Fox News, again, distorts the truth (April 14, 2005).

[trust no one]

In a "My Word" commentary excoriating Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for "exposing" CIA officer Fulton Armstrong at the confirmation hearing for John R. Bolton, Fox News host John Gibson called for "frog-marching John Kerry down the Capitol steps" but failed to note that it was Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) who first mentioned the CIA officer by name during the hearing. Moreover, Armstrong's name and prior role at the CIA had already been publicly disclosed years earlier, and Mr. Armstrong had traded as a CIA operative for speaking engagements.

Gibson compared Kerry's naming of Armstrong at the April 12 hearing for Bolton, President Bush's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to syndicated columnist Robert Novak's exposure of CIA officer Valerie Plame. But an April 12 report from fellow Fox News host and Washington managing editor Brit Hume further undermines Gibson's call for outrage against Kerry. On the April 12 broadcast of Fox News' Special Report, Hume quoted the CIA explaining: "It's not the end of the world, since previous CIA work put the officer's name out there." The New York Times noted that while Armstrong had been identified in news reports two years earlier, the CIA had "asked news organizations to withhold" his name when it resurfaced in connection with Bolton's nomination.

From the April 13 edition of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson:

GIBSON: Remember all that screaming from former diplomat Joe Wilson when Robert Novak exposed Wilson's wife as a CIA agent? Her name is Valerie Plame. That's her in the sunglasses. You'll know her when you see her. She dresses like that all the time, big Italian sunglasses, a scarf over her head. Spooks can't be exposed, screamed her husband, and he blamed Karl Rove, insisting Rove exposed his wife as payback for Wilson going public with the story that he, Wilson, personally investigated whether Saddam Hussein tried to get nuke bomb material, and the answer was no.

Wilson said Bush ignored his information and Rove dealt payback by exposing Wilson's wife as a CIA agent. Wilson said he wanted Rove -- quote -- "frog-marched" across the White House lawn, and, oh, by the way, be sure to elect John Kerry, the anti-Bush.

Well, cut to Monday. There was a Senate Foreign Relations Committee trying to batter John Bolton for his long and distinguished history as a U.N. basher. Hey, somebody has got to do it. And Senator John Kerry exposed a CIA officer by name right there on TV, right there on the wire service stories, right there on the Internet.

Bolton tried to keep his cool and continued to refer to the CIA officer in question as Mr. Smith, but Kerry had already blurted out the agent's name. So, another spook uncovered, exposed, now not able to work in his chosen profession and forced to do just what Valerie Plame did, get his spouse to screech that this is treason and then sign a big fat book deal. Hey, it's America. All aggrieved parties get book deals.

What about frog-marching John Kerry down the Capitol steps? Don't hear a call for that, do we? So, why not? When it comes to frog-marching suspected undercover operative exposers, the demand only comes during an election season and it is never a demand lodged against a prominent Democrat.

From the April 12 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: The CIA says that Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry and Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar inadvertently identified a CIA officer working undercover, this during yesterday's Senate hearing on John Bolton's nomination to be U.N. ambassador.

During questioning, Bolton used an alias for the officer saying, quote, "I'll try and call him Mr. Smith here," but then Kerry read a transcript of closed-door interviews with state department officials which included the officer's full name. Lugar also mentioned the officer's name.

The CIA says, quote, "It's not the end of the world, since previous CIA work put the officer's name out there," and, quote, "We're not talking about someone who is doing deep espionage overseas." The CIA, although, says it hopes the officer's career is not adversely impacted.

[whitequeen96]

That's why I think of it as "Faux Network" . . .

[trust no one]

Originally Posted by whitequeen96

That's why I think of it as "Faux Network" . . .

Did you see Lloyd Grove's piece in the Daily News yesterday?

If the conservative guests on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" sound especially on-message, that's because they're being coached by the best:

Sean Hannity himself.

On the March 31 installment of the shouting-head show, the guests included two of the late Terri Schiavo's former nurses, Trudy Capone and Carla Sauer Iyer, arguing that their patient wasn't brain-dead.

Between commercials, according to an off-air audiotape obtained by investigative comedian Harry Shearer for last Sunday's episode of his weekly radio program, "Le Show," Hannity coached the women on exactly how to respond when liberal co-host Alan Colmes cross-examined them.

"Just say, 'I'm here to tell what I saw,'" Hannity can be heard instructing his guests. "No matter what the question, 'I'm here to tell you what I saw. I'm here to tell you what I saw.'"

Hannity adds helpfully: "Say, 'I'm not going to be distracted by silliness.' How's that? Does that help you? Look into that camera. Look at me when I'm talking."

On the air, Iyer performs beautifully. "I don't have any opinions or judgments. I was there," she declares

After the segment ends, Hannity gushes off the air to the nurses: "We got the points out. It's hard, this isn't easy. But you did great, both of you. Thank you, guys. Those nurses are powerful, aren't they?"

On his radio show, Shearer injected: "Yeah, especially when they do what you tell 'em to do. Very powerful when they follow instructions from the host!"

A Fox News flack didn't respond to Lowdown's detailed message yesterday.