Now That I've Made the Rounds...

Rummy’s in the news, and not in a good way. Come to think of it, he’s rarely, if ever, portrayed “in a good way” by the media. And that’s what I’m on about. The SecDef gave a speech to the American Legion’s annual convention in Salt Lake City yesterday, and here’s what the AP had to say about the speech. Excerpts:

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the Bush administration's critics as suffering from ``moral or intellectual confusion'' about what threatens the nation's security. His remarks amounted to one of his most pointed defenses of President Bush' war policies and was among his toughest attacks on the president's critics.

Speaking to several thousand veterans at the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failure to confront Hitler in the 1930s. He quoted Winston Churchill as observing that trying to accommodate Hitler was ``a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last.''

The AP staff writer went on to quote several Democrats’ knee-jerk responses to Rummy’s speech, with a lead-in sentence that said “Rumsfeld's remarks ignited angry rebukes from Democrats.” OK, that’s real news, ain’t it?

So, what’s the problem, you ask? Context. It’s all about context, and the AP writer, using the time-honored “cherry picking” method of putting an individual in a bad light, strung together several isolated quotes from the Rumsfeld speech and built his negative story accordingly. Here’s the full transcript of Rumsfeld’s speech. You can compare and contrast what the SecDef actually said versus the way the AP reported the event. Or, you can go read Lex, who has an excellent post up on the subject; Outside the Beltway has another. The interesting thing about OTB’s post is he reads the Leftie responses to Rummy so you don’t have to.

This is interesting…Fun With Photoshop! Poor Katie Couric just don’t get no respect! But I find the examples of photo manipulation illustrated in the Hot Air article fascinating, as are the explanations of the techniques used. Is it any wonder we distrust photojournalism of late?

And this is FUNNY! Oops! CNN Airs Anchor's Girltalk Over Bush Speech.

Looking for a "passionate, compassionate, great, great" man? Well, according to CNN's Kyra Phillips, they do indeed exist. During CNN's live coverage of President Bush's remarks from New Orleans, Phillips was unaware that her microphone was on and picked up portions of a conversation she was having with another woman.

Transcript and video at the link. It could have been worse, much worse. I’ve heard women talk about men when said women didn’t know they were being listened to and it can get brutal. Funny, too.

Update: This is amazing! A 2:39 minute YouTube video. You won't believe your eyes. Hat tip: Cassandra.