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October 05, 2004

No Laughing Matter: Josh Marshall Wants Carl Cameron Reassigned off Covering Kerry For Writing Parody "Kerry Quotes" in Script

The hysterical left-wing blogosphere thinks they've gotten hold of their own little Rathergate. It seems that Fox reporter Carl Cameron, covering the Kerry campaign, inserted joke-quotes -- obviously parodies -- into a preliminary news-script and those quotes were taken as real by someone on the FoxNews website.

These "Kerry quotes" got posted as real:

"Women should like me! I do manicures."

"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!"

"I'm metrosexual — [Bush's] a cowboy."

Now, these are obviously fake, as Joshua "I'm working on the story of my life" Marshall immediately realized. And FoxNews immediately realized they were fake, too-- the story was pulled almost immediately and FoxNews has issued a retraction and an apology:

Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter’s partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice.

They also "reprimanded" Carl Cameron. A fuller FoxNews explanation can be found here.

The new policy states that no such humorous bits are to be included in any preliminary news script.

Now, how did these obviously-ludicrous "quotes" make it on to the website? FoxNews isn't saying, but there seem to be three possibilities:

1) The person who wrote the story is in fact a functional retard.

2) The person who wrote the story is rabidly-anti-Kerry, so much so as to cloud his sense.

3) The person who wrote the story is, like many of the people who work at FoxNews, a liberal who hates FoxNews and wishes he or she had gotten a better job offer at a more liberal news organization, and posted the story deliberately to embarass FoxNews.

But who knows.

Josh Marshall whines:

[A FoxNews spokesman says] “Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor.”
So the Fox reporter covering the Kerry campaign puts together this Kerry-bashing parody right out of the RNC playbook with phony quotes intended to peg him as girlish fool and somehow it found its way on the Fox website as a news item.

Imagine that.

More to follow ...

More to follow? Isn't there always, Joshy?

Joshy wants to get to the bottom of this. He asks:

1. [Re: Cameron's reprimand] How? Are there any consequences? What happened to him? How was he reprimanded? Fox spokesman Paul Schur, who first spoke to TPM yesterday afternoon, told The Daily News "We're simply moving on from this, we have no further comment." And that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that the 'reprimand' is anything more than a 'Carl, Don't post any more fabricated quotes on the website.' Meanwhile, Schur declined to tell the LA Times what if any discipline Cameron faced.
3. Just for the sake of discussion, can there be any question that Carl Cameron has contempt and disdain for John Kerry -- contempt and disdain that he has great difficulty keeping a lid on?

4. Shouldn't Cameron be taken off the Kerry campaign beat? Assume for the moment that Cameron's fabricated story wasn't supposed to run on the site. If Cameron sits around writing up phony news stories only for Fox News colleagues which portray Kerry as a swishy fool, can he really credibly cover the campaign as a straight news reporter? The answer is obvious, I think. Of course, he can't.

The trouble for Joshy is that this isn't the first time a partisan has been caught inserting snide jokes into a partial script-- or pool report. One of Joshy's favorite reporters, I'm sure-- Dan Milbank of the Washington Post -- had lots of snide anti-Bush "jokes" in a pool report he prepared for the media who could not attend a Bush function.

Milbank repeatedly calls Bush "our protagonist" and "our hero" -- which might be seen as cute and playful coming from a Republican or moderate, but which are definitely insulting coming from a rabidly-partisan Bush-hater like Milbank --
and works in a few more "jokes" which might have, in the hands of a senseless website hack, made it into the official WaPo record:

Our protagonist departed the White House near unto 9:20 this morning, bound for the Capitol in a determined effort to find Gary Condit. Actually, he was to meet with the House Republican caucus.
Your pool watched as POTUS descended into the bowels of the Capitol's west side accompanied by Speaker Hastert at 9:30. "We're going to talk about a lot of things," the president informed the pool. "We're going to get a lot of things done for America."

