Media, Others Noted for Distracting Attention from Berger
by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
July 22, 2004
(AgapePress) - A former congressional investigator says Democrats are once again trying to distract public attention from a potentially damaging scandal in their reactions to the criminal investigation surrounding former Clinton national security advisor Sandy Berger.David Bossie is the former chief investigator for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. He believes Democrats are using their typical "playbook" in responding to the revelation that Berger took highly classified documents related to 9/11 from the National Archives. But Bossie says that does not surprise him.
"Sandy Berger seems to have admitted to committing felonies; that is no small matter. What he is then trying to do is to distract people from those felonies by blaming it on the timing," Bossie states, saying that is like blaming it on the people who let it be known that Berger did something wrong. "It's right back to the Clinton playbook; it's really a shame. They can't allow the American people to see them for what they are." (See Earlier Story)
Bossie also points out that Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, instead of admitting that Berger did something improper, said the announcement about Berger was politically timed to affect his candidacy. The former House investigator says such a response is typical of those who refuse to admit they are at fault.
Media Handling
Not only is Kerry apparently ducking the issue, a media watchdog says several national broadcasters are doing their best to change the subject and divert the public's attention from the Berger controversy.
For example, says the Media Research Center, CBS anchorman Dan Rather claimed the incident "was triggered by a carefully orchestrated leak about Berger -- and the timing of it appears to be no coincidence." One CBS reporter also stated that Capitol Hill politicos, Republicans and Democrats alike, say the timing of the announcement about the investigation "smells like politics."
MRC's Tim Graham takes issue particularly with Rather's remarks. "The problem with Rather's 'carefully orchestrated leak' language is that he has no idea of the leaker or their orchestration," Graham writes in an MRC release. He claims Rather used the exact same phraseology about an investigation announcement on the evening that Al Gore was addressing the 2000 Democratic Convention.
MRC also points out that ABC portrayed the Berger incident as a "political firestorm between Republicans and Democrats" -- but at least mentioned what CBS ignored: that portions of the information Berger removed may have been critical of the Clinton administration's anti-terror efforts.
CNN, according to Graham's group, featured a friend of Berger's -- David Gergen -- who talked about Berger being the "hero" of the war on terror, but balanced that with a "tough interview" of Berger's lawyer conducted by Wolf Blitzer.
