Saturday, May 28, 2005

What party is he? V

As many know, four Tennessee state legislators were recently arrested in a sting operation. One of them, John Ford, resigned today, it was announced by Lt. Governor John Wilder. The AP story to which I have linked is 586 words in length, and not only does it not mention Ford's party, but it doesn't mention the party of any of the four arrested. (Three are Democrats, and the fourth is a RINO who voted for the Democratic candidate for House Speaker.) In fact, neither "Democrat" or "Democratic" appear anywhere in the article. The only labels are applied to two Republicans who provided quotes in the article.

(For full coverage of this issue, go to this post from Bill Hobbs, which is the first of several posts he has the subject. He's all over what appears to be a bombshell in Tennessee politics.)

posted at 07:39 PM | permalink | Comments (0)

Bray's open letter to Linda Foley

Hiawatha Bray, a technology reporter who writes for the Boston Globe, is also a member of the Newspaper Guild. He is troubled by the allegations leveled by Linda Foley, the president of his union, who accused the US military of deliberately targeting journalists in war zones. Her "clarification" only made her statement more confusing. In An open letter to Linda Foley, Mr. Bray says this:

I therefore call upon you to state clearly and unambiguously whether you believe that any branch of the US military or government has adopted a deliberate policy of targeting journalists in war zones. This is a simple question, easily answered. I can see no rational reason for you to hesitate about answering it.

I agree with Mr. Bray. It's high time Foley states exactly what she meant by what appears to be a smear against the military's upper echelon. Unlike Mr. Bray, I don't believe it's possible to misinterpret Foley; her clarification was designed to shield her from accusations of "not supporting the troops". Ms. Foley forgets that generals and admirals are troops, too, and shifting the blame does not ameliorate the baselessness of her claims.

posted at 09:19 AM | permalink | Comments (0)