TRANSCRIPT: CNN reporter Jessica Yellin unfairly trashed Gen. Clark yesterday!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 17, 2008 - 4:45pm.
Rapid Response
Hello Everyone:
Here is the CNN Election Center transcript from Wednesday, July 16 where CNN reporter Jessica Yellin unfairly and falsely trashed Gen. Clark by saying that "General Wesley Clark went where no Obama supporter is allowed to go. John McCain's military record" and then "Oh, dear. The Obama campaign denounced the comments. But still, the controversy stole the headlines:"
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/16/ec.01.html
CNN ELECTION CENTER
McCain Addresses NAACP Convention; U.S. Troops Moving from Iraq to Afghanistan?; House GOP Hands Out Spirit Awards
Aired July 16, 2008 - 20:00 ET
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: "You think one of the easiest jobs in politics is that of being a surrogate. The campaign tells you what to say, sends you out on the trail. All you have to do is stay on message, right? Well, easier said than done.
Here's Jessica Yellin with our blooper reel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're meant to vouch for the candidate.
SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM (R), NORTH CAROLINA: There has never been a better commander in chief candidate than John McCain.
YELLIN: Sell the campaign line in an ever expanding universe of political photo ops and TV smackdowns. They are campaign surrogates. And this year, we're learning sometimes they do more harm than good...
YELLIN: General Wesley Clark went where no Obama supporter is allowed to go. John McCain's military record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARK: I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Oh, dear. The Obama campaign denounced the comments. But still, the controversy stole the headlines..."
Right below is the entire transcript of this segment so that you can see these comments in their full context and see all of the other people who Jessica Yellin put Gen. Clark in the same pot of stew with!
I wish that there was a video of this because Jessica Yellin made Gen. Clark look very bad in my opinion!
Steve Kornacki of The New York Observer also trashed Gen. Clark when commenting on this piece from Jessica Yellin by saying "Now Barack Obama knows not to pick Wesley Clark" which is also in this same transcript:
BROWN: "So are surrogates really an endangered species, or are they doing more harm than good? Back with me now, Steve Kornacki, Tara Wall and Gloria Borger...
STEVE KORNACKI, "NEW YORK OBSERVER": Now Barack Obama knows not to pick Wesley Clark. So there's some value there to them..."
Here are the two main bottom line facts to set the record straight for Jessica Yellin, Steve Kornacki, and for any other people who are saying the same wrong things about Gen. Clark:
1) Gen. Clark was NEVER a surrogate for the Obama campaign. He said "Now, I wasn‘t representing the Obama campaign in anything I said yesterday about John McCain" and Catherine Grunden confirmed "for the record" that "General Clark appeared on face the nation on his own. Nothing was coordinated with the Obama campaign:"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25478210/
'Verdict with Dan Abrams' for Monday, June 30
Read the transcript to the Monday show
Guest: General Wesley Clark, Tara Wall, Roy Sekoff, Brian Wice, Nicole DeBorde, Tucker Carlson.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK, OBAMA SUPPORTER: "Now, I wasn‘t representing the Obama campaign in anything I said yesterday about John McCain. Those are comments I said for some weeks now..."
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15996#comment-314095
for the record
Submitted by cagrunden on July 3, 2008 - 5:00pm.
"General Clark appeared on face the nation on his own. Nothing was coordinated with the Obama campaign. Clearly from the Obama spokespeople it is clear they disagree and disavow General Clark's remarks. You guys know I don't post often but I wanted to say that."
2) Gen. Clark NEVER said anything negative about "John McCain's military record" as Jessica Yellin implied in her report!
Gen. Clark made it very clear that he was not dissing John McCain's military service and said that he honors McCain's service, that John McCain is a hero to him, that he likes McCain, that McCain has been to his house, that people are misinterpreting what he said, and that we need to get on to the issues of the country.
His main point was the position that one had in the armed forces and what one did there as to how relevant that military service is to the strategic decision making that is the essence of protecting The United States as President:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15947
VIDEO & ANALYSIS: Gen. Clark on Dan Abrams from Monday, June 30
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 30, 2008 - 11:13pm.
Here is an excellent article and YouTube video link that easily refutes all of this baseless nonsense which I call "the anti-Clark Kool-Aid" that a lot of people and which many pundits in the media like Jessica Yellin are unfortunately drinking right now:
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/what-wesley-cla.html
Mon Jun 30, 9:03 AM Pacific
What Wesley Clark Really Said About John McCain
YouTube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Spn1Lg-qIw
What Wesley Clark Really Said About John McCain (4:33)
This is NOT the first time that Jessica Yellin has spoken negatively about Gen. Clark:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16034#comment-315045
Jessics Yellin of CNN was quick to remove Gen. Clark from the VP short list
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 9, 2008 - 1:35am.
