PDA

View Full Version : Buying The War by Bill Moyers Is Extraordinary!!!!



Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 01:40 AM
This is a tremendous documentary and should be extremely interesting to all politicos regardless our stripes. Truths expressed on this film and in it’s transcripts are indisputable and overwhelming.


"Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."
How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? "What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored," says Moyers. "How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?"
On Wednesday, April 25 at 9 p.m. on PBS, a new PBS series BILL MOYERS JOURNAL premieres at a special time with "Buying the War," a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. Two days later on April 27, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL airs in its regular timeslot on Fridays at 9 p.m. with interviews and news analysis on a wide range of subjects, including politics, arts and culture, the media, the economy, and issues facing democracy. "Buying the War" includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of MEET THE PRESS; Bob Simon of 60 MINUTES; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by The McClatchy Company in 2006.
In "Buying the War" Bill Moyers and producer Kathleen Hughes document the reporting of Walcott, Landay and Strobel, the Knight Ridder team that burrowed deep into the intelligence agencies to try and determine whether there was any evidence for the Bush Administration's case for war. "Many of the things that were said about Iraq didn't make sense," says Walcott. "And that really prompts you to ask, 'Wait a minute. Is this true? Does everyone agree that this is true? Does anyone think this is not true?'"
In the run-up to war, skepticism was a rarity among journalists inside the Beltway. Journalist Bob Simon of 60 Minutes, who was based in the Middle East, questioned the reporting he was seeing and reading. "I mean we knew things or suspected things that perhaps the Washington press corps could not suspect. For example, the absurdity of putting up a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda," he tells Moyers. "Saddam…was a total control freak. To introduce a wild card like Al Qaeda in any sense was just something he would not do. So I just didn't believe it for an instant." The program analyzes the stream of unchecked information from administration sources and Iraqi defectors to the mainstream print and broadcast press, which was then seized upon and amplified by an army of pundits. While almost all the claims would eventually prove to be false, the drumbeat of misinformation about WMDs went virtually unchallenged by the media. THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on Iraq's "worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb," but according to Landay, claims by the administration about the possibility of nuclear weapons were highly questionable. Yet, his story citing the "lack of hard evidence of Iraqi weapons" got little play. In fact, throughout the media landscape, stories challenging the official view were often pushed aside while the administration's claims were given prominence. "From August 2002 until the war was launched in March of 2003 there were about 140 front page pieces in THE WASHINGTON POST making the administration's case for war," says Howard Kurtz, the POST's media critic. "But there was only a handful of stories that ran on the front page that made the opposite case. Or, if not making the opposite case, raised questions."
"Buying the War" examines the press coverage in the lead-up to the war as evidence of a paradigm shift in the role of journalists in democracy and asks, four years after the invasion, what's changed? "More and more the media become, I think, common carriers of administration statements and critics of the administration," says THE WASHINGTON POST's Walter Pincus. "We've sort of given up being independent on our own."


More: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

I’m glad to see that the independent media is alive and well.

stephanie
04-26-2007, 01:54 AM
:laugh2: This whole piece is laughable..And I demand my money stop being used to support PBS and NPR...

Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 02:10 AM
I find that very strange, staphy. Your general response to everything is :laugh2: . I didn't find anything about it funny or insincere in any way.



:laugh2: This whole piece is laughable..And I demand my money stop being used to support PBS and NPR...

I want my money back for the War On Iraq, bridges to nowhere in Alaska and a couple thousand more things but as an American citizen I am compelled to taxation and the trust of the PTB to spend it well. Overall, with many caveats, I am satisfied. I am also satisfied that Bill Moyers, Dan Rather and a few hundred more witnesses and participants in the documentary were all truthful, patriotic and thoughtful as they produced this most vital piece of information for the American population.

stephanie
04-26-2007, 02:27 AM
Yeah........I'm sure there wasn't a lick of bias in it...
For starters, here's the first lie in it....the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11..That was never said...
So right there....I will dismiss the whole junk piece that Moyers is trying to pass off...

Heck, that upstanding Dan Rather was in it..... he only got caught trying to pass off fake documents to try and sully the record of the Presidents service..
And anything that features Dan Rather in it.............I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him..
Here is this one better...:cuckoo:

Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 02:47 AM
I didn't see any bias at all, staphy, and I watched it twice just to doublecheck my bearings.




Yeah........I'm sure there wasn't a lick of bias in it...