The president and the caucus got so many things done for America so quickly that the hour-long meeting lasted only 45 minutes: a 25 minute speech by the president and 20 minutes of schmoozing. ...

The big news of the day was made when our protagonist spoke about education. He declared that education is "a passion for me." In addition to this startling revelation, he made a case for free trade and his faith-based initiative.

Now, you may say that Milbank's snideness didn't make it into print. But I'm not sure that's relevant, as Carl Cameron didn't print his jokes as real; that was some dope working for the website. And furthermore, it seems that Milbank's deceptive little bon mots do occasionally make it into the Washington Post.

In a "news analysis column," "our hero" Milbank shows himself to be very fair-and-balanced and quite the cut-up by inserting this at the end of his news story:

The Quotable Bush
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." -- President Bush, meeting Iraqi amputees at the White House on May 25.

As Nick Kronos pointed out:

One little detail left out from Milbank's attempt to make the President look like an insensitive idiot:
The President was shaking the man's new hand because all the "amputees" had just received new limbs courtesy of American charity.

And you want to hear something really funny? Here's how the column ending with that straw-man snideness began:

For President Bush, this is the season of the straw man.
It is an ancient debating technique: Caricature your opponent's argument, then knock down the straw man you created.

I guess Milbank studied the technique well enough to develop some level of expertise.

I hope Joshy points me to the posts in which he chastised Milbank for his snide anti-Bush "joking" and suggested that Milbank be reassigned because of his partisan animus.

Because I just know that Josh "Story of My Life" Marshall wouldn't resort to blatant partisan hypocrisy on such an issue. He's a "real reporter," and he'll tell you so if you just lend him your ear.

posted by Ace at 04:15 AM

Comments

I see where Josh has points 1,3 and 4. What happened to point 2?

Posted by: Cowtipper on October 5, 2004 08:12 AM

The Milbank snide commentary is not the same as the Cameron made-up joke quotes. Lots of people do what Milbank did, although it's usually a little more subtle. And I think if Cameron had merely commented snidely about Kerry's manicure without making up funny quotes, he would have been fine.

But what Cameron did was suitable for the Onion, or Scrappleface. (Well, it wasn't quite funny enough, but you get the idea.) So I find it understandable that Joshua Micah Jebediah Springfield Marshall would get upset about Cameron and not about Milbank.

Anyway, the important thing about the Cameron teapot-tempest is that Fox discovered the screw-up quickly, took down the offending material, put up an apology, and disciplined the offender. All this within hours of its posting. Marshall can whine that he doesn't know if Cameron has been punished enough, but all of us know that Dan Rather hasn't been punished at all. And CBS, unlike Fox News, still maintains that what they gave us was fake, but accurate.

Now, for my money, quoting John Kerry showing off his manicure– THAT is fake, but accurate.

Posted by: House of Payne on October 5, 2004 08:43 AM

Kerry Campaign:

"Hey Josh, could you bring a little more attention to the manicure; we were concerned it might drop off the news cycle."

Posted by: ter0 on October 5, 2004 09:19 AM

Look, I'll forever regret siding with Joshua Hezekiah Marshall, but I think he's right INSOFAR as that Cameron really ought to be reassigned. And perhaps it's worth pointing out that Redstate, who are obvious big fans of Fox and no fan whatsoever of Marshall, agree.

Posted by: Jeff B. on October 5, 2004 11:01 AM

Dammit, my link disappeared! How do you post a link in these comments?

Posted by: Jeff B. on October 5, 2004 11:02 AM

Cameron should go away on the same day that Dan Rather gets his due.

Posted by: lauraw on October 5, 2004 11:30 AM

ditto that, when Rather is pulled off covering this election campaign, we can talk about Cameron

since we know CBS isn't going to do that, you can rest assured any report of the internal investigation won't see the light of day until after Nov. 2, the point is moot

Posted by: wannabe on October 5, 2004 12:22 PM

It's absurd to suggest Cameron be reassigned. Aren't we constantly being told that the political biases of reporters don't contaminate their reporting?

