David Corn Bets Brad Blakeman $1000 He's Wrong on Iraq Weapons Inspectors
Well, here's one way to shut these liars down. While discussing Karl Rove's latest bit of revisionist history Brad Blakeman of course defends the Bush administration and the lies in Rove's new book. Near the end of the segment after numerous attempts by both Shuster and Corn to rebut Blakeman we get this exchange.
Blakeman: President Bush did not bring us into this war because of WMD. He brought us into the war...
Corn: What!?
Blakeman: ...because Saddam Hussein failed...
Corn: What!?
Blakeman: ...to allow inspections of the sites the U.N. demanded be inspected.
Corn: Brad you're absolutely wrong.
Blakeman: I'm right.
Corn: The inspectors were in. They were for months before the war.
Blakeman: Come on David.
Corn: I'll bet you $1000 right now! $1000 the inspectors were there.
Needless to say liar Brad Blakeman did not take him up on it. Why MSNBC feels the need to bring in someone like Blakeman who they know is just going to lie on the air is beyond me. It was nice to see Corn and Shuster call him on his bullshit though.
From a bushman?
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness and it is killing America!
it was such a great feeling to see Blakeman sooooooo pissed....
at this lying, chickenshit, greedy, neo-con, sociopath warmonger if so many innocent people weren't fucking dead as a result of his and his gang's crimes against humanity. Good on both Davids for exposing this trash.
whatsoever from these lying assholes.
If my memory serves me wasn't there a guy from the UN named Hans Blix (I'll never forget that name) asking the US for more time to complete their inspections. Seems to me he was pissed at not being given more time by lyin' George. Hope I'm remembering this correctly and not stating things right outta my arse like a republicretin would.
That's the way I remember it.
It's kind of the entire premise of him being in that movie.
That's exactly the way it was.
Well, they've got people like Scumsucker and Pukeanan on the payroll, so I'm guessing they'll offer up any right-wing twippy for a talking point regurgitator.
I love it!!!
Some stuff you can't make up!
Blakeman? Isn't MSNBC owned by GE? Does GE still build arms including nuclear weapons? MSNBC couldn't bring in a better spokesman for GE's interests. But they could sure bring in more truthful ones.
Perino, Coulter, etc etc etc...there are so many of these effing bald-faced no-integrity scum-sucking pathological liars out there it's driving half of us insane, I'm sure of it. Hell that's the whole premise of this website along with others like media matters, FAIR, et al, meaning just half keeping up with these a-hole prevaricators is a full-time job for hundreds of people.
This is one way the Rethuglicans are controlling the game, keeping those of us with an interest in the actual truth on the defensive scooping up the copious piles of steaming shit they spew every day into plastic bags for disposal, only to see them cover the sidewalks, streets, and parks with more of it.
I like reading this site but I'm sick of watching these low-lifes continue getting a huge audience on the corporate media. Makes me want to go all Apache on them some times. Anyone else?
Who are other counterweights to them on the left (in addition to this and the other above-named websites)? Not prevaricating lefty wingnuts (though I completely reject the MSM's beloved equivalence between right- and left-wing nutjobs, certainly far fewer on the left) but those who not just expose but hit back at their lies.
Another blatant lie and a revision of history by a wing nut , standard procedure . The inspectors were not complaining about access problems or about being hindered , Bush / Cheney decided to begin the invasion and told them to leave Iraq .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
David Kaye was announcing they were successfully surprising people with their inspections and finding nothing.
Hans Blix was referring to same.
On top of that up to the invasion Saddam Hussein was trying to negotiate terms.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
You'll notice the dateline on this, two days before we invaded Iraq.
Weapons Inspectors Leave Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 18, 2003
U.N. weapons inspectors climbed aboard a plane and pulled out of Iraq on Tuesday after President Bush issued a final ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to step down or face war.
A plane carrying the inspectors took off from Saddam International Airport at 10:25 a.m. It landed an hour and a half later in Laranca, Cyprus where the inspectors have a base.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday ordered all U.N. inspectors and support staff, humanitarian workers and U.N. observers along the Iraq-Kuwait border to evacuate Iraq after U.S. threats to launch war.
U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said 56 inspectors as well as support staff were on board Tuesday. Reporters at the airport saw about 80 people boarding buses for the plane, and officials earlier estimated the total number of U.N. evacuees at about 150.
After failing to secure U.N. authorization to use force to disarm Iraq, President Bush gave Saddam 48 hours to step down or face war in a speech Monday night.
-------------------------------------------
And a similar article was on Faux News.
U.N. Inspectors Leave Iraq
There it is there!
