I finally had an hour to spare so I could watch some of the post-debate coverage from Fox News on my TiVo. I wanted to have a change to post some video clips here, with a little analysis to help shed some light on their right-wing bias.
This video is a snippet captured from Fox News’ debate replay coverage, 6 hours after the debate took place. It’s of Bill (William) Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, reacting to the debate. Kristol is previously known for his position at the Project for Republican Future, and was previously Vice PResident Dan Quayle’s chief of staff.
Have a look at the video, and then let me break it down for you…
After a little wishful pontification on Bush having missed an opportunity to knock Kerry out of the race, Kristol attempts to weaken Kerry’s position on Iraq by in essence saying that he offers nothing new, and that he’d just do the same thing that Bush was already planning to do anyway, which is to fight aggressively to win the conflict.
Then something strange starts to happen: Kristol says, “The President will attack Kerry for his excessive deference to global institutions; there’s some kind of global test, I think you’ll hear Republicans saying an awful lot of this in the next days…” The host reiterates, “global test, yeah…” Kristol continues, “The President quickly came back and said, ‘the test I’m interested in is defending America.'” The implication here, of course, is that by using diplomacy and accepting support from our allies, that we’re somehow not defending America.
But what was actually said in the debate? Watch the video again. Kerry never used the words “global test”. In fact he never said the word test at all. He did use the word global, but only when describing Bush’s “turning away from the global warming treaty”.
But “global test” must have been the GOP attack-Kerry-phrase for the week. Bush turns around and says, “Aah… Let me um… I’m not exactly sure what you mean, ‘passes the global test’, you take preemptive action if you ‘pass a global test’? My attitude is that you take preemptive action in order to protect the American people; that you act in order to make this country secure…”
Again, the implication is that the country is not secure if you involve the U.N., if you use diplomacy, if you trust your allies, if you respect treaties. What the fuck kind of attitude is that? Screw you, Dubya.
For what it’s worth, Kristol is a frequent commentator on Fox News. He’s a smart guy, and a dangerous spinner. Watch out for him!
Apparently you did’t listen too closely, Kerry most certainly referred to a “global test”, here is Kerry’s quote:
KERRY:�
But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you’re doing what you’re doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.
Both parties spin, but passing along falsehoods is something entrely different.
P.S. I checked it on several different transcripts to be sure.
Mike
Michael, see my response here. -Jake