You can't have it both ways. Marshall probably thinks of himself as someone who skeptically and critically watches the powerful. But he's unwilling to show Cameron the same courtesy?

Posted by: Jeff G on October 5, 2004 12:29 PM

During Clinton reign, Marshall appeared to be what might be described as a lefty with a bit of a grasp of reality. He made a good point on the occasion.

I stopped reading him when he continued to support Clinton even after the pardons, the trashing of the White House, the removal of White House furniture and fixtures, etc.

At that point, he became just another leftwing nutcase and not worth bothering with.

Why does the blogosphere care what he says. He's a fraud. Just ignore him.

At that point, he bacame just another leftwing nutcase and not worth bothering with. Why do any bloggers care what he says. He's a fraud.

Posted by: erp on October 5, 2004 12:49 PM

FOX should do what CBS is doing: nothing for a long time, until at some later date a review is complete and some proceedures need to be addressed.

Posted by: Jane on October 5, 2004 01:00 PM

Hey, I'll admit I'm biased, but I think Carl Cameron is hysterical. He's one of the reasons I watch FNS . . . I love how snarky he is.

And the meterosexual joke is the funniest fucking thing I've heard all week.

Posted by: Scout on October 5, 2004 01:43 PM

Someone should make a table comparing _Dan's_ punishment to Carl's.

Ansy Rooney's suggesting another hour of all-Dan, they're having ABC/NBC/CBS roundtables discussing the vicious pajamahadeen, and he issued something completely dissimilar from an apology of the 'I'm sorry you're offended' variety.

Posted by: Al on October 5, 2004 04:36 PM

Slightly OT:
Front Page October 9th Los Angeles Times:

Conservative TV Group to Air Anti-Kerry Film...

In brief, the Sinclair Broadcast Group is preempting regular programming for one hour between Oct 21 and Oct 24, depending on the city, to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal". It will be followed by a discussion which Kerry will be asked to join.

If it happens, Ain't payback a bitch :-)

Posted by: LouisianaLightning on October 9, 2004 03:56 PM

These ultimate racing pocket bikes are today's fastest growing products in the motor sport vehicle industry, aside from electrics scooters and gas scooters.

Posted by: pocket bike on October 28, 2004 05:21 PM

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SpaceX's IPO sets the stage for the colonization of the solar system -- by private enterprise [CBD]

Teen Driver Tayvin Galanakis Wins Jury Trial Against Officers Who Charged Him With DUI Even After He Blew 0.0 on A Breathalyzer And Passed Sobriety Tests. One Officer Accounted For 72% of All DUI Arrests For That PD [dri]

Days before the woman was stabbed in the neck by a taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer, in the same general area, another taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer attacked a boy and bloodied his head with a brick.
What is the UK Regime's plan for protecting the citizens from the savage criminals they've foisted on the populace? They offer NONE. They do, however, have a plan for protecting the savage criminals from the citizens: The citizens must STAY CALM and not get angry and not share videos of citizens being attacked by savage criminals.
The public keeps saying "protect us from the foreign savages you have imported against our wishes and over our objections" and the UK branch of The Regime keeps proposing plans to protect the foreign savages from the public. Soclose to what the public is demanding, just, you know, the complete opposite.
Just a thought: Maybe you wouldn't have to worry about the public attacking the savage criminals if you actually introduced a plan to protect the public from the savage criminals. Maybe they wouldn't feel as if it was necessary for them to protect the public through self-help.

Courtney Subramiam, one of the "journalists" who "previewed" her questions for the decrepit and demented Biden so that he could "answer" it with a pre-scripted response, rewarded by promotion to president of the White House Press Corps

Bonchie
@bonchieredstate

hahahahaha

This is the lady who gave her question to Biden beforehand, and he had it written verbatim in his notes with her picture.

