Fox News Revolt: Smith Says Bush Politicization Of Iraq War Strategy ‘Disgusting’
Fox News Revolt: Smith Says Bush Politicization Of Iraq War Strategy ‘Disgusting’
The Pentagon announced today that 2,200 Marines have been ordered into the Iraqi province of Al-Anbar, “where fierce fighting has claimed at least 21 U.S. servicemembers this month.”
Reacting to the Pentagon announcement, Shephard Smith said “no one should be surprised by any of this” because it “was clear before the election that changes were essential.” But Smith pointed out, “They had to wait until after the election to make changes for political reasons, which I find disgusting.” Watch it:
Full transcript:
MACCALLUM: You know, I just want to throw one thing into this conversation because we just got this coming from our folks at the Pentagon: 2,200 additional Marines are now headed to the Anbar province to deal with the violence there. Shephard, we’ve talked a lot–
SMITH: Ones who are already in region or one’s who have been brought from here?
MACCALLUM: These folks are coming — 15th Marine Expeditionary Force based at California’s Camp Pendleton. They’re already deployed in the region and General Abizaid is now moving them, which is the kind of movement that we’ve seen before into the difficult areas.
SMITH: No one should be surprised by any of this. It was clear before the election that changes were essential, that what we were doing was not working. The President said it. Everyone involved said it. They had to wait until after the election to make changes for political reasons, which I find disgusting. But now they’ve done that, changes are coming, and we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully somebody can come up with a plan.
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Now, were these the troops who were just reassigned to Baghdad?
November 16th, 2006 at 2:27 pmOr are these just the unlucky bastards who drew the short straw?
“Hopefully somebody can come up with a plan. ”
Yeah. Well, good luck with that.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:28 pmAttention REAL news organizations:
Be prepared to consider hiring this fellow once he is terminated by FOX. Assuming, of course, that he doesn’t commit suicide by shooting himself in the head multiple times.
Peace.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:29 pmNow that there’s a new sheriff in town, the Faux News rats continue to scurry off their sinking ship.
What’s truly disgusting is that we see the hypocrisy of the pro-fascist media yet again — nothing has changed overnight, since BushCo’s strategery in Iraq was just as wrong two weeks ago, two months ago, and two years ago as it is now — it’s just that the flip-floppers at Faux who previously trumpeted “stay the course” are now acknowledging that this approach might not be so wise after all…
November 16th, 2006 at 2:40 pmBetter get to work on that Resume, Smithy. :-)
November 16th, 2006 at 2:41 pmI never ever watch fox,so thus no comment….
November 16th, 2006 at 2:41 pmI suspect the last thing that Fox “News” wants to hear is that Shephard Smith has gone off the reservation. Perhaps Smith did not receive the daily memo: Fox employees are not allowed to think for themselves. Was it not The Prisoner, #6, who proclaimed “I am not a number!”?
November 16th, 2006 at 2:41 pm…his tone does seem like he was intentionally trying to ruffle some FOX feathers…
November 16th, 2006 at 2:43 pmTOO LITTLE TOO LATE .THIS WAR FROM THE ONSET WAS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED AND THEREFORE DOOMED TO FAILURE .BRING THE TROOPS HOME ,NOW
November 16th, 2006 at 2:45 pmDon’t forget that Rupert Murdoch helped Laborite Tony Blair once he saw Blair was going to be the big kahuna in the UK.
Murdoch goes wherever the money and power goes.
He would throw O’Reilly to the sharks if he needs to in order to make money.
-GSD
November 16th, 2006 at 2:52 pmName one Christian terrorist who isn’t disgusting.
Crooks and Liars http://www.crooksandliars.com/ is linking to video taken of Christofascist terrorists torturing an innocent UCLA student while the student screams.
Anyone who thinks that overthrowing this Christofascist terrorist regime and restarting from scratch isn’t a good idea at this point is delusional.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:55 pmFitting that a guy named Shepard sees us all as Sheep, eh?
November 16th, 2006 at 2:59 pmI would submit Fox News is the Sheep & Rove is the Shepard.
Smith, getting a little too outspoken will put you out to pasture.
I’d be careful; you don’t want the big bad Wolf
visiting your house!
Shephard Smith has to be a drag queen. He has that strange manicured look with no facial hair and the obviously plucked eye-brows…dud looks like a lady…ugly one at that. When he’s trying to act like “one of the guys…all puffy chest. and disgusted about some Republican rambling….he looks like he’s acting. Again why are there so many closeted Republicans?
