I'm not endorsing those segments, I'm noting them. A CPB friend is appalled that I haven't noted that PBS' The NewsHour is doing a weekend show. I've said it was stupid not to for years, it was pointed out to me, so why I hadn't I noted it when this was the second weekend that The NewsHour was doing the weekend edition (one hour long show for the weekend)?
I honestly didn't know. I offered that Ava and I could take a look at it -- because it seems a little skimpy on news content -- but that appeared to make the CPB-er shudder.
For the record, I have stated for nearly two decades that The NewsHour should do a Saturday and Sunday broadcast. When I pointed that out in tonight's phone call, I was told that the stations around the country wouldn't go for that.
Yeah, they would. All PBS has to do is stream the broadcast live online Saturday and Sunday and people will start asking why their local stations are not carrying it.
I'm glad they're doing one weekend show. Clearly, only doing one makes it difficult. They don't want to be old by Sunday if a stations carries it on Sunday. So they're going the magazine route. They could also do some serious US reporting -- from around the country -- use this broadcast, to beef up that coverage.
Anyway, they got their plug. One more time, The NewsHour now has a weekend edition.
Let's stay with public programming. Can you spot the error in this from Friday's Democracy Now! broadcast:
AMY GOODMAN: The former secretary of defense under Lyndon Johnson.
ROBERT REICH:
The former Secretary of Defense, when John Kerry was protesting the
Vietnam War. I hope this irony is not lost on Kerry or anybody else.
AMY GOODMAN:
Chuck Hagel, who opposed the Iraq war, our current Defense Secretary,
when asked what will be the cost of these strikes, because very few
people are talking about the actual economic costs. He said something
like tens of millions of dollars.
The lie that John Kerry opposed the Iraq War got called out last week as well as the week before. So why is the lie that Hagel opposed the Iraq War still lingering in the air?
In a column today entitled "War must always be viewed as the last resort" (Gannett Newspapers) this appears:
When I voted against authorization of military force in Iraq as the single then-Republican U.S. senator to do so, those words inspired my opposition.
Guess what? Chuck Hagel didn't write that column, Lincoln Chafee did.
77 US senators voted for the authorization in October 2002. This included 29 Democrats and 48 Republicans. 21 Democrats voted against it. 1 Independent voted against it (Jim Jeffords) and only one Republican voted against it, Lincoln Chafee.
Chuck Hagel? Like Nebraska's other US senator at that time, Chuck Hagel voted for the war:
| Nebraska | |||
| R | Hagel, Chuck | NE | |
| D | Nelson, Ben | NE | |
I have no idea why this is 'complicated.' Hagel voted for war. Ahead of his vote he gave a speech that some wrongly applaud. Words don't matter if you don't back them up. You can say any damn thing in the world. If you think the authorization for war on Iraq is wrong and you say so then you shouldn't vote for it. If you do, you're a hypocrite and a whiner.
I have no desire to create false heroes. I think the US would be in a much better place today if revisionary history -- or lies -- stopped getting broadcast by the media. When it mattered, Chuck Hagel couldn't be counted on.
Am I remembering wrong? On The Issues has his voting record or 'voting' record. It opens, in the war section:
- Our current Iraq policy is not worthy of soldiers' sacrifice. (Jul 2007)
- Engage with Iran & Syria; follow Baker-Hamilton. (Jul 2007)
- Internationalize Iraq or we'll be seen as occupiers. (Jul 2007)
- Open to withdrawal timelines, but look at other issues too. (Jul 2007)
- Bush administration wanted to go to war with Saddam. (Jul 2007)
- No Iraq military solution; focus on political accommodation. (Jul 2007)
- Outcome in Iraq will be determined by the Iraqis. (Jul 2007)
- Iraq was a war of choice, like Vietnam. (Jul 2007)
- Congress should oppose Bush's actions, but not impeachable. (Jul 2007)
- Soldiers in Iraq deserve a policy worthy of their sacrifice. (Mar 2007)
- US in "deep trouble" in Iraq. (Sep 2004)
- Iraq took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan. (Aug 2004)
I must be wrong!
Oh, wait, that crap doesn't belong in Hagel's voting record because none of it is votes. Scroll down and you see his actual voting record.
- Voted NO on redeploying non-essential US troops out of Iraq in 9 months. (Dec 2007)
- Voted NO on designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards as terrorists. (Sep 2007)
- Voted NO on redeploying US troops out of Iraq by March 2008. (Mar 2007)
- Voted NO on redeploying troops out of Iraq by July 2007. (Jun 2006)
- Voted NO on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)
- Voted YES on requiring on-budget funding for Iraq, not emergency funding. (Apr 2005)
- Voted YES on $86 billion for military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Oct 2003)
- Voted YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq. (Oct 2002)
He voted for it and repeatedly voted against pulling US troops out of Iraq.
Those are votes. The b.s. foaming out of his mouth? He never backed it up with actual votes.
I have no desire to pretend that Hagel was against the war. In his Senate vote in 2002, or his later votes, I see no opposition to the war.
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4488.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
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