White House tries to smear ABC reporter who reported troop gripes

[kskiska]

The Reliable Source
By Lloyd Grove

Some folks in the White House were apparently hopping mad when ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman did a story on Tuesday's "World News Tonight" about the plummeting morale of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq.

So angry, in fact, that the next day, a White House operative alerted cyber-gossip Matt Drudge to the fact that Kofman is not only openly gay, he's Canadian.

Yesterday Drudge told us he was unaware of the ABC story until "someone from the White House communications shop tipped me to it" along with a profile of Kofman in the gay-oriented magazine the Advocate. On Wednesday, for 6 hours 38 minutes, the Drudge Report bannered Kofman's widely quoted ABC story -- in which enlisted people questioned the Army's credibility and one irked soldier went on camera to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign -- and linked to the Advocate piece with the understated headline "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan "is having a rough first week," Drudge said. "The White House press office is under new management and has become slightly more aggressive about contacting reporters. This story has certainly become talk radio fodder about the cultural wars-slash-liberal bias in the media."

A network insider was less sanguine about the White House tactic: "Playing hardball is one thing. But appealing to homophobia and jingoism is simply ugly."

Kofman said from Baghdad, where he is covering the 3rd Infantry Division: "This morning I had a meeting with one of the commanding officers and we talked about my report and the response back home. He said he'd read about it on the Drudge Report and had just one question. 'Is it true that you're Canadian?' I just smiled and said, 'My life is an open book.' "

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told us: "Sadly, when people feel wounded by a truthful report, they attempt to attack the messenger." A White House spokesman, meanwhile, disavowed the incident: "This is the first we've heard of it, and it would be totally inappropriate if true."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8158-2003Jul17.html

[deek]

1. busy beehive

Wish they'd spend as much time/energy/money trying to solve the real problems in the world. Imagine.

[acmavm]

2. And I suppose if you brought up the fact that thousands or Iraqi

civilians are dead a White House spokesman would say "This is the first we've heard of it, and it would be totally inappropriate if true".

[Fovea]

4. Or he would claim

That's ok, they were all gay.
:puke:

[PretzelWarrior]

3. well, they better call Pat Robertson to do a little prayin' against him

WTF kind of administration do we have in power? It's like some power hungry sherrif in a mining town or a military takeover dictator with fatigues and state run television.

Get this mothafuckin' sonofabitch as far away from the seat of power as possible.

Our soldiers are p!ssed about bush and the beginning of a new phase of Army HELL and no amount of spin or smearing will change that.

"Kerry looks French, Jennings is Canadian, this guy is gay"....go back to the 4th grade you low-rent political name callers.

[Gman]

10. Great post!

Tell us how you really feel!

[unfrigginreal]

5. The Slimiest Administration in my lifetime n/t

[whirlygigspin]

6. rat bastards

Doesn't this just prove that these scumbags need to go?!!!

I just emailed Barney Frank about this-- I hope he kicks their
ass for it.

I'm not letting this one go...you shouldn't either.

[xxqqqzme]

7. this is so

f*cking pathetic. I mean what else is there? Call their hand & they lie. They won't even admit to gutter slithering. Pathetic!

[LiberalLibra]

8. It wasn't just ABC, CBS did a report too where a military wife.....

read a letter from her husband and of course they showed his picture of TV as well. The reports are coming out little at a time so the WH is going to be busy alerting all these rethugs to those many "Amurikun terrorists".

[w13rd0]

9. Ok, excuse me...

...but do we all see the pattern yet?

LIES
MANIPULATION
TERROR
SABOTAGE
SLANDER
FEAR-MONGERING
INTIMIDATION

Press corp, look and learn, these folks will try to eat you if you cross them, without seasoning...

[dmr]

11. Once again, the White House teaches hate

How do we explain that to our children?

[Loonman]

12. Like a Goddamn Mafia family

The WH is being run in a way that would make John Gotti proud.

[trumad]

13. If I read this right

Drudge is reporting to Grove that this happened... Somethin smells here... Why would Drudge risk shutting down his White House contacts with this outing?