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
I came across an article from USA Today the day before the one you cite, and this nugget struck me:
Why was the helicopter insurance cancelled? What were the inspectors supposed to do, walk home??
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
Of course the liars believe their own crap.
"How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read."
Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
How Rovian.
Joe Wilson:
"Nothing in Karl Rove's book refutes those facts. His book, however, is illuminating in further exposing his political methods, especially his reliance on personal insults, not simply towards Valerie and myself, but also towards all those who opposed his unprincipled behavior.
If any additional proof to the irrefutable historical record were needed, Rove's book demonstrates once again the actions of a vindictive, angry and petty man. Karl Rove betrayed his nation; now he has betrayed history."
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Sneaky and mean, yes. I wonder who handled him? Could not have been Bush, so was it Cheney? Clearly Rove could not have been free to enact any scheme that came into his beady little mind. Someone had to be in charge of him. Who left just before or after he did? I don't recall. Anyone?
Lee Atwater was his mentor - he is well connected to the older guys and dirty tricksters. FWIW
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
dont know why you deleted my comment
rove puts his past front and center
of course, he lies about the circumstances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzEaUV78QrA&fe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miPpklo6z80&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
to see Shuster back Corn up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shuster can be kinda tooley. The truth comes out once in a while.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
This is another example of the sad state of journalism in this country. Come on, get it together. I don't want to live in an Idiocracy.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Are we too late?
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Brad Blakeman
Mitt Romney
Karl Rove
Rudy Giuliani
Dana Perrino
Mary Matalin
Inspectors weren't allowed in, no terrorist attacks on Bush's watch?
Next they'll be telling us that Bush invented the wheel.
.
It's all about trying to be fair to the other side. THIS is exactly the problem with the modern newstainment media. Nevermind having the people they bring on bring sources for their information and such. Just let them shout it out as if they're both equals on opposite sides of the issue. It's not news, it's just meant to continue to help with the serious divisions in the country.
The people on the other side opposite us should be engaged on the issues, but you can't just show them on air and let them lie about crap. You also shouldn't just dismiss them completely. They're part of America too and we can't allow ourselves to continue to be divided.
So I don't think Blakeman needs to be kept off the air, but the newstainment folks need a new approach - like bring proof to the table -for those involved with these on-air debates. Hell, you have a 24 hour news network, you've got the time!
Fuck that!!! I'll bet him $1 trillion!! Cash! Not only were they there but the confirmed that Iraq had NO WMDs. And then some treasonous America hating neo-con puppets pulled them out so they could launch an illegal war of aggression. Useless scummy lying America hating neo-con trash like Blakeman make me want to take a baseball bat to ever damn filthy nasty rethug voter in the country for allowing these scum to pull their shit! Why the fuck this Blakeman clown hasn't been kneecapped yet is beynd me. It's frigging downright unAmerican that he hasn't been!!!
i would disagree with the kraus quote, nowadays corps. buy the policy, then provide the propaganda, nothing to do with journalism
please see link below
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main
speaking of g.e., if you search a bit you will find, at the end of the pipeline in af/pak that our troops are defending, there is a natural gas powered electrical generating station owned by said corp.
THAT'S the way to answer right-wing lies. First, point them out. Then refute them.
left-wing lies?
Such as? You know, reality does have a liberal bias.
That's why wingnuts pump billions into creating their right wing talking point parallel universe, which has absolutely no similarity to reality what-so-ever.
It's cheaper than paying taxes.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
But it's the right-wing lies which dominate our media, unchallenged.
Way to go David Corn! Props to Shuster as well for letting D/C prove Blakeman a liar. I agree with what someone posted earlier, that Shuster can be a tool sometimes, but this time he did the right thing. EVERY time a neocon lies on TV, they should be challenged like this.
I wonder why Shuster didn't show or mention D/C's other and more recent book? Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War New York: Crown Publishers, 2006
I have been wondering for a long time why more people don't call bullshit on these rightwing liars and challenge them.
I have found the fastest way to shut up an ignorant talking-point spewing wingnut is to bet them $20 they are full of shit. It shuts them up everytime.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
... and not only doesn't the media call them on it, most of the people listening have forgotten what the truth was.
I'm sure we've all heard this from at least one person:
"They couldn't say it on TV (radio, etc.) if it wasn't true."
CaliforniaMike blogs at All Voices and at his own blogs, http://www.mikerappaport.net/onevoice and at http://oneminutewithmike.blogspot.com.