Unfortunately, many journalists and pundits in the media have NOT been very nice or fair to Gen. Clark in a lot of their coverage of him as I have credibly documented:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/15872
The biased media that did a hit job on Hillary also did a hit job on Gen. Clark!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on June 24, 2008 - 2:38am.
Here is the link to contact CNN about Jessica Yellin's unfair coverage and treatment of Gen. Clark:
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/
CONTACT US/CNN TV
I definitely could NOT let Jessica Yellin's false and unfair comments about Gen. Clark to go unanswered because in my opinion allowing ANY negative comments or attacks on Gen. Clark to go unanswered is just as good as giving his political enemies as well as his enemies in the media the final word in their efforts to negatively define him and smear him. This is why I very strongly believe that media watch and rapid response are very important!
Mitch Dworkin
http://www.securingamerica.com/
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/16039
RESOURCES: Speeches, Articles, and Career Highlights to help define Gen. Clark!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on July 7, 2008 - 2:51pm.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.
--------------------
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/16/ec.01.html
CNN ELECTION CENTER
McCain Addresses NAACP Convention; U.S. Troops Moving from Iraq to Afghanistan?; House GOP Hands Out Spirit Awards
Aired July 16, 2008 - 20:00 ET
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You think one of the easiest jobs in politics is that of being a surrogate. The campaign tells you what to say, sends you out on the trail. All you have to do is stay on message, right? Well, easier said than done.
Here's Jessica Yellin with our blooper reel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're meant to vouch for the candidate.
SEN. LINDSAY GRAHAM (R), NORTH CAROLINA: There has never been a better commander in chief candidate than John McCain.
YELLIN: Sell the campaign line in an ever expanding universe of political photo ops and TV smackdowns. They are campaign surrogates. And this year, we're learning sometimes they do more harm than good.
We've seen surrogates go off the reservation. Like John McCain's economic adviser Phil Gramm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FMR. SEN. PHIL GRAMM (R), FMR. MCCAIN ADVISER: We've sort of become a nation of whiners.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: A nation of whiners? Not helpful. It threw McCain off message and McCain threw Gramm under the bus.
MCCAIN: Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.
YELLIN: Samantha Power was one of Barack Obama's top foreign policy advisers. Until she told the BBC a president Obama might not get troops out of Iraq in 16 months after all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA POWER, FMR. OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: At the height of ideology, you know, to sort of say, well, I said it, therefore I'm going to impose it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: That was news to the candidate. Power also called Senator Hillary Clinton a monster. That was the final surrogate straw and she resigned.
Then, there's the cringe factor. McCain surrogate, former CEO Carly Fiorina, complained about health care plans that pay for men's Viagra but not women's birth control. That created quite the awkward moment for McCain when he was asked his views on that subject.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: General Wesley Clark went where no Obama supporter is allowed to go. John McCain's military record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARK: I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Oh, dear. The Obama campaign denounced the comments. But still, the controversy stole the headlines.
Sometimes on the spot surrogates can't find the right words, like Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, asked to name a single policy difference between McCain and President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANFORD: Take, for instance, the issue of, uh, of, uh -- I'm drawing a blank and I hate it when I do that, particularly on television. (END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Or Obama Texas supporter, State Senator Kirk Watson, on "Hardball."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you name anything he's accomplished as a congressman?
SEN. KIRK WATSON (D), TEXAS: No, I'm not going to be able to do that, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Not good. As Election Day approaches, expect to see more surrogates get the old heave-ho.
ROGER SIMON, CHIEF POLITICAL COLUMNIST, POLITICO: I think the campaigns are going to decide, you know, it's just easier to run another TV commercial than send a surrogate out on the stump.
YELLIN: Of course, certain surrogates are here to stay. They can't be thrown under the bus, no matter how much controversy they kick up.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So are surrogates really an endangered species, or are they doing more harm than good? Back with me now, Steve Kornacki, Tara Wall and Gloria Borger...
Blech.
I'm sooooo glad Aaron Brown is back, and on PBS!
"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers
just sent in to Campbell Brown...
Dear Ms. Brown.
