CBS doctors McCain interview to cover up false statements

The McCain camp claims the media favors Barack Obama.

But none other than news giant CBS edited an interview by Katie Couric to remove false statements by John McCain, substituting the answer to a different question to cover up McCain's incorrect assertions.

Their subterfuge was exposed by The Jed Report:


... Yet another bold demonstration that the dirty tricks and media collusion of the past will have a much harder time surviving in the new online democracy -- at least until the dirty tricksters can improve their clumsy tactics.

An extra helping of opprobrium to CBS who seems to be bending over backward to help the GOP these days.

Not that they can't use all the help they can get when they're (presumably) going to nominate for president a guy who can't seem to keep the countries of the Middle East straight.

McCain, of course, recently was caught mistakenly claiming that Iraq shares a border with Pakistan -- and incredible gaffe for the "National Security" candidate.

But in an undoctored section of the Couric video on CBS, he also claims -- without correction or comment by CBS -- that the Iraq invasion was the first major conflict after the 9/11 attacks.

How soon we forget... especially odd, since the actual first major conflict after the attacks -- in Afghanistan! -- has never stabilized and is now perilously close to blowing back up into widespread conflict with the resurgent Taliban -- who McCain and Bush much earlier had assured us were neutralized.

Now, why on earth most US Americans think McCain is best suited to manage the US's security is anyone's guess... but I'm thinking a lot of the credit goes to propaganda outfits like Fox and CBS News who continue to cover up and even doctor the news in order to promote a continuation of Bush policies.

By hook or by crook.

Israel falls -- hard -- for Obama

Israelis, it was said leading up to US presidential candidate Barack Obama's precedent-setting tour of Europe and the Middle East, were highly skeptical of the Chicago Democrat.

Skepticism seems to have given way to gushing adoration.

According to Jason Koutsoukis writing from Jerusalem in the Sydney Morning Herald:

"His charismatic personality and chumminess fit the Israelis like a glove, and are reminiscent of the love affair between the Israelis and Bill Clinton," wrote the paper's political correspondent Itamar Eichner.

In the rival national daily, Maariv, the respected political analyst Ofer Shelah noted that "in Israel, the last of the colonies in the dwindling empire of admiration for all things American, the public part of his visit yesterday was like the journey of a crown prince to a remote, excited tribe".

Koutsoukis goes on:

Hillel Schenker, the vice-president of Israeli Democrats Abroad, was still excited when the Herald called him several hours after the senator had left Israel.

"The wave of excitement was something I have rarely seen," he said. "What people could sense here was that this was the next president of the United States. The very fact that all the political leaders of Israel did everything possible to meet with Obama … is a very significant signal that this is a man the state of Israel places a great importance in."

How did I miss this: John McCain doesn't use email or computers

How on earth did this slip past me:

John McCain does not use email. He doesn't use a computer. He had to be shown how to use Google. (But he does have a MySpace page. After all -- MySpace is owned by Fox News parent, News Corp.)

Admittedly, the issue has gotten almost no press. A disapproving Mother Jones video about McCain and computers was posted months ago but recieved no comments. Googling just now, I found few articles on the yawning "computer gap" between Obama and McCain. (Maybe you should call that a "computer chasm.")

Personal computers have been an inarguable presence in American life for more than two decades. They are thoroughly integrated into US and world business, educational and social life. No other technology of the past quarter century, save, perhaps the cell phone explosion, has had as much impact on everyday life.

But John McCain has to be shown how to do the simplest things on one. He can't Google. He can't use Email.

And -- Obama has seven times as many MySpace friends as McCain.


from CNN: Young Republicans worry about McCain's appeal

Obama aides furious about McCain's "loose lips" on Iraq trip...

As I expected, candidate John McCain's peculiarly loose lips did raise hackles. The NY Daily News reported yesterday:

For weeks now, Barack Obama has closely guarded the details of his planned fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing security concerns.

But Friday, the Democratic presidential hopeful's Republican rival, John McCain, may have let the secret out of the bag - infuriating some Obama supporters and putting Camp McCain on the defensive.

The blogosphere may not have erupted with the fury I expected (a buncha sleepyheads lost in summer daydreams, I guess) but Obama HQ, in the throes of following through on the long planned trip was scornful:

While refusing to confirm or deny anything about Obama's schedule, his aides were furious with McCain's comment. They noted every major news outlet has resisted speculating on the timing or location of Obama's war-zone maneuvers out of safety concerns.

The Daily News quoted former presidential nominee and decorated Vietnam vet, Senator John Kerry about McCain's breach of accepted protocol:

"I've been around enough of these trips to know that I'm leery of saying anything for security reasons. End of story," Kerry told the Daily News.

The Daily News described the preparations:

An advance team of Secret Service agents assigned to Obama was dispatched to Afghanistan and Iraq days ago to coordinate with U.S. forces on the ground in those countries, a source confirmed to The News.

At the same time, separate Secret Service teams were sent to the Mideast and Europe to prep their counterparts ahead of Obama's campaign-funded trip there next week. "This [security] operation very much rises to the level of a presidential trip," an inside source said.

"We're not going to put anyone's life at risk by disclosing specific times and places in advance," the aide said.