I find it hard to believe we have people this dumb at the pinacle of power in our government. The fact of whether or not UN inspectors had access to various sites is so easy to prove. Hans Blix was ordered to report progress of his inspections every 90 days to the UN. Here is an excerpt from his January 27th 2003 report:
"Iraq has on the whole cooperated rather well so far with UNMOVIC in this field. The most important point to make is that access has been provided to all sites we have wanted to inspect and with one exception it has been prompt. We have further had great help in building up the infrastructure of our office in Baghdad and the field office in Mosul. Arrangements and services for our plane and our helicopters have been good. The environment has been workable.
Our inspections have included universities, military bases, presidential sites and private residences. Inspections have also taken place on Fridays, the Muslim day of rest, on Christmas day and New Years day. These inspections have been conducted in the same manner as all other inspections. We seek to be both effective and correct."
And more from a February report with even more specificity: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/feb/14/i...
It is delusional to claim the inspectors did not have access!
bush lied about the weapons inspectors at the time; Blakeman is lying about them now. Some things never change.
I imagine that, like me, a high percentage of this blog's readers heard what was said by Hans Blix, David Kaye, and Scott Ritter and concluded before the invasion that there were no WMD in Iraq. Then we invaded and guess what! There were no WMD in Iraq, just as all those people had said. And then the lies about the inspectors began.
It's amazing that so many of us knew what bush and cheney claim to have missed. And yet we all looked at the same info. Amazing.
Where did those WMD's go Mr. Blakeman????
'Talk to the hand'
I hate articles like this.
They completely sidestep the entire issue.
Did Iraq have WMD?
No, but why would it matter if they did?
The U.S. has the largest stockpile of true WMD in the entire world.
Thousands of nuclear warheads, all ready to use at a moments notice.
A war of aggression based on a lie that is, even if it were true, a spurious reason to wage a war in the first place.
From the most hypocritical nation on the face of the earth.
...and the 'progressive' blogs fall for this nonsense time in, time out, argue over something so fundamentally flawed giving credence to the warmongers with their 'what if' fantasies - ignoring all reality.
The war was wrong.
We were not attacked by Iraq, or Afghanistan.
No one had been attacked by Iraq, or Afghanistan.
And the U.S. still has the largest stockpile of WMD known to the world.
..until we start war crimes' trials on members of the previous administration, the members of the previous administration will continue to try to rewrite history. History can't be rewritten and anyone with half a brain knew the illegal iraq invasion was to satisfy some profiteering on the part of the MID. Much the same way the Afghanistan campaign to kill or capture obl was a sham. All sounds to good to red-blooded Americans but it lacked substance and resolve because all it was was smoke and mirrors within a hidden agenda.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
I don't care if people lie on news programs as long as it is pointed out that they are wrong. MSNBC is one of the few networks where that happens consistently.
I could've sworn that I saw a few strings coming down from the top part of the video while Blakeman was talking!These strings seemed to be placed mainly around either side of Blakeman's lower jaw!
Look folks,Blakeman is a tool, he's trotted out every week or so to spout the company line! He has no redeeming qualities,as his blatant dishonesty in dealing with all things Bush clearly show's him to be a back-doorman!
Oo, and I'll betya all my baseball cards . . . anna . . . anna my slingshot anna . . . my Mariokart DS cartridge anna . . . anna a BAZILLION zillion DOLLARS!! So there!!
The pukes scum and trash are so convienced of their own lies they actual think the rest of us believe them.
One must remember the biggest push for the destruction of America was and has been done under the Supreme Court appointed president with the COWARD and American TRAITOR cheney and the SPINELESS republiCANT Corporate YES MEN.
The funny thing is these ANTI AMERICAN White Trailer Trash forgot about the Internet DUH! Not lets see this ScumBag take the bet.
Anyone heard of SAUDI ARABIA? Sound familiar, yup every republiCANT is in their back pocket and these TRAITORS know it.
Rove smells like a turd, trying to lie his way to false wingnut reality.
Below is the 'Smoking Gun' video that should have put the Bush Crime Family behind bars...
"A Spy Speaks Out
Former Top CIA Official On "Faulty" Intelligence Claims
(CBS) When no weapons of mass destruction surfaced in Iraq, President Bush insisted that all those WMD claims before the war were the result of faulty intelligence. But a former top CIA official, Tyler Drumheller — a 26-year veteran of the agency — has decided to do something CIA officials at his level almost never do: Speak out.
He tells correspondent Ed Bradley the real failure was not in the intelligence community but in the White House. He says he saw how the Bush administration, time and again, welcomed intelligence that fit the president's determination to go to war and turned a blind eye to intelligence that did not.
"It just sticks in my craw every time I hear them say it’s an intelligence failure. It’s an intelligence failure. This was a policy failure," Drumheller tells Bradley.
Drumheller was the CIA's top man in Europe, the head of covert operations there, until he retired a year ago. He says he saw firsthand how the White House promoted intelligence it liked and ignored intelligence it didn’t:"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60m...
