Blitzer "no appreciation for Americans" video at canofun like nails....

chaulkboard.

I cannot believe what that canofun guy overlaid over this video.

I had some other windows open and started to frantically look for pop ups on them! Ugh, very annoying. I appreciate the canofun guy providing free vids, I really do, but that overlay while Blitzer was talking was not nice to my ears. Keep it turned down low when you listen...you can still hear what he's saying.

Anyway...

My take on the Blitzer interview (tin foil hat squarely on) is this:

He did a good job. As a journalist, he realized that many in mainstream USA likely would expect Iraqis in general to be grateful for America getting rid of Saddam. He uses "amazing" and "depressing" to describe the fact that there's no appreciation expressed to the USA in the Iraqi statement drawn up in Cairo, but in reality it IS depressing and likely amazing to those mainstream Americans who (although they realize the war is going bad) assume that in general Iraqis are grateful for Ameericas efforts.

That is why Blitzy deserves kudos....he's actually pointing out to people the stark reality of this Cairo document drawn up by all the assorted leadership in Iraq.

VIDEO LINK:
go here and watch " Blitzer-No Appreciation for Americans in Iraq" vid
http://canofun.com/blog/viddate.asp

though it freaked out my cat a little. :-)

admitting to the reality.

for attacking their nation and laying waste to tens and tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen, women, and children, while torturing others - needlessly.

I guess that means I'm not a mainstream American.

Wolf going on and on how "isn't it amazing" that the Iraqis just don't appreciate us. He mentions the "over 2,000 American solders dead" and approaching $300,000,000,000 spent (destroying their country), and "isn't it amazing".

Yes, isn't it. :shrug:

the canofun website guy is not though.

Man, I love him for bringing me video, but I wanted to reach through cyberspace and smack him as I listened to his edit on that vid!

I think Blitzy was highlighting the point of it being amazing because after 200+ Billion America just might be expecting a little gratitude, and it ain't happening! It really is amazing, AND depressing!

overlay of whines, which seems entirely appropriate for Blizter's repeated questioning of each guest.

Quite a few of the clips I make are not "straight shots" but edited in some fashion, but to favor your ears, there's a warning in the description now.

Hey! Love your site, it's a daily ritual for me to check it.

I think you should be careful about deciding what's "appropriate" to overlay on the videos based upon your own opinion.

As I expressed earlier, Blitzers questioning is valuable in the sense that it's miroring an American reality - many Americans think that Iraq has benifitted (and thus should be appreciative) from the US intervention.
Also equally important, many Americans will be unaware of the Cairo statement agreed to by Iraqi leadership/factions.

THUS, Blitzer is doing us a service by drawing attention to it!

You are.....um....also doing us a service by posting the vid! (But giving me a headache with the baby crying overlay!!!!)

cheers.

"straight shot" videos but especially composites/compilations, the editing that takes place always reflects my opinions. And actually, the choice I make of which videos I clip are also opinions and statements-for example, I don't watch Fox News, and don't care as much about making fun of the news hoors as preserving liberal points of view. (The editing that takes place at corporate media reflects someone's opinions and value judgements about what is useful and what is not, as well). If you've visited the site daily, you know that the "Is Bush Drunk" composite video that I created is a statement, as are the coke-jaw edits of Bush speeches or the White House daily press briefings in which I take out most of Scotty's blabber and leave the questions.

I agree that knowing the contents of the Cairo statement is important, but Blitzer's emphasis and the way he phrased it *did* and *do* strike me as whining. Maybe some in America want more overt gratitude from the Iraqis for what they perceive our military has done, but I think that's offensive and unnecessary. If Blitzer believes it's necessary to point out that it's depressing to him (and wants confirmation from this guests that it is to them as well) that Iraqis aren't shouting appreciation to Americans for invading their country, fine. But it sounds like whining to me.

In any event, the baby cries *were* loud. I purposely picked an audio file to overlay that was entitled "baby Loud cries" without realizing it might hurt more sensitive ears. So there's a warning.

And you are free to do with it as you like. Express what you think of Blitzers questions by overlaying an annoying baby crying, your perogative.

For added perspective....I would have jumped at sending along the clip to far-flung friends and acquaintences...but I won't subject them to something so annoying.

If promoting a liberal POV is your goal, then overlaying something that makes a video supportive of the liberal POV difficult to listen to is perhaps not in your own interest.

I agree that knowing the contents of the Cairo statement is important, but Blitzer's emphasis and the way he phrased it *did* and


*do* strike me as whining.


I guess you gotta ask yourself a question...what is it primarily about, you or something bigger than you.

Your argument seems reminiscent of the Jon Stewart/Presstitutes thread that was so busy the other day; ie, Should someone presenting a point of view do it in such a way that it pleases everyone? (In Stewart's case, some took issue with the fact that he lampooned Kerry's response to Bush's speech). Should Jon Stewart write and tell jokes that he wants, with the limited time he has, or should he say that his show, being one of the only ones that shows the truth, be more subservient to a bigger mission?

Attempting to answer a question framed that way is a losing proposition. I put up what I want, in the way I want, so, in effect, I've already determined, according to my lights, what is important. Is it always important to others? No. But I choose items that seem bigger than me, valuable in the sense that many times they aren't covered much at all or the meat of what I liked is edited out by or in corporate media. At the risk of sounding like Rumsfeld, it is what it is.

Frankly, the Wolf video was not important, but picked specifically because I believed it was annoying, whiny and frivolous... and not important except as a target of a lampoon.

You're posting videos and hosting a blog, not writing and telling jokes a la' Jon Stewart.

And you and I differ on the importance of the Wolf video. Not many Americans are aware of the statement from Iraqi leadership emerging from the Cairo conference, and that's too bad.

I thought you viewed yourself as a provider of political truth in the form of video, not as a comedian.

Stewart, I am talking about *editing*, someone, anyone, determining what information is valuable or useful, in whatever venue- and I used Jon Stewart as a recent example, because the thread on presstitutes had, at its heart, what and how Stewart chose to edit Kerry.

We do differ on the Wolf video, because the bits I chose are not to highlight the statements as a whole from the Cairo conference but one particular aspect of how Blitzer treated it.

Just do me two favors:

Get some more videos up and don't overlay that awful crying baby anymore!

cheers!

aren't thanking us. He really seems earnest in his question- nearly to the point of exasperation.

I saw him interviewing Zbigniew Brzezinski the other day, and when Brzezinski offered a realistic picture of Iraq's future, Blitzer responded desperately, "but- how can you *say* that? There are elections coming up in just weeks!".

I think Wolf Blitzer is an idiot.

..so adding emphasis and asking the unplesent questions like they matter is part of the job.

If he's playing devils advocate he might just be good at it!!

Ask yourself this...would you prefer he didn't make the point that there's no appreciation for America in the Iraqi statement that came out of the Cairo meetings?

It's laughable.

What I do know is that Wolf Blitzer has doggedly *ignored* countless issues that would put the Bush Administration in a bad light, or attempted to help spin them into oblivion.

He tried forever to frame the Plame investigation as an assault on the First Ammendment, for instance. To listen to him describe it, you'd think Judith Miller was a persecuted and noble character; a martyr for journalism.

Now, that interpretation certainly wasn't confined to Wolf Blitzer's show, but that's the sort of thing I mean. He's done the same type of thing many other times. I don't trust him at all.

Blitzers' track record as you saw it is not really the issue.

I think you are taking his questions at face value and not considering why he's making a point out of it....what the journalistic value of making a point out of it is.

If you're going to suggest that Wolf Blitzer was being critical of the occupation in some way, at least.

I'll acknowledge the fact that his question puts Bush's war in a very sad light, I just don't agree that Wolf Blitzer intended to do that. That's why I mentioned his track record.