During his "exclusive" interview with Brit Hume on FOX last night, the objective and entirely trustworthy General Petraeus continued his propaganda b
September 10, 2007

fox-petraeus-briefing.jpg During his "exclusive" interview with Brit Hume on FOX last night, the objective and entirely trustworthy General Petraeus continued his propaganda blitz for a full hour, with nary an adversarial question about the GAO report or any of the other truly independent (and entirely contradictory) assesments. It's quite fitting that FOX billed the interview as "a briefing for America," because that's exactly what it was: a briefing, an hour-long extension of his Congressional testimony. In this clip, watch Hume prod Petraeus into explaining how the war in Iraq is really a "war against al Qaeda."

icon Download icon Download

I don't want (nor do I expect) Hume to berate Petraeus with a credibility-questioning line of inquiry. What I do expect from a so-called straight-shooting journalist is a "fair and balanced" Q&A about the conflicting reports of violence and/or the wisdom of maintaining a military commitment when 70% of Iraqis believe the "surge" has worsened their lives; not someone to help Petraeus point to his colorful charts and ask blatantly leading questions. Then again, we're talking about FOX NEWS and Brit Hume here. It should come as no surprise that FOX landed this "exclusive." As pathetic as our national press is, any other network/journalist would have managed to squeeze in at least a few hardballs.

As Josh Marshall notes:

The "exclusive" is also helpfully interspersed with commercials from the White House-organized pro-Iraq War astroturf group Freedom's Watch.

Matt Stoller and OpenLeft have started an online petition urging the DC Establishment to begin viewing General Petraeus' recent statements through the prism of his long history of inaccuracies. Sign it here and review his record here.

Glenn chimes in: Brit Hume and the Bush administration take propaganda to a new level

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon