Cue the Vultures: Media Carrion-Eaters Swoop Down on Rudy; Rudy Wins

Posted by Warner Todd Huston Jan 12th 2010 at 6:55 am in Islam, Mainstream Media, War on Terror, media bias.

For several days now the Old Media has been indulging in a steady attack on former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, the purpose of which is to deflect his recent criticism of President Obama. How?  First, by making what Giuliani said of Obama seem more complimentary than it was and, second, by focusing on a rather unexceptional remark being spun by the Left as a “gotcha” mistake in the mayor’s comments about the recent history of terror attacks in the U.S. This misdirected focus tends to detract from Giuliani’s fair criticism of Obama turning it instead into a slam on Giuliani.
How typical.

The latest slew of Rudy-savaging has been occasioned by his “misstatement” that no terror attacks occurred during Bush’s years in office. The critics are guffawing over what they claim is Rudy’s “neglect” to mention the attacks on 9/11.In an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Giuliani said, “We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama.” This, the Old Media claims, is an example of Rudy “somehow” forgetting that 9/11 occurred.
Of this the Associated Press published a wire story that breathlessly proclaimed:
Giuliani: No domestic terror attacks under Bush.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani set off a tempest about terrorism Friday with his claim that this nation “had no domestic attacks” under President George W. Bush.

Giuliani somehow neglected to mention the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as he was contrasting President Barack Obama’s handling of terrorism with that of Bush in light of the failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight. The Sept. 11 attacks toppled New York’s World Trade Center, killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and earned Giuliani accolades as “America’s mayor.”

If this isn’t a manufactured controversy, then what is? Does anyone really think that Rudy somehow forgot 9/11 happened? He was the mayor of the nation’s largest city when it came under attack by terrorists, in the most destructive attack on America since Pearl Harbor in 1941. Isn’t it more likely that everyone who’s not an idiot, a Leftist, or a lawyer understood the context: that Rudy was marking 9/11 as the beginning of the current terror cycle? Isn’t it obvious that Rudy was talking about the situation from the start of our awareness of the implacable ferocity of Islamic terror that Bush had stopped every other attack (and there were lots of them planned) afterward?

Seriously, does anyone really think Rudy — of all people — forgot 9/11?
For his part Giuliani quickly issued a clarification that appeared on the ABC News website:

Through his spokesman, Rudy Giuliani has clarified the remarks he made this morning on GMA regarding terrorist attacks on the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama.

The Mayor’s spokesman says that the remark “didn’t come across as it was intended” and that Giuliani was “clearly talking post-9/11 with regards to Islamic terrorist attacks on our soil.”

The AP wasn’t the only one to attack Rudy for this “lapse,” of course. Most of the major news services dishonestly latched onto this part of the TV appearance.
Again, how typical.
But not an isolated incident when it comes to Giuliani.  There was an earlier another spin job employed by the AP, meant to detract from Rudy’s criticism of Obama’s handling of terrorism today.
On Jan 5, the Associated Press deployed its best pro-Obama spin by attempting to put outright praise for the president into Giuliani’s mouth after an appearance on ABC’s morning show.  After the TV spot aired, the AP cheered that Giuliani “believes President Barack Obama ‘turned the corner’ on understanding the nature of terrorism.” The headline of that report also screamed: “Giuliani: Obama ‘turned the corner’ on terrorism.”
But the truth is a bit less adulatory. In truth, Giuliani was mostly criticizing Obama.
Giuliani criticized Obama for trying dangerous terrorists “in the wrong place” by bringing them to civilian courts. He also scoffed at the Administration’s claim that they got all the information they needed from the Christmas “underwear bomber” in thirty hours. And what was this idea that Giuliani said about Obama “turning a corner”?

Giuliani: … I’m very hopeful that President Obama turned a corner yesterday. He for the first time used the words, thank goodness, “war on terror.” He hasn’t done that since he was a candidate.

This is not the same as stating outright that Obama has turned a corner. It is better understood as sarcastic criticism that it has taken him this long just to utter the words “war on terror.” Nor can Giuliani’s words be seen as an assumption that the corner has been fully “turned” because he added the qualifier of “I’m hopeful.”  Giuliani did not categorically state that any corner has been permanently turned. This is best seen as criticism of the president, not praise.
Of course, the MSM didn’t hear it that way.
Which is why the AP was desperately trying to pretzel Giuliani’s obvious criticism of Obama into outright praise. Semantics you say? Of course. But it is just the sort of subtle shading of the story that the AP constantly employs to support Obama and Democrats – more disingenuous spinning by the AP.
So, with the APs first trial balloon floated in an attempt to alchemically spin Giuliani’s criticism into praise, the Old Media counter-attacked by making fun of Giuliani as “forgetting” that 9/11 happened.
How very typical.  But we’re on to them now.


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