Shepard, Hannity, Limbaugh, Medvied, and the kid with the wittle bow tie…F**CKING come out already!
November 16th, 2006 at 3:04 pmUh oh, Shep is going to have to go sit in the corner for a little while. Children mustn’t speak ill of Dear Leader.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:08 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
But there IS a plan. It’s just a SECRET! Rumsfeld would be happy to tell you guys about this, but everyone but he is just too stupid to understand it. It’s complicated stuff. Plus, if we TOLD you, you’d just ruin everything by letting the secret out!
November 16th, 2006 at 3:29 pmHe’s the one who became very outspoken about Katrina and wanted to make sure people were understanding the full impact of Bush’s inaction. I’m surprised he still works there.
I’m guessing there won’t be a bonus check in his mailbox this week.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:30 pmLet’s get these FOX personalities to speak out on the complete misuse of the federal budget…according to the Borgen Project, over $300 billion has been spent on the war in Iraq and $400 billion more is spent each year on naitonal defense…If even a portion of this type of spending were reallocated to global poverty reduction and the UN Millennium Development Goals, extreme poverty and hunger across the world could have been cut in half (if not eradicated entirely).
November 16th, 2006 at 3:36 pmPhaux News would prefer to re-start the draft and send them all (except well connected kids of course).
November 16th, 2006 at 3:40 pmI don’t believe this statement for one second…especially not on the heels of that leaked Fox News internal memo.
They are just trying to pretend that the memo wasn’t real. It’s called damage control. As in: that memo did some serious damage to the credibility of Fox News.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:07 pmGood for Shepard Smith. He got pretty mad when covering Katrina as well. Perhaps there is hope for some of folks over at FOX news.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:19 pmWhat he should have said:
SMITH: No one should be surprised by any of this posturing and pretend changes. It was clear before the election that Bush and his administration completely botched our dealing with Iraq, from reason for the war to the running of the war. The Democrats said it. Everyone at FOX ignored it and carried Bush’s banner. We at FOX had to wait until after the election to make make sure the political winds had changed before we started being critical of anything the Bush administration has or is doing, which many Americans find disgusting. But now that we’ve done that, changes might be coming, and we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully somebody can come up with a plan, which the Bush administration never had.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:32 pmThis isn’t the first time that Smith has not played by the rules of Fox. If he keeps it up, he will find himself somewhere else, because the Fox bigwigs don’t like backtalk on their party.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:41 pmThis isn’t a “revolt.” Shephard will just do what he usually does, what he’s been seen doing time after time: go down to the local gay bar and get plastered.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:03 pm.
Well, I’m glad we’re not all lining up to give Smith a blumpkin just yet, because his statement could be taken (at least) two different ways.
1: I find it disgusting that Bush decided it would hurt the party politically if he approved any major troop movements before the election.
2: I find it digusting that there are so many UnAmerican traitors allowed to vote on Election Day that our Glorious Leader Bush had to wait until after Election Day to make tactical changes so necessary to the victory that, in theory, we’ve already achieved.
You…make the call.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:40 pmI don’t watch the network; however, from what I have gleaned from watching many clips of Mr. Smith, there always seems to be an aura of personal disghust in him; as if he had a measure of shame in his likely astromomically high salary job.
My advice to him would be to shed any love of money and depart. Sometimes, [people who seem to be] good people wind up doing horrible things.
Lastly, from what I hear of Moody and Ailes, he’s a goner very soon. The best feeling in the world can be to stick it to your boss 5 minutes before he gets you.
:::::
November 16th, 2006 at 5:55 pmHey Shepard, you better watch out because Bill and Sean will no longer talk to you………then again, that’s really not such a bad thing is it? Maybe the outrage you expressed when you were covering Katrina wasn’t an act………maybe you do have a soul.
November 16th, 2006 at 6:14 pmI respect Smith’s outrage, but am suspicious of his motives, since he continues to work for Fox.
What I don’t get are the slams by a couple commenters on Smith’s sexuality.
November 16th, 2006 at 7:04 pmShepard Smith is the ONLY Fox reporter that I come close to respecting. I recall his live commentary on the scene , during katrina. The contrast between hannity and Smith was stark. He was clearly affected and ‘reporting’. Hannity was spinning in his uniquely ugly way.
