Media hypocrisy? The media’s rules didn’t apply to George W. Bush

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005180044


The media’s rules didn’t apply to George W. Bush

May 18, 2010 3:26 pm ET by Jamison Foser


The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder writes about the consequences for politicians who exaggerate their military record:



But that isn’t always the case. It wasn’t disqualifying, instantly or otherwise, for George W. Bush. During his 2000 and 2004 campaigns, the press didn’t much care about Bush’s exaggerations and lies about his military record. And I don’t just mean the fact that all available evidence suggests that Bush failed to fulfill his commitment to the National Guard. Even if, for some reason, you choose to believe -- absent any evidence -- that Bush did fulfill that commitment, he exaggerated or lied about his service in other ways, like claiming to have served in the “Air Force” and claiming to have continued flying with his unit for “several years” after his pilot training.

Not only did the media not treat Bush’s exaggerations as disqualifying, in many cases, they harshly attacked Democrats for raising questions about Bush’s service.

and did claim to have served in the "Air Force" when he should have said "Air National Guard".

But AFAIK he never actually said "I served in Vietnam" in a speech, like Blumenthal did:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/17/ct-sen_blumenthal_touts_vietnam_service_in_2008.html

The blatant bald-faced lying is the really despicable thing about Blumenthal. He has disrepected the memory and bravery of those who *did* serve in Vietnam.

and/or allow others- whom weren't even in a position to know anything about what actually happened about events that they didn't witness- to smear him relentlessly about it without consequence. And then of course, nobody in the media had a problem with people at the RNC actually MOCKING John Kerry's military service by wearing those juvenile purple band-aids. :puke:

Translation: Kerry isn't a mindless fucking hawk.

And every Rethug and media whore knows that only mindless hawks are REAL veterans. Because all of us vets are exactly alike. Except for the ones like me and Kerry who "didn't deserve" our decorations.

Fucking bastards.

of the corporate media.

"...claiming to have continued flying with his unit for “several years” after his pilot training."

That statement is probably true. It was my understanding he was soaring "pretty high" during those years.

Just sayin'.

He did not fly with his buddies for years after training..

Rupert decides what you need to know.

IOKIYAR.

His "pedigree" is that the Navy says he is a war hero. Period. He got two very prestigious medals that even in 2004, the Navy said were properly rewarded.

One of the biggest lies in 2004 was that it was a disagreement between Kerry and the SBVT. In fact, it was a disagreement between the Navy's official record and a group allied with Bush who presented not one 1960s vintage piece of proof. They were also caught in lie after lie. Yet, today the Wall street Journal starts an article on Blumenthal stating that Kerry might not have served as heroically as he wanted people to think. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703957904575252483864076618.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

This is absolute garbage. As one of the JK group, I've read more about him than most. The Navy itself gave him those prestigous medals. I can think of only one case where he himself brought up his medals. That was at the Firefighter's convention when he defended himself against the SBVT - even then he simply listed the medals. I have seen no cases where he spoke of either the bronze star or silver star events in any detail. (In Tour of Duty, the main input from his diary was not on the actual event, but his thoughts. (Especially in the silver star, the fear that he and his entire crew could have died and all their parents would have received the dreaded news.)

The rules are always different for Democrats.

raising daughters is far worse"....GW Bush*

The fact that media people questioned Kerry's COMBAT record, yet 'laughed it off' about George serving and lying about going AWOL shows how they wanted one party to win out over the other. In both elections.

at a VFW he was introduced as the man who flew the skies and kept us safe during the Viet Nam War. And he gave his smirk and didn't correct the a**hole one bit.

"Chickenhawkery and corporate media cover up are Republicon Family Values thingies. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL (R)

Is that why what he said is more important than the oil gusher right now?

off...

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/05/18/connecticut_senate_race_moved_to_toss_up.html

May 18, 2010

Connecticut Senate Race Moved to Toss Up

See, it's okay to lie about your service record, or about someone else's service record, if you're a Republican. Blumenthal has walked back and clarified his comment, dug out of the archives as it was, but that probably won't be good enough to save him. As a Democrat, the rules will be different for him, and a couple of years from now, the very publications that will end his political career this year, will wonder what all the fuss was about.

It's happened so many times in so many different cases, it should be grounds for a horselaugh whenever some Republican whiner mentions the "liberal" media. But the narrative is so embedded in the consciousness of the Beltway Insiders that it will probably never go away.