The whole chronology of the UN Inspectors is more complicated than what the Republicans are saying. This is going strictly on my memory, but what I remember is that the inspectors were in Iraq. They were barred from inspecting certain sites. There was a stink about the lack of full access, and they were kicked out by Iraq. Then there was such a ruckus about them being kicked out that Saddam let them back in. They were sending out reports and getting into sites that the Iraqi officials had barred them from. Then Bush pulled them out (or they pulled themselves out), and the US invaded a little while later. So, yes, Saddam did kick them out at one point, but NO that incident cannot be used as justification for the invasion, since the Iraqis were cooperating just before the invasion. The Republicans are conflating the "kicking out" incident that occurred quite a while before the invasion - with what happened at the time of the invasion. Of course, that's if my memory serves me right.
like 24 hours. And I don't remember Saddam kicking them out once they were in under UN auspices, There was some initial problem with access, but for the majority of the time they were there, they didn't tell the Iraqis where they were going until they got there.
Blakeman is telling blatant lies. I guess the reason MSNBC brings these liars is on is the same reason all networks bring these liars on, ratings. I give Shuster and other anchors credit for doing something CNN and FOX never do, and that is to challenge them and show them to be the liars they are. But then again, the confusion over these issues come from these types of exchanges. My contention is the public is confused after these exchanges because there is a large segment that is just plain stupid. Anyone alive in the adult or near adulte age range during this period, and they believe Blakeman's lies, they are just stupid. There is absolutely no question inspectors were in Iraq 3 months before the war, and were ordered out by the Bush administration to start the war. Now we all know Republican sell their lies and bullshit to a certain section of Americans. They know those people are the dumbest people on earth, so facts and the inability to retain information over 24 hours is something they depend on for their base.
Brad Blakeman, just another of those GOP androids who doesn't care about his own integrity.
Give him enough money and he'll go on tv and lie all day.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Notice all that blinking going on when David calls him on it?
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
I really like this principle: put your money where your mouth is.
I'd like to see it codified in law that before you can express an opinion on television, you must put up a bond representing your confidence in the idea. There doesn't have to be a minimum amount to the bonds, but the amount that each pundit posts for each opinion or appearance must be displayed beside his name while he's talking. After the opinion is televised, an independent panel should analyze each claim, and deduct money from the bond for every inaccuracy. The pundit gets to keep whatever's left.
Listen to the end of the segment. During the cross chatter Blakeman is laughing and saying "I didn't take that bet"!
Very telling I'd say.
He knew he was lying. An utterly reprehensible individual. His laughing off the bet reminds me much of the video of Bush looking for WMD in the White House. These republicans treat the troops with such disdain and cynicism, it still amazes me that anyone can think these right wing sociopaths are better about national security.
i used to live on the same block as a UN employee who worked for the weapons inspectors. I KNEW that there were no WMD's. There had been inspections and the original development had been stopped in the early 1990's. My friend was not only frustrated, but swore that Bush wanted the war and didn't want to accept what everyone there knew to be true. That's why I was so upset when the war started and NOT AT ALL SURPRISED WHEN THEY DIDN'T FIND ANY WMD's. Why did I know there were none there and our own government ignored the truth!
To this day this drives me crazy when I think of how many died so bushie could have his little war and make lots of money for Cheney and his Halliburton, blackwater etc friends. Lot's of Karma on Bush's blood soaked hands. Corn wins by a mile.
This particular rank piece of dishonesty began with Bush himself. In a number of speeches given during his second term he talked about Hussein not letting in the inspectors and even people in the MSM wondered why he was being so blatantly dishonest. It wasn't even a good lie because Hans Blix was almost a household name.
Blakeman obviously knew that his own statement was not even close to being true (= outright lie), so he wasn't going to take the bet, not because he would lose the $1000, although that was part of it, but because in losing the bet, he would be shown once more to be lying out both sides of his mouth, through his teeth, like a rug, etc.
Here we go... Was Clinton lying when he said Iraq had weapons? Was Albreit lying when she called Iraq a dangerous threat? Were the leaders of England, France, Germany and pretty much every European country lying when they called out Iraq for not allowing full inspections and kicking out inspectors? Now is it that Bush is so smart he fooled us all cause I swear you people thing he's too stupid to count to ten?
It's so very sad the state of hate this site lives in. I may disagree with our current President but vulgar threats and cheap insults just make all of you petty whiners and ignorant fools, which I steer clear of ;) How about you remember the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS killed, tortured and jailed under Saddam instead of pissing on this great country and the sacrifice we perform everyday in the name of freedom
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