CBS Pulls A Fast One
Two Days Before The Election
Posted: November 9, 2012
Apropos of Tuesday’s editorial about the media and its role in this election, CBS News offers an example of the malpractice the editorial suggested is at work on behalf of President Obama. The issue, not surprisingly, is the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, which killed four brave Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
Save for a few isolated outlets — Fox News, being one — the media, as a whole, has not covered itself in truth-pursuing glory on this matter. But CBS stands guiltier than most, for it could have shed more light than other outlets on Mr. Obama’s perspective about this raid.
Recall that during the second presidential debate, Mr. Obama insisted he had identified this attack as a terrorist act the day after it occurred, although he and his deputies insisted for some two weeks that the attack was inspired by an obnoxious video. CBS jumped to his aid, releasing a “60 Minutes” video in which the president does seem to meander to that conclusion. But that was hardly the entire portion of the interview dealing with Benghazi.
On Sunday night, two days before the election, CBS released the full Benghazi segment in which the president, in response to Steve Kroft’s initial question, said it was “too early to tell exactly how this came about.” From what we know now, by the time Mr. Obama spoke to Mr. Kroft, it had, it seems, been pretty well established that an al Qaeda-linked group had initiated the attack.
Still, this fact aside, why did CBS wait until Sunday to release this portion of the video when it could have done so shortly after the Oct. 16 debate? Answer is, there is no answer, because there wasn’t a reason to withhold the remarks. If one is to argue, using Occam’s Razor that either Mr. Kroft or another editor simply missed Mr. Obama’s admission — which is entirely possible — then one must ask whether these professionals need a refresher course in listening.
Either explanation, liberal bias or editorial lassitude, does not speak well for CBS or the team at “60 Minutes.”
Save for a few isolated outlets — Fox News, being one — the media, as a whole, has not covered itself in truth-pursuing glory on this matter. But CBS stands guiltier than most, for it could have shed more light than other outlets on Mr. Obama’s perspective about this raid.
Recall that during the second presidential debate, Mr. Obama insisted he had identified this attack as a terrorist act the day after it occurred, although he and his deputies insisted for some two weeks that the attack was inspired by an obnoxious video. CBS jumped to his aid, releasing a “60 Minutes” video in which the president does seem to meander to that conclusion. But that was hardly the entire portion of the interview dealing with Benghazi.
On Sunday night, two days before the election, CBS released the full Benghazi segment in which the president, in response to Steve Kroft’s initial question, said it was “too early to tell exactly how this came about.” From what we know now, by the time Mr. Obama spoke to Mr. Kroft, it had, it seems, been pretty well established that an al Qaeda-linked group had initiated the attack.
Still, this fact aside, why did CBS wait until Sunday to release this portion of the video when it could have done so shortly after the Oct. 16 debate? Answer is, there is no answer, because there wasn’t a reason to withhold the remarks. If one is to argue, using Occam’s Razor that either Mr. Kroft or another editor simply missed Mr. Obama’s admission — which is entirely possible — then one must ask whether these professionals need a refresher course in listening.
Either explanation, liberal bias or editorial lassitude, does not speak well for CBS or the team at “60 Minutes.”