After having seen the "blooper reel", I'm more than a little surprised that the 'smartest team in politics' seems to have either defective hearing or defective comprehension. General Clark NEVER disparaged John McCain's service in any way - quite the contrary, General Clark lauded McCain's service and said he was a hero to thousands including General Clark. He also did not initiate the remark about '...riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president...' remark - Bob Schiefferr did. General Clark merely repeated it as part of his answer.
So - is it just an incredibly slow news weak? Was there absolutely nothing else happening in the political world, or the world at large? Rehashing - and further twisting the words of an honorable man was all you could cmoe up with to fill airtime? Give it a rest already.
General Clark did nothing wrong, was factually correct, and doesn't owe a damn soul an apology for this - however, there are a great many who owe him an apology for their dispicable treatment of him regarding this non-issue - including CNN and every other reporter who took aim at him for it, and every pol who failed to stand up for him and tell people what General Clark said was truthful and not the least disparaging of McCain's service.
"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers
WOW!
Great message.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark could still secure America as a national security candidate.
If you want to live a long and healthful life, "don't mess with Wes" in Kelly's presence.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
point, lol. Must be that Irish/Italian thing...you know...never bring a knife to a gun fight, but fire's good too.
;-) Seriously - I'm a pussycat. I have no temper at all (but believe everything I say when I'm yelling, and especially when I'm not yelling. It's just safer that way and blood is soooo hard to get out of the carpet.)
"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers
I think that Jessica Yellin got just what she deserved from Bill Clinton in this video:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/01/23/bill.clinton.yellin.cnn
Bill Clinton rebukes media (4:52)
Bill Clinton repeats criticisms of Sen. Obama, and says the media is focusing too much on his attacks rather than issues.
Source: CNN
Added On January 23, 2008
Here is the article about Bill Clinton rebuking Jessica Yellin which quotes this video:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/23/bill_clinton_unloads_on_press.html
Bill Clinton Unloads on Press
By Anne E. Kornblut
Former president Bill Clinton lashed out in response to criticism on Wednesday from a prominent Democrat in South Carolina, accusing the Obama campaign of running a political smear campaign against him through the media.
"You live for this," Clinton snapped at CNN reporter Jessica Yellin when she asked him to comment on statements by Dick Harpootlian, the former South Carolina Democratic party chairman, who said recent distortions by the Clintons are "reprehensible."
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/01/23/bill.clinton.yellin.cnn
Harpootlian, who backed the Clintons in the 1990s and now supports Sen. Barack Obama, had compared Clinton's distortions to the dirty tricks campaigns run by the infamous Republican operative Lee Atwater.
After an event on Wednesday in South Carolina, Yellin approached the former president and asked him to respond to Harpootlian's remarks. Clinton let loose on camera, chastising the reporter for asking him about political conflict rather than the substance of the meeting he had just held. "You're asking me about this, you sat through this whole meeting. Not one single, solitary soul asked about any of this. And they never do."
Referring to the Obama campaign, Clinton said: "They are feeding you this because they know this is what you want to cover." As Clinton's aides tried to steer him out the door, he continued to scold back in Yellin's direction: "Shame on you."
The outburst came as the Clinton campaign aired a new radio ad in South Carolina juxtaposing Obama's statement about Ronald Reagan's having had ideas against a list of Republican ideas - implying that Obama was praising Reagan. Harpootlian spoke out against the ad, saying in an interview with the Washington Post that it "is a lie."
"The politics of deception that they have been practicing remind me of Lee Atwater's campaigns here," Harpootlian said. "What we're seeing here is a pattern: It began with the so-called accidental statement by Shaheen about drug use, and then we see Robert Johnson up on the stage with her and they don't decry it. This is hardball politics and apparently this is the way they play ball in Arkansas.
Here's the full text of the Clinton response, according to a CNN transcript:
"I never heard a word of public complaint when Mr. Obama said Hillary was not truthful, no character, was poll-driven. He had more pollsters than she did. "When he put out a hit job on me at the same time he called her the senator from Punjab, I never said a word. And I don't care about it today. I'm not upset about it.
"The only thing I pointed out was that there was substantially no difference in her record and his on Iraq, and that he had said in 2004 there was no difference between his position and President Bush. And he said that was somehow dishonest, but he never answers how it's not accurate. So this is crazy.
"This rhetoric is getting a little carried away here. And let me remind you, my ultimate answer is this -- there are still two people around who marched with Martin Luther King and risked their lives, John Lewis and Reverend Andrew Young. They both said that Hillary was right and the people who attacked her were wrong, and that she did not play the race card, but they did.