Heck, that upstanding Dan Rather was in it..... he only got caught trying to pass off fake documents to try and sully the record of the Presidents service..
All this was, was a hit piece on Conservative broadcasting outlets..And anything that features Dan Rather in it.............I wouldn't trust that man as far as I could throw him..
Here is this one better...:cuckoo:

Are you trying to demonize a subject or a person that you just don't understand or are you just acting out on impulse?

Here is another one that you can comment on: http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthread.php?t=2766

stephanie
04-26-2007, 02:56 AM
I didn't see any bias at all, staphy, and I watched it twice just to double check my bearings.





Are you trying to demonize a subject or a person that you just don't understand or are you just acting out on impulse?

Here is another one that you can comment on: http://www.debatepolicy.com/showthread.php?t=2766

Just as I said...It has Dan Rather in it.......He aaa lost his job for tying to pass off fake documents against President Bush.......remember???
So....we know he's NOT BIASED...:laugh2:
I just pointed out a lie in the piece above...Of course You will overlook that..

Who watches PBS, anyway????

Welllll..on the Olberman thingy...I was thinking........all of those 10 people who watch his show, surly agree with him...

Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 03:02 AM
I do. Are you trying to say that pResident Bush and his cabal never tried to connect Saddam Hussein with 9-11?



Just as I said...It has Dan Rather in it.......He aaa lost his job for tying to pass off fake documents against President Bush.......remember???
So....we know he's NOT BIASED...:laugh2:
I just pointed out a lie in the piece above...Of course You will overlook that..

Who watches PBS, anyway????

You are as dishonest as you are dense.

stephanie
04-26-2007, 03:11 AM
I do. Are you trying to say that president Bush and his cabal never tried to connect Saddam Hussein with 9-11?




You are as dishonest as you are dense.

Show me where they said that??
Cause I must be too dense to find it myself...:coffee:

Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 03:33 AM
OK. You are simply too dense.



Show me where they said that??
Cause I must be too dense to find it myself...:coffee:

The program pointed it out several times. The evidense is indisputable and you obviously didn't watch it and you obviously don't get far away from your keyboard. You read, write and think what you want to think. That is pretty selfish, IMHO.

stephanie
04-26-2007, 03:54 AM
OK. You are simply too dense.




The program pointed it out several times. The evidence is indisputable and you obviously didn't watch it and you obviously don't get far away from your keyboard. You read, write and think what you want to think. That is pretty selfish, IMHO.

Go believe what you want..You do anyway..Whether it be a lie or not...
Who really cares...:cheers2:

Psychoblues
04-26-2007, 04:00 AM
Get off them grapes, staphy.




Go believe what you want..You do anyway..Whether it be a lie or not...
Who really cares...:cheers2:

They will screw your head up.:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

Gaffer
04-26-2007, 06:57 PM
PBS The Postively British Socialist network. If its not british made with a socialist agenda its not shown on PBS.

moyers was just doing his micheal moore immitation with that show.

Psychoblues
04-27-2007, 08:44 PM
Typical sanctimonious prick response, gaffer.



PBS The Postively British Socialist network. If its not british made with a socialist agenda its not shown on PBS.

moyers was just doing his micheal moore immitation with that show.

Obviously, you're not good at discernment, critical thinking and due respect for views beyond your own. Admit it, prick, you didn't watch it either, did you?

Kathianne
04-27-2007, 08:46 PM
Typical sanctimonious prick response, gaffer.




Obviously, you're not good at discernment, critical thinking and due respect for views beyond your own. Admit it, prick, you didn't watch it either, did you?

Did you? Doesn't sound like it. You've nothing to say other than to call Gaffer a prick, which might make you feel mighty in your world, but leads to nothing regarding the conversation.

Psychoblues
04-27-2007, 09:59 PM
Take a lesson here, sanctimonious teacher. Gaffer proudly describes himself a "santimonious prick." Just look under his name the next time you are sober and can read the small print stuff.



Did you? Doesn't sound like it. You've nothing to say other than to call Gaffer a prick, which might make you feel mighty in your world, but leads to nothing regarding the conversation.

Here is what the prick has had to say in this conversation so far: "PBS The Postively British Socialist network. If its not british made with a socialist agenda its not shown on PBS.

moyers was just doing his micheal moore immitation with that show."

Do you interpret that as any credible analyses of anything in the coverse as yet?

I've said a lot already and I feel good about it. Do you feel like the idiot that you are or do I need to further point out to you your failures to read the thread before you answer a post, know something about who you are defending or to understand the topic before blindly commenting on it's content?

Get off the grapes, kathianne, and put your thinking cap on. You are better than that.

