Letterman vs. CNN-and-the-White-House
If you're a regular Letterman watcher, perhaps you caught his recent flap with CNN and the White House over footage he used of a recent Bush speech.
Letterman had a funny sketch Monday night entitled "George W. Bush
Invigorating American's Youth." (You can find the video here.) It showed footage of a 12-year-old boy standing on stage behind the President at his March 20th speech in Orlando, Florida.
The speech was about an hour long. And you know how well 12-year-old boys tolerate standing still for an hour, watching a speech. After a short time, he became fidgety. Then he began checking his watch. Then he craned his neck, yawned repeatedly, and appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep -- all while Bush prattled on about the WOT and whatnot. It's hilarious footage.
On Tuesday CNN showed the Letterman footage on its broadcast as a political comic relief segment. After showing the footage, two different CNN anchors then reported that the White House had informed CNN that the footage was fake and that Letterman's people had edited the boy into the speech.
On that night's show, Letterman mentioned the CNN broadcast of his sketch and showed the footage from CNN. (You can find the video here.) He then stated that the White House was flat-out lying about the footage -- the reel they used was 100% legitimate. He concluded by commenting: "So when you cast your vote in November, just remember that the White House was trying to make me look like a dope."
CBS's Letterman Web-site ran the following explanation:
Last night we showed a clip of the President giving a speech. Behind him stood a lad who was obviously bored silly. The 14-year-old or so yawned, scratched, yawned, yawned, checked his watch, bent over, stared at the ceiling, and then fell asleep during the President's speech. It was very
funny. So funny, in fact, that CNN replayed the clip Tuesday during their
broadcasts. But, but, but, the first time is was shown, CNN anchorwoman
Daryn Kagan reported that the White House said the clip was a total fake,
it was merely the Late Show having fun with their ability to edit and do
TV tricks. Dave says what the CNN reporter said was an out and out 100%
lie. A couple hours later, CNN anchor person Kyra Phillips reported that
the kid was at the speech but not where the Late Show had him. Dave again
makes the claim, "That's an out and out absolute 100% lie. That kid was
exactly where we said he was." It's true. The speech was at a Florida
Rally on March 20th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando,
Florida. Dave is irked that the White House was trying to make him look
like a jerk. But he's glad he got his side of the story out in the open.
However, this explanation does not mention that later during SAME show, Letterman's producers informed him that CNN had called and DENIED that the White House had told them that the footage was fake. CNN said that they had simply made a mistake. For the rest of the show, Letterman was defensive and apologetic about claiming the White House had lied, when he didn't have all of the "facts."
I personally found it hard to believe that the White House wasn't
responsible for the "mistake," when TWO CNN anchors explicitly repeated the same story about the White House informing CNN that the Letterman show had faked the footage.
And it turns out that Letterman didn't ultimately buy it either. He says an inside source of his informed him that the White House did indeed tell CNN that the footage was fake. From CBS's Letterman Web-site:
Dave informs America that neither statement from CNN is true. The boy was at the rally and the boy was standing behind the President. Something strange is going on, and Dave smells a cover up. CNN is now saying the White House never called them. But why would CNN say the White House HAD called if the White House never did? Hmmm. And Dave reveals that our source, a very good source, confirms the White House DID call the CNN. Hoo boy, this is getting interesting. While Condoleeza Rice is testifying in front of the 9/11 Commission, perhaps she can shed some light on this as well.
Perhaps the White House truly believes the kid wasn't there due to faulty intelligence.
If Letterman's source is accurate, it just illustrates how shameless and petty the White House is. They will flat-out lie to protect the President's image, even when it comes to harmless footage of a boy being bored by his speech (No one can ever be bored at our dear leader's speech!).
It also demonstrates their standard operating procedure. The most important thing was to respond immediately to the footage being shown on CNN. They didn't care about the fact that they were lying and that the lie might eventually be discovered. Only Letterman fans and internet geeks would eventually find out the truth -- not the CNN viewers watching the original broadcast. They went away from the story thinking that the footage was fake (and that CNN was, by extension, trying to hoodwink their viewers with liberal propaganda).
And this brings us to the final conclusion, which is that the story is even more damning for CNN. They straightaway reported the White House's claim as fact, without bothering to verify it. They then, assuming Letterman's source is correct, covered up for the White House.
It confirms that CNN is nothing other than a government news channel.
Unbelievable.
For more on the story, see the Washington Post and the AP write-ups.
Postscript: Paul Krugman takes up the story in Friday's column, "Smear Without Fear."
11:59:46 PM 
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