"So I don't have to defend myself from Dick Harpootlian. I will just refer you to John Lewis and Andrew Young. And let him go get in an argument with them about it.
"Let him go get in an argument with Dolores Huerta, one of the founders of Farm Workers, against what happened in Nevada. There is a fact here -- this is almost like once you accuse somebody of racism or bigotry, or something, the facts become irrelevant. There are facts here.
"And the final thing I would like to say is, you're asking me about this, and you sat through this whole meeting. Not one single, solitary soul asked about any of this. And they never do. They are feeding you this because they know this is what you want to cover. This is what you live for. But this hurts the people of South Carolina, because the people of South Carolina are coming to these meetings and asking questions about what they care about. And what they care about is not going to be in the news coverage tonight because you don't care about it. What you care about is this. And the Obama people know that. So they just spin you up on this and you happily go along."
Posted at 5:32 PM ET on Jan 23, 2008 | Category: Hillary Rodham Clinton
on his program on CNN last night in the context of when he was talking about Deal Hudson, a controversial McCain surrogate.
It makes me sick to see Gen. Clark put in the same pot of stew with people like this by the media when he has done and said NOTHING wrong:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/16/acd.01.html
ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
U.S. Airways Ignoring Safety to Save Money?; Afghanistan: Forgotten War No More
Aired July 16, 2008 - 22:00 ET
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, new trouble in the McCain campaign over another adviser whose job it's been to reach out to Catholic voters.
His name is Deal Hudson. And a group of Roman Catholic activists say he is -- quote -- "not the type of Catholic leader you want publicly associated with your campaign."
Why? Well, Hudson was the center of controversy four years ago when working as an adviser to the Bush reelection campaign. Allegations surfaced that he'd harassed an 18-year-old female college student 10 years earlier. Hudson resigned from the faculty of Fordham University in 1995 and in 2004 from his Bush campaign advisory post.
His critics are upset with Hudson for brokering a deal -- in addition to the allegations of past behavior -- brokering a deal between a meeting of conservative Catholics and San Antonio mega preacher John Hagee.
Now he's being pressured to dump Hudson, McCain is. McCain campaign tonight is brushing off those demands. Hudson's role in the campaign effort seems fairly distant, compared to some other, closer surrogates to both McCain and Barack Obama.
Congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin is up close tonight on the question of how much damage some of them have done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've seen surrogates go off the reservation, like John McCain's economic adviser, Phil Gramm.
PHIL GRAMM, FORMER MCCAIN ADVISOR: We've sort of become a nation of whiners.
YELLIN: A nation of whiners? Not helpful. It threw McCain off message, and McCain threw Gramm under the bus.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.
YELLIN: Samantha Power was one of Barack Obama's top foreign policy advisers until she told the BBC a President Obama might not get troops out of Iraq in 16 months after all.
SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER OBAMA ADVISOR: It's the height of ideology, you know, to sort of say, "Well, I said it. Therefore, I'm going to impose it."
YELLIN: That was news to the candidate. Power also called Senator Hillary Clinton a monster. That was the final surrogate straw, and she resigned.
Then there's the cringe factor. McCain surrogate, former CEO Carly Fiorina, complained about healthcare plans that pay for men's Viagra but not women's birth control. That created quite the awkward moment for McCain when he was asked his views on that subject.
MCCAIN: I don't know enough about it to give you a informed answer.
YELLIN: General Wesley Clark went where no Obama supporter is allowed to go: John McCain's military record.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.
YELLIN: Oh, dear. The Obama campaign denounced the comments, but still the controversy stole the headlines. Sometimes on the spot, surrogates can't find the right words. Like Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, asked to name a single policy difference between McCain and President Bush.
GOV. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Take, for instance, the issue of -- of -- I'm drawing a blank -- and I hate it when I do that, particularly on television.
YELLIN: Or Obama Texas supporter state senator Kirk Watson on HARDBALL.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST, MSNBC'S "HARDBALL": Can you name anything he's accomplished as a congressman?
KIRK WATSON (D), TEXAS STATE SENATOR: I'm not going to be able to do that tonight.
YELLIN: Not good. As election day approaches, expect to see more surrogates get the old heave-ho.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, a McCain aide told our Dana Bash today they're not dismissing Hudson, because they don't throw him under the bus because of what the aide called a "gotcha game" from a group that's, quote, "so clearly liberal."
Up next, 1 million names on the TSA's terror watch list...