Gaffer
04-27-2007, 10:13 PM
Take a lesson here, sanctimonious teacher. Gaffer proudly describes himself a "santimonious prick." Just look under his name the next time you are sober and can read the small print stuff.




Here is what the prick has had to say in this conversation so far: "PBS The Postively British Socialist network. If its not british made with a socialist agenda its not shown on PBS.

moyers was just doing his micheal moore immitation with that show."

Do you interpret that as any credible analyses of anything in the coverse as yet?

I've said a lot already and I feel good about it. Do you feel like the idiot that you are or do I need to further point out to you your failures to read the thread before you answer a post, know something about who you are defending or to understand the topic before blindly commenting on it's content?

Get off the grapes, kathianne, and put your thinking cap on. You are better than that.


I'm glad you feel good about defending moyers, you would. He's a piece of shit and you look UP to him. I said what I think of pbs and moyers. Don't like it? Don't read it. I refuse to watch his propaganda show.

I've never known Kath to post while drinking, same can't be said for you.

Psychoblues
04-27-2007, 10:36 PM
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:


Well slap my ass and call me "bitch"!!!!!!!!!

Neither of you, kath or the prick, have stated or indicated one objective thought in this conversation thus far.






I'm glad you feel good about defending moyers, you would. He's a piece of shit and you look UP to him. I said what I think of pbs and moyers. Don't like it? Don't read it. I refuse to watch his propaganda show.

I've never known Kath to post while drinking, same can't be said for you.

Neither of you can refute it, both of you are still ignorant or stupid, the premise of the conversation is still wanting for credible debate and the Bill Moyers report still stands.

The report is debatable. Debate it. Condemning Bill Moyers, PBS or me just doesn't indicate intelligence or skill from either of you lazy yet sanctimonious jerks to me.

Yes, I am a santimonious prick as well so you don't have the burden of wearing it all on your own shoulders, gifer.

stephanie
04-27-2007, 10:49 PM
I heard ratings sucked on his hit peice..In other words....Nobody watched it.......

Poor Rather and Moyers....They just aren't as impotent as they think they are...:coffee:

Psychoblues
04-27-2007, 11:01 PM
I heard exactly the opposite and your desciption is the first I have heard it described as a "propaganda piece". It spoke truth with fairness, balance and information important to all Americans. If not, please address your grievances with it, the documentary, and please stop attacking the messengers simply because you don't agree with or appreciate the message. That is so 3rd grade.





I heard ratings sucked on his propaganda piece...In other words....Nobody watched it.......

Poor Rather and Moyers....They just aren't as impotent as they think they are...:coffee:

I am certain you are as "impotent" as you think you are. The piece is the rage on many political boards right now whether conservative or liberal. Somehow I think you are telling more lies, staphy, about what you heard.

stephanie
04-27-2007, 11:17 PM
I heard exactly the opposite and your description is the first I have heard it described as a "propaganda piece". It spoke truth with fairness, balance and information important to all Americans. If not, please address your grievances with it, the documentary, and please stop attacking the messengers simply because you don't agree with or appreciate the message. That is so 3rd grade.






I am certain you are as "impotent" as you think you are. The piece is the rage on many political boards right now whether conservative or liberal. Somehow I think you are telling more lies, staphy, about what you heard.

You all talk about how all of the Bush administration has supposedly lied...
Yet...you would sit here and excuse the crap that Dan Rather tried to pull, pass off fake documents, got caught red handed, was shamed from his job..
Yet...you all will overlook that, and still take what he has to say as the truth...

That's the double standards of a liberal..
And I'm telling you what I heard....It bombed..

Now of course it's all the rave over at the Kos, Huffington, Du..your home...
Hell, they eat anything up that will try and make President Bush, and conservative talk show hosts, look bad........Kinda like you..:coffee:

Psychoblues
04-30-2007, 02:16 AM
That and the blowjobs of the Millenial Dick Of Bill Clinton will get you all that you deserve.



You all talk about how all of the Bush administration has supposedly lied...
Yet...you would sit here and excuse the crap that Dan Rather tried to pull, pass off fake documents, got caught red handed, was shamed from his job..
Yet...you all will overlook that, and still take what he has to say as the truth...

That's the double standards of a liberal..
And I'm telling you what I heard....It bombed..

Now of course it's all the rave over at the Kos, Huffington, Du..your home...
Hell, they eat anything up that will try and make President Bush, and conservative talk show hosts, look bad........Kinda like you..:coffee:

Suck this: :pee: