Ron Kessler on NPR just now: "Gore voter" voting for Bush

[democraticinsurgent]

NPR just had a segment featuring switching voters from 2000. Two Republicans featured in the new Moveon.org ad on Republicans for Kerry were interviewed. Those two voters were believable and likely typical, one an Iraq war veteran and the other a "true conservative" who feels that Bush has violated conservative principles.

For balance, author Ron Kessler was showcased as a Gore voter who's now voting for Bush.

But this guy is no ordinary voter, he's just written a book called "A Matter of Character: Inside the Bush White House".

Geez. Don't you think that NPR could have found a real Democrat who was voting for Bush? This guy sounded like a major Bush suck-up and his book seems to reflect that. It's all about Shrubbie's fine character, as told to Kessler by Shrub's henchmen.

And he even admitted to not having been able to interview Bush himself.

What kind of researcher is he?

Hardly an objective "Democrat". Please.


From a speaker's bureau website:

Ronald Kessler is the New York Times bestselling author of books about President George W. Bush, the FBI, CIA, White House, Congress, and Palm Beach.

For his latest book, A MATTER OF CHARACTER: Inside the White House of George W. Bush, Kessler had unique access to the Bush White House. Kessler interviewed Bush's close friends going back to Andover and Yale and the key players in his administration, from Karl Rove, Andy Card, and Condoleezza Rice to Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. Kessler completed the portrait by interviewing Secret Service agents and other insiders who contrasted the respectful way Bush and Laura treat Secret Service agents, military aides, and maids and butlers with the nasty, imperious way Bill and Hillary Clinton treated them.

Most of what we know from the media about Bush and his administration is from second-hand and third-hand sources. Ronald Kessler is one of the few journalists allowed into the inner sanctum. In his talk, Kessler reveals how the secretive Bush White House operates and the truth behind the caricatures of Bush and whether we are winning the war on terrorism. Along with Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack, Kessler's book is listed as suggested reading on the Bush-Cheney '04 web site.</i>

(on edit: removed duplicate text)

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Exactly the journalistic caliber I would expect

from Neocon Public Radio.

[sendero]

2. I caught the tail end...

... of this pack of outright lies. This guy even related an anecdote where he claimed that the Dems broke an agreement and when a staffer suggested to Bush* that they be punished he said something like "punish them out of spite? I don't do things out of spite".

That is the most laughable, easily disproven pile of excrement I have heard lately. Half of everything Bush* does is out of spite.

Please folks, NPR has been totally co-opted. Do not send them your money.

[atre]

18. How on earth could they let him get away with that one?

Valerie Plame - out of spite.

"Major league asshole" - out of spite.

During his father's administration, going on a drunken tirade against a columnist who didn't say nice things about GHWB - out of spite

I'm sure the list could go on and on...

[Nlighten1]

3. NPR has been whoring too hard for Bush

I fucking hate that station sometimes.

[CBHagman]

20. Lunatics and morons on the guest list are nothing new.

Back when I was home during the hours they ran the Diane Rehm show, I used to listen to the program religiously. She had conspiracy theorists, racists, and God knows what else on the program, as well as legitimate and respectable guests. This is nothing new and is not necessarily a threat to NPR in general.

However, we do need to be sure to give them feedback about what they present and how they present it. I gave Morning Edition hell over using the Ann Coulter quotes in their story on Max Cleland and on their terming John Kerry's Vietnam military service "controversial." When they follow the RNC talking points, you've got to hit them on it.

But they do broadcast Garrison Keillor and the Car Guys and Terry Gross, so all is not lost.

[Vickers]

4. Did he interview Georgie's close friends from the Alabama Guard?

No?

Then fuck that lying sack of RW shit.

[BiggJawn]

5. Maybe Zell Miller was too busy to talk?

Kessler and Miller may be the only Democrats voting for Shrub.

I don't know why I continue to listen to Nat. PUTSCH Radio "news" anymore. Maybe I like listening to Mara and Cokie and Juan suck-off the Shrub, I dunno....

[sendero]

6. Id' almost rather listen to FOX...

... at least with them they make no effort to hide the fact that they are Repug schills. But NPR still wears their halo and tries to act like they are just being balanced. Bullshit.

I did notice that they've dropped the continual pieces from the AEA, Heritage, and other conservative stink tanks. Now they just get random ad hoc idiots that can't be so easily categorized.

NPR is dangerous because they still carry the "liberal" mantle in the minds of many. Listen with a critical ear for just one day and you'll get over that idea pronto. :)

[BiggJawn]

12. That's right.

I started to see the reality one morning when they aired a segment about how GM "Frankenfood" wasn't all that bad, and might be the savior of mankind. After the segment, they broke for a local cutaway with the words...

"Support for NPR is provided by the Archers-Danniels-Midland Company....ADM, Supermarket to The World...."

What's next? "Support for politcal reporting on NPR comes from 'Swift Boat Veterans for TRUTH'..."

And I'm not of the socio-economic class that finds their "entertainment" enjoyable, either. Yuppies have a twisted sense of humour, IMO....

[Owlet]

17. Balance means...

1. Get one guest who lies about an issue
2. Get another guest who tells the truth about the same issue

See? Balance.

We report, you decide.

It used to be that news organizations would dig out FACTS for themselves, then get different opinions as to what the FACTS meant. Nowadays, facts and fiction are given equal weight.

This is why McCain in his speech at the RNC could truthfully say:

"Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war."

Yep, deluded by the facts. That's us!

[Sporadicus]

7. Later in the NPR Segment

some retired military personnel were interviewed who had voted for repugs in the past but are now voting for John Kerry in November. Their reasons for switching were a lot more coherent than Kessler's blatant rump-kissing. I believe the segment interviewing the retired veterans has a lot more validity regarding sentiments around the country than a journalist who has been brainwashed through close proximity to the neocon propaganda machine.

[amber dog democrat]

8. I have no idea what president this whore was talking about

it was NOT the chimp.

[Tsiyu]

9. NPR didn't get my money this year

I still listen occasionally but I'm not helping support more biased journalism. NPR was the last bastion of truth - so I thought. Forget that now.

[leesa]

10. Make sure you told them WHY they didn't get your money this year.

[Julien Sorel]

11. Character? What fucking character?

You're talking about a coke snorting drunk who rammed an invasion that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths down the throats of a country that had to be bullied into it, and a world that never could. That's character??

George Orwell wrote an essay, "Such, Such Were The Joys," in which he notes that people in England looked at boorishness as a sign of "character." Mr. Kessler must be an Englishman at heart.

[Plaid Adder]

13. "Don't you think they could have found a REAL Democrat?"

No, of course not...because this asshole must be just about the ONLY Gore voter in the country who's switching.

What this story is is a typical example of Rolodex syndrome. Instead of trying to beat the bushes and come up with their own examples of vote-switchers, the correspondent (or the producer) called up MoveOn.org to ask if they could talk to a couple of their spokespeople, and then pulled out a press release from Kessler's publisher and called his agent. Much faster and easier to use the media contacts you already have than to go find some regular person who's never been interviewed before and ask him what he's thinking.

The important thing here is to remember that any 'regular' person you hear on the news--and not just NPR--is liable to have been reached through the same channels, unless that person happened to be walking by the site of some tragic accident when the crew showed up to film. So when they talk about the media 'filter,' they ain't just whistlin' dixie.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[democraticinsurgent]

15. well said, Adder

and i agree that NPR isn't to be trusted. I listen to it as a result of a 20 year habit that's hard to break.

I also agree with the poster that says NPR is more dangerous than Fox because it's still perceived to be liberal (like CNN).

[Cocoa]

14. a new low for NPR

there is no excuse for having Kessler on in the first place, plus the interviewer hardly challenged Kessler's ridiculous statements.

For instance, Kessler sets up a strawman that "Bush is a racist" and knocks it down by pointing to Colin Powell and Condi Rice. Does NPR consider that a valuable discussion on race relations?

[democraticinsurgent]

16. yes

Kessler came across as a starry-eyed school kid who bought every single BS line that the White House staff served up.

[kcwayne]

21. My letter to NPR

The interview with Ron Kessler this morning who is out promoting his propaganda piece “"A Matter of Character: Inside the Bush White House" was insulting to anyone who has intellectually progressed past the seventh grade. The sentient among us have come to expect right wing shills to offer outlandish statements to convince us that down is up and black is white, and Kessler was no exception. His proposition that a liberally biased media promotes the myth that President Bush is a dimwit, even though he clearly is not (according to his handlers from which Kessler had “inside” information) is a real hoot.

Just like Mr. Kessler, I have never interviewed the President. But I have deduced that he is a dimwit based on statements like:

”Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country.”

or

“Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better”

or

“We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.”

Somehow, I don’t think President Bush’s handlers recounted these pieces of wit when they were briefing Mr. Kessler on the President’s great intellect.

[kcwayne]

19. This idiot claims that Bush is not a dimwit because the people around him

say he is not. Duh? I was born in the morning, just not this morning. This clown never interviewed Bush and simply regurgitates the propaganda thrown out by his handlers, and someone not only publishes this "book" but gets him on NPR to promote it.

They truely must believe that we are all simple minded quivering morons that do nothing but watch Survivor re-runs and read comic books. Hey NPR, FOX already programs for that segment of the marketplace, you don't need to!