Top Ten At CBS

CBS provides the Top Ten flip-flops for Bush and Kerry. Are they fair and balanced?

The first sentence of the Kerry list is a laugher:

Senate's Role In Wars With Iraq

Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in January 1991, Kerry broke with the majority of senators and voted against authorizing the first Gulf War.

"Broke with the majority"? The measure passed by 52-47; there were 10 Democrats who supported it, including Al Gore, and it was opposed by Ted Kennedy and the Senate Democratic leadership. Who did Kerry "break with", and why does CBS hint that somehow he merits a profile in courage for this vote?

For comparison, another Kerry flip-flop list can be found at the RNC site. I suppose on the Patriot Act and No Child Left Behind Kerry could defend himself by describing them as good votes gone bad. The Patriot Act was sunsetted, and will come up for renewal, so the intent was always to reflect upon our experience at a later date.

As for the Bush flip-flops, CBS opens with WMDs in Iraq. Hmm, was not finding WMDs a "flip-flop"?

Next they mention Bush's famous change on nation-building. 9/11 changes everything, although we wish Bush had remembered his earlier caution.

Then CBS cites this as evidence that Bush said Saddam was linked to Al Qaeda:

"Iraq and the Sept. 11 Attacks

In a press conference in September 2002, six months before the invasion of Iraq, President Bush said, “you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror... they're both equally as bad, and equally as evil, and equally as destructive.”

Golly, could they both be part of the war on terror, even if they are not linked? I think you cannot talk about the war on terror without discussing Pakistan, Kashmir, and India, and, in another theatre, the Palestinian problem in the West Bank. The direct link between the two eludes me, however.

That said, since Osama was incensed by the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, put there to protect the Kingdom from Saddam, one link is obvious. Or, viewed differently, Saddam and Osama were both symptoms of a larger problem.

I will spot CBS the 9/11 Commission, the creation of a Dept. of Homeland Security, and free trade.

Their comment that Bush flip-flopped on same-sex marriage between 2000 and 2004 ignores the events in Massachusetts, California, and other states.

Their next flip-flop is deliberately deceptive:

Winning the War on Terror

"I don't think you can win it," Mr. Bush said of the war on terror in August. In an interview on NBC's "Today" show, he said, “I think you can create conditions so that . . . those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

Before the month closed, Mr. Bush reversed himself at the American Legion national convention in Nashville. He said: "We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win." He later added, “we are winning, and we will win."

Before the month closed? The comment was reported on Aug 31 and corrected that day! How about, the quote makes more sense in context, or Bush mis-spoke? To pretend that Bush had a well-thought through position - "we cannot win the war on terror" - and then flip-flopped, is absurd.

CBS closes with flip-flops on campaign finance reform, and gasoline prices. Whatever.

Comments

[abb1]

Their next flip-flop is deliberately deceptive

LOL. Like there is anything at all in this whole "flip-flop" nonsense that's not deliberately deceptive. You sound like you're falling for your own propaganda. This is usually the beginning of the end, ya'know.

[Forbes]

The "don't think you can win it" was in response to Matt Lauer's question asking if the global war on terror could be won in the next four years. The President's response is taken out of context, as such cBS is misleading and dishonest. Although it is exactly as Michael Moore would use such a statement, but then MM is a propagandist, and never claims to be a "news" organization.

[Dusty]

If there is no discernable reason for holding conflicting positions, then, of course, there is something to dubbing it a 'flip-flop' though the term tends to reduce the importance of noting such 'flip-flops'. As a result, you wind up with what CBS gave us -- subjects contorted to fit into cutsie Top 10 lists, incoherent treatment of each item, and poorly substantiated items are flip-flops.

While 'flip-flops' will reflect poorly on the candidates, these lists only reflect poorly on CBS.

[scott]

What is also left out is that he placed his comment in quotes using his fingers to make bunny ears which gave his comments perspective. That perspective being that this was not a war of tanks and artillary where a clear distinction can be drawn between unequivacol success where one party lays down their weapons and goes home and the other party is victorious. He was simply stating that this is not a traditional war of guns and infantry (in total) but rather one of ideaology.

[Reid]

Osama was also incensed by the sanctions on Iraq which he claimed had killed "millions" of innocent Iraqis (see his 1998 fatwah declaring jihad against the US).

In fact, the belief that the US was responsible for millions of deaths in Iraq was one of the major recruiting draws for Al Qaeda in the 1990's, especially after Madeleine Halfbright's insouciant dismissal of Iraqi suffering in order to contain Saddam that was given substantial air time in the region.

That is why the charge that the invasion of Iraq has drawn recruits to AQ is so mind-numbingly ignorant. The Iraqi sanctions constituted a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaeda. Recruits have been beating down the door to join AQ against the US for over a decade. Continued containment, even supposing it could have been managed given that the sanctions were already crumbling, would have continued drawing beaucoup recruits to AQ with no end in sight.

[Jimmy Harris]

As for the Bush flip-flops, CBS opens with WMDs in Iraq. Hmm, was not finding WMDs a "flip-flop"?

CBS doesn't refer to not finding WMD as a flip-flop. They refer to his statements as flip-flopping.

“We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories,” Mr. Bush told Polish television. “For those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."

On Sept. 9, 2004, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Bush said: “I recognize we didn't find the stockpiles [of weapons] we all thought were there.”

[Michael McNeil (Impearls)]

The CBS article pointed to says, "Following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in January 1991, Kerry broke with the majority of senators and voted against authorizing the first Gulf War."  Iraq, however, invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990.  The air war portion of the coalition's Gulf War I counter-invasion was launched during January, 1991.