November 16th, 2006 at 8:33 pmShepard Smith spoke out LOUDLY on air before the election about his disgust that the Bush administration would wait to change course AFTER the election.
via:http://chill888.newsvine.com/_news/2006/10/02/382738-fox-news-anchor-lays-war-dead-at-bushs-feet
KRISTOL: . He (Bush) can’t probably do anything until election day. I very much hope after election day he takes a fresh look at Iraq,
Shep SMITH: It’s horrifying that you just said he can’t do anything until after the election. We’ve got men and women over there who are dying every day and you just said that the man who you support can’t do anything even though you believe he knows it’s wrong.”
November 16th, 2006 at 8:39 pmMole! Ten o’Clock! Go!
November 16th, 2006 at 9:02 pmShep should move to MSNBC…
November 16th, 2006 at 9:03 pmFOX is disgusting. Democrats who guest on FOX are disgusting.
November 16th, 2006 at 9:08 pmMole! Ten o’Clock! Go!
Comment by Jon H — November 16, 2006 @ 9:02 pm
I love pollo mole.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:11 pmWell, we all know who’ll be looking for a job tomorrow.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:28 pmI mentioned to a friend several months back that I thought Shep Smith was moving off the Fox Reservation – i.e. the Kool-Aid was wearing off. I think Katrina broke him, and he finally recognized that his fake newscasts were enabling the Bush junta. Maybe.
November 16th, 2006 at 11:45 pmBren’s right in comment #29. Smith did express the same, well-founded disgust before the election.
On the other hand, one of the scenes from the early invasion that sticks vividly in my mind is one Shephard Smith gleefully riffing over the video of tanks and troops, along the lines of, “Wake up, Sadaam. There’s a visitor on your front lawn!” A natural reaction, sure, but it didn’t strike me as particularly journalistic. And seemed inappropriately giddy in light of the wholesale death and mayhem going on at the time.
And yeah, who cares if he’s straight or not? Grow up.
November 17th, 2006 at 1:09 amThis is not much of a “revolt”. For any Fox news observer Shep Smith is probably the only honest journalist on that channel and he has often bucked the expected talking-points. I wouldn’t bet on him staying on with that propoganda machine for much longer.
November 17th, 2006 at 3:33 amwow, way to make a stand, Shep! It’s so funny to watch these morons start backpedalling….except they can’t quite stop spinning all at once.
November 17th, 2006 at 7:09 amBush never, not once, prior to the elections, admitted that things weren’t going well. He behaved like he always does–like a petulant three-year-old–until the eleventh hour, when it was evident that any efforts to secure the Republican foothold were obviously FAILING.
I believe that Poppy Bush FINALLY found his voice, the voice that he apparently lost for all of these years, and staged an intervention. I believe that he got him into a corner and told him flat out that Poppy would not be able to save him unless………and then came the angry press conference. NOW he can admit that things are not going well. What a shame–but I blame the father and the enablers (i.e. FOX, Hannity, Limbaugh….shame on YOU)
Bush wants one last push to see how many more US soldiers can die for his lies. There must be some sane people in charge somewhere in the US to stop this crazed madhatter?
November 17th, 2006 at 9:14 amShep is all right. He’s not a Kool-aid drinking right-winger. He’s actually a fairly unbiased anchor, and probably the only one on Fox. He still has to read rightwing talking points off the teleprompter, but whenever he speaks for himself, he tends to be pretty normal.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:59 am#1 – they were on the boats in the gulf.
November 17th, 2006 at 10:47 amThis is just a trial ballon to see if Smith can be the Faux version of Olberman
November 17th, 2006 at 11:09 amHooray for Sheppard Smith for speaking the truth abou the politicizing of the war. The other lying dogs at Fox are too busy trying to indoctrinate the American people into think republicans are always right and wouldn’t dare play politics with our soldiers lives. They (Fox News) will pretend Smith didn’t say what he said or twist it into him saying he was discussed with the democrats. He’s the only person at Fox who has any intregrity left at all. The others besides Jaun Williams who is actually fair and balanced have sold their souls to the devil (Ruppard Murdock) for twenty pieces of silver.
What really erks me is that Murdock isn’t even from this country, and clearly hates America and everything it stands for. He is a one man propaganda mister who goal is to turn America into a dictatorship under republican control.
November 17th, 2006 at 12:41 pmLeav’m in the wood chipper until after the election.
November 17th, 2006 at 12:42 pm