. That’s something voters and viewers need to know. And the ones who really want to win this war are not on the far right; they are the moderates, like Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman, and John McCain. The media has a responsibility to tell us about this; instead the MSM (CNN especially) pretend to be objective and try to manipulate their viewers.

Brokaw’s comment was consistent with many other analysts including the usually wrong Charles Krauthammer.

As for Chris Mathew’s blunt comment, while it may not have been the most politically correct way of expressing it, it was reflective of the fact that the U.S. may have to ultimately take sides in this war in order to end the sectarian violence.

On the Chris Mattthews’ quote: That, without doubt, is irresponsible. That makes it appear like American soldiers are savages. They have a mission to do there, which is to
end the insurgency that has resulted in the impasse we have been seeing. To reduce a complex problem to the level that Matthews did is not only unfair to coalition soldiers, but reeks of tabloid journalism. Matthews ought to apologize for those vile remarks.

There is free speech in this country, but let’s make sure what is being said is fair, responsible, and not harmful to the solution we are seeking for the problems in Iraq. The president does not need to be bopgged down by armchair experts whose tongues are ever so loose to criticize him at every turn, and yet without having to shoulder that heavy burden. That’s a big difference.

The problem the mainstream media has is they accuse of FOX having a conservative bias (which, among its main commentators, it does), but they can never see their own liberal bias, although almost every single person working there is a liberal.

And congrats to the Olbermann team on the quick (if not entirely accurate) response. In the past I have seen several day old stories used in the WPITW segment; not this time!

I was yawning a week ago. Not any more.

To quote South Park… “That does not make sense! Chewbacca is a wookie!”

As for the Mitchell interview, it’s never a fair fight when one side comes armed with facts prepared in advance and the other side doesn’t. I think Mitchell did ok under the circumstances though I don’t like the way she balked at the name one conservative question. I did find a flaw with O’Reilly’s logic though. At the end he praised Mitchell for being fair and balanced and accurate yet totally discounts her appraisal of NBC News. How can one say that one is fair and balanced and then totally blow off what they’re saying?

BTW, Countdown airs live. The Factor is taped. So yeah they did turn it around in half an hour and got it on the air. But judging by the results it seems sort of obvious that Olbermann had never seen the interview. How could he? He was on the air. But whoever filled him in did a poor job.

As for the study, you neglected to mention all of the findings in it… some of which change perspective a bit. Here are the relevant parts:

• Among non-partisan sources, Kerry’s evaluations were almost three-to-one positive; Bush’s were over two-to-one negative.

• Among the networks, the gap between the candidates was largest on NBC; the coverage was most balanced on ABC.

• Fox News Channel was about as negative towards Bush as the broadcast networks, but Kerry’s evaluations were negative by a five-to-one margin.

• There was little difference in the evaluations of party- and campaign-based partisan sources, but Bush fared over four times as well as Kerry among non-partisan sources.

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Additionally, we must remember comparisons between the network news broadcasts and FNC are like comparing apples to oranges… yeah they’re fruit, but not the same fruit. FNC by-and-large is a network built around the concept of commentary and opinion, while the broadcast channels stand on the “un-biased truth” platform.

As for Olbermann getting his facts wrong, and/or not actually doing any research (how can he report on something that hasn’t yet aired… oh wait, we saw him do that with Chris Wallace too)… well I think *yawn* sums it up nicely. I’d love to see Bill debate Keith… but I thought Keith said that news debates make him ill.

Spud: I’ll jump in first before the foreign precincts check in and agree that your conclusion is absolutely correct.

As I have said before, BOR’s problem with NBC goes back a few years. He worked with Rather and Jennings but never at the Peacock. Maybe Brokaw rejected him, who knows?

It is nearly as ridiculous as The Donald-Rosie feud.