You know what's really terrible? There are Daily Signal reporters in the press room. That's the Real Scandal Here!

English racist garbage-person who's on the wrong side of history warns the corrupt Regime that the people cannot take much more of this -- and won't take much more of this
The English have rebelled before.

All of the various Bob Dylans
by Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

TJM gets lost in the worlds of David Lynch

You might think that movie critics by nature are effeminate and bitchy, but, did you know that grass is green and red peppers are red?

"We have black ghetto fatigue"

Odd 90s-Retro Susan Collins ad against the Nazi Hotchkiss "hobby farmer"
I like the throwback AOL style of the ad.

Podcast: Sefton and CBD bounce around from Maine and its pet Nazi, to the cracks in the Democrat messaging, to the failure of California and its effect on the 2028 election, sea drones rescuing Apache crews, and more!

Seattle mayor shrugs off millionaire-tax concerns as 44% of business leaders consider leaving
It happens in all the blue states, but WA and Seattle will be different! [CBD]

TJM definitively ranks the films of Alexander Mackendrick

VOTE JEFF CARTER FOR NV STATE TREASURER!
[CBD]

Mary Margaret Olohan
@MaryMargOlohan

NEW: Five FBI employees were fired today over the infamous Richmond Catholic memo on "radical traditionalist Catholics," FBI source confirms to @realDailyWire.

Oof. Reviewers do not like Scary Movie 6. The criticism I keep hearing is that the movie mistakes a reference for an actual joke. The movie (they say) keeps Key Jangling a reference to another movie (or some other pop culture ephemera) and you expect there to be a joke but nope, the Key Jangle was the joke. Other reviewers say that the promise that "no lines will be uncrossed" is a fake-out, and that the movie is bland and inoffensively corporate.

TJM introduces you to the movies of Alexander Mackendrick

Whoops! I posted about Dan Goldman losing the NY congressional primary. He might do that, but it won't be tonight -- the primary isn't held until June 23.

One race to keep an eye on: the Levi's heir nepo baby and egregious "Designated Liar" Dan Goldman -- one of the Democrats from a safe district Democrats send out to spread their most indefensible lies -- may actually lose his lower Manhattan/Brooklyn set due to, get this, antisemitism in the Democrat primary electorate.
Antisemitism? In the anti-Nazi Democrat Party? Sounds crazy, I know, but apparently the anti-Nazi Party wants to eliminate Jews.

Henry Rosoff
@HenryRosoff

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Oh my Totenkopf Tattoo, that is a DRUBBING!
I'm usually very anti-antisemitism but if the Communist Antisemite Jihadists can pull this one off, Go Communist Antisemite Jihadists, Go!

Democrat Senator Rueben Gallego, who served his wife with divorce papers when she was nine months pregnant so that he could marry his side-piece, counsels us that we should not judge Graham Platner for his infidelity because these things are personal matters, Racists:

Sahil Kapur
@sahilkapur

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., on Platner: "We know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience. He's been very clear and open with his wife, and they worked through whatever they worked through. At the end of the day, this man has had 60 more town halls than Susan Collins has. He's winning the polls, he's willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and I think we should accept that."

Gallego says the drip-drip of revelations won't harm Platner's campaign.

"I think you guys are all in a bubble here right now. The drip, drip that's actually happening is Americans are really, really hurt the fact that gas is still high, food is still high, they can't buy a home, you can't afford rent. They're not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses."

I like that he says that it's okay that Graham Platner sexted 12 different women within months of marrying the woman to sponge off her because he wasn't then "living a political life" -- the clear meaning being, "We all cheat, we just don't cheat when we're running for office, and he didn't know he was running for office when he was sending dicpics to half the women he ran into."
Except he was running: His own wife turned the sexts over to his campaign.
And obviously Reuben Gallego didn't let his "political life" get in the way of his extramarital dating life: