Former Pentagon Spokeswoman Claims Rumsfeld ‘Respected Role Of The Media’
Former Pentagon Spokeswoman Claims Rumsfeld ‘Respected Role Of The Media’
According to Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke, the media respected Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld because he respected them:
“Reporters often told me that he raised the levels of their performances,” says…Clarke. “He forced them to be more precise in the way they asked questions.” She says he obviously respected the role of the media in society.
In reality, Rumsfeld’s tenure was characterized by severe restrictions on press freedom. He attacked news reports critical of President Bush’s policies “nonsense” and “exaggerated.” In June, the Pentagon “shut down access entirely” to the Guantanamo Bay prison. Journalists covering the suicides had their clearances revoked and were immediately flown back to the United States. Some more lowlights:
AP, 8/20/06:
“They [Terrorists] are actively manipulating the media in this country. … The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence.”
CNN, 3/7/06:
“From what I’ve seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation, according to General Casey,” Rumsfeld said. “The number of attacks on mosques, as he pointed out, had been exaggerated. The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated.”
AP, 12/5/05:
Rumsfeld also delivered a broadside against the media, saying that in the present era of the 24-hour new cycle, events in Iraq may be reported too quickly and without context, and at times with little substantiation. “A lie moves around the world at the speed of light,” he said, stressing there is a “jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people.”
According to Reporters Without Borders, the United States is now ranked 53rd on its global press freedom index, dropping from 17th place in 2002.
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Yeah, and Eva Braun thought Adolf had a good speaking voice…
November 9th, 2006 at 1:38 pmtorie clarke is one of many very nasty mouthpieces tethered to rumsfeld/bushco.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:43 pmAnd if Gates gets in, look for years more of the same or worse. Can you say Iran-Contra?
November 9th, 2006 at 1:47 pmDesperate repugs desperately trying to write their legacy before anyone else does. Sorry, but history won’t be accepting it.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:50 pm‘Respected Role Of The Media’
Then how come Rummy spent so much time interviewing himself instead of letting journalists do so?
“A lie moves around the world at the speed of light,â€
A topic that Rummy would certainly be an expert in.
He’s gone. Time to ignore.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:53 pmYah think maybe that had something to do with Rumsfelds convoluted and circuitious way of speaking and evading the truth while spreading his rhetoric?
November 9th, 2006 at 1:54 pmTorie Clarke is just another one of those aliens from the planet Opposite.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:59 pmYeah, torie clarke, there’s a great source of information. Lipstick on a Pig indeed.
Check out her interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show to get a sense of the level of her intellect.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:04 pmAnd who could forget “Back off and relax”. A wonderful display of meshing with the media.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:10 pmThe media had to be more precise when asking Rummy questions or you get answers like.
“We know where they are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.”
or
“As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
November 9th, 2006 at 2:10 pmis this Tori Clarke, the Clown College lady?
November 9th, 2006 at 2:12 pmRumsfeld respects nobody but himself.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:13 pmI found the world according to Donald Rumsfeld using his eloquent poetry.
This was on Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2081042/
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don’t know
We don’t know.
—Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
Glass Box
You know, it’s the old glass box at the—
At the gas station,
Where you’re using those little things
Trying to pick up the prize,
And you can’t find it.
It’s—
And it’s all these arms are going down in there,
And so you keep dropping it
And picking it up again and moving it,
But—
Some of you are probably too young to remember those—
Those glass boxes,
But—
But they used to have them
At all the gas stations
When I was a kid.
—Dec. 6, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing
A Confession
Once in a while,
I’m standing here, doing something.
And I think,
“What in the world am I doing here?”
It’s a big surprise.
—May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times
Happenings
You’re going to be told lots of things.
You get told things every day that don’t happen.
It doesn’t seem to bother people, they don’t—
It’s printed in the press.
The world thinks all these things happen.
They never happened.
Everyone’s so eager to get the story
Before in fact the story’s there
That the world is constantly being fed
Things that haven’t happened.
All I can tell you is,
It hasn’t happened.
It’s going to happen.
—Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing
The Digital Revolution
Oh my goodness gracious,
What you can buy off the Internet
In terms of overhead photography!
A trained ape can know an awful lot
Of what is going on in this world,
Just by punching on his mouse
For a relatively modest cost!
—June 9, 2001, following European trip
The Situation
Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won’t see.
And life goes on.
—Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing
Clarity
I think what you’ll find,
I think what you’ll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.
And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.
—Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing
November 9th, 2006 at 2:18 pmYo, it’s all bout respek.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:21 pmFYI, the latest from Virginia with 95.69% of the provincial ballots tallied Webb has a 9,032 vote lead.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:30 pm“Back Off”
November 9th, 2006 at 2:32 pm“The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence.”
That’s a good one. Would you tell your enemy the truth Rummy? Didn’t think so. I suppose the consequence as Rummy saw it was a good waterboarding. Even if it wasn’t a lie.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:48 pmNice find Spudge. Classic material.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:53 pmYeah I’m too young to remember those glass boxes. I see them all the time these days Rummy.
November 9th, 2006 at 2:54 pmSo respectful that under his command, USA tanks shelled the Palestine Hotel, in Baghdad, full of independant journalists, killing two of them, and diverse military actions, resulting in the dead of journalists, against Al Jazeera journalists and radio and TV stations. Iraq has become the worst country in the world for journalists, just check the Reporters Without Frontiers site. And the freedom of press in the homeland USA is not better in the ratings.
November 9th, 2006 at 3:15 pm“Reporters often told me that he raised the levels of their performances,†says…Clarke. “He forced them to be more precise in the way they asked questions.†She says he obviously respected the role of the media in society.
Wow, Clarke couldn’t be more stupid.
Reporters were “more precise in the way they asked questions” because they knew that with ol’ Mad Dog Donnie, there was a right way to ask questions and a wrong way. And the wrong way was to point-blank ask your question, especially if it were critical or questioning of the Administration’s agenda. Ask your question the wrong way and you were branded a troop-hater, a terrorist appeaser. The right way was to try to couch your question in the “straw man argument” way, so you never sounded like you were calling Ding-Don out.
Tell “Red Don” that SOME PEOPLE are saying the Administration doesn’t have a clear plan to get us out of Viet…er, I mean Iraq, and how do you respond to those charges, Donnie? That, as opposed to “What is your plan? DO you have a plan?”
“SOME PEOPLE are worrying that the death toll of US soldiers is, well, a touch on the high side. How do you respond to their allegations?” As opposed to “How many more American soldiers do you think will be killed or injured between the time Bush claimed our Mission was Accomplished and the time our mission is actually accomplished? Oh, yeah, and what exactly is our mission this week?”
The problem with the Straw Man argument was that it always phrased in a way to give Dumsfeld the chance to seem strong, to clench his dentures and say we won’t back down. And our nation is all the lesser for the overall cowardice of the press.
November 9th, 2006 at 3:44 pmQuotes from the piece – “They [Terrorists] are actively manipulating the media in this country. … The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence.â€
*******Thank you Amanda!! You have really cleared that up for me! I feel so much safer KNOWING the enemy is NOT manipulating the media. I realize bin Laden and Zawahiri have no internet access, sent a FAX, used a telephone, may have never NEVER driven an automobile, never been to a nightclub, my have never built large construction projects or vaccinated children. *sarcasm OFF**
Of course they are actively manipulating the media, Amanda – including you.
“Rumsfeld also delivered a broadside against the media, saying that in the present era of the 24-hour new cycle, events in Iraq may be reported too quickly and without context, and at times with little substantiation. “A lie moves around the world at the speed of light,†he said, stressing there is a “jarring contrast between what the American people are reading and hearing about Iraq and the views of the Iraqi people.â€
****So you want me to believe that EVERY story coming out of Iraq has been substantiated???
Not to be unkind, but I think you’re taking this a tad personally.
November 9th, 2006 at 4:15 pmI didn’t like Clark when she was spokesman for Centcom early on in the war and I don’t like her now when she appears on talk shows. She is very good at spinning, but I never knew of her physical strength — turning anything about Rumsfeld into a positive requires skill and ability to shovel a lot of bullsh*t.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:48 pmRumsfeld obviously despised the media. Repubs can say what they will, but we can watch what they do and we saw Rummy disrespect, discount, and dismiss the media time and time again.
November 9th, 2006 at 6:58 pmgo to http://www.bradblog.com for the latest fact check on Rummy’s replacement….he looks pretty unqualified and very shady.
November 9th, 2006 at 7:33 pmThis is Bushadmin speak for he was an amazingly arrogant, weird, creepy, disconnected moron.
November 9th, 2006 at 8:57 pmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/world/30gitmo.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5089&en=4a
d40ead6c7a7ad1&ex=1304049600&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
Rumsfeld personally supervised torture, says Human Rights Watch
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=14e2949c0884ff3a
Human Rights Watch says it believes U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be criminally liable for the torture of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 and 2003.
The universally respected international organization was commenting on an Army Inspector General’s report which contains a sworn statement by Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt that implicates Secretary Rumsfeld.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:52 pmYaaaa!!!, lets just hang all the Republicans even though the Terrorists were cutting Americans heads off and they flew into our towers and killed 3000 of our people.
And Saddam didn’t mean to send thousands of dollars to Islamic families to have their families blow themselves up in Isreal. I mean, he was just having a bad hair day!
Those bad Israel people!
HMMM, lets see here….
Liberals hate Israel–Islam hates Israel
Liberals hate Bush–Islam hates Bush
Liberals love Chavez–Islam loves Chavez
I see a match!!
Either that..or the Liberals believe alot of lies!!
November 10th, 2006 at 10:10 pmthird in a series of “USA war criminals” stamps… Rove next
http://www.knoph.com/rumball/webrummystamp.jpg
toast
November 17th, 2006 at 4:50 pmNatalia Sokolova
Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts..
March 16th, 2008 at 4:34 am