Right Wing Mocks Reporters In Egypt: Not ?A Great Deal Of Sympathy For Those Who?ve Been Attacked?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on February 5th, 2011 5:36 am by HL
Right Wing Mocks Reporters In Egypt: Not ?A Great Deal Of Sympathy For Those Who?ve Been Attacked?
Foreign journalists reporting on the anti-government protests have increasingly been under attack by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak’s government. Pro-government forces have detained, beaten or arrested dozens, if not hundreds, of reporters in the past few days as they were trying to get the story out to the world. CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported that he and his crew were repeatedly beaten. An ABC News correspondent and his crew were carjacked and threatened with beheading.
Naturally, the crackdown — believed to be the work of the Egyptian government — has been widely criticized. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the attacks were an assault on free speech and called on the Mubarak government to allow journalists to report without impediment.
Yet, many on the right don’t see it that way. A writer on Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Peace” website said yesterday, “I don’t have a great deal of sympathy for those who have been attacked,” he said, adding, “[W]hen they take huge risks for the sake of ratings and then find themselves in trouble, it’s hard to take seriously.” Fox News has had at least three of its reporters harassed or beaten, yet Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade “sarcastically” praised the Egyptian government’s thuggery skills. “You got to hand it…to the forces out there that seem to be pro-Mubarak who are beating up every news source,” he said.
And the New Republic’s Marty Peretz accused journalists in Egypt of “professional narcissism,” saying they should’ve expected to get beaten. But perhaps comments from right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher win the most insensitive prize. Gallagher not only suggested that ABC’s Christiane Amanpour might join “Death to America” chants there, but — with clear homophobic undertones — attacked Cooper for getting beaten, even saying that he may have “enjoyed it a little bit”:
GALLAGHER: Maybe that isn’t where you ought to go wandering around Anderson, all, what are you about 5’7” – 5’8”? What do you go Anderson about 160? With your little perfectly quaffed grey hair and your little delicate features you might not want to go over to Egypt and walk around the middle of a crowd that’s screaming “death to America.” … I wonder if Christine [sic] Amanpour wasn’t right there with them. “Death to America! Down with America!” […]
Hey Anderson, were you really punched 10 times in the head? Come on. It almost sounds like he enjoyed it a little bit. … “Oh I was punched 10 times in the head.” Well that’s what happens when you go into a bunch of rioters, dopey.
Watch the compilation:
Bachmann Surrenders On Support For Draconian Cuts To Veterans? Benefits
Last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) unveiled a plan to cut $400 billion in federal spending, and included a controversial target. The Tea Party favorite proposed freezing the Veterans Affairs Department’s health care spending and cutting veterans’ disability benefits. Her plan sliced $4.5 billion from the VA and reduced 150,000 veterans’ disability compensation and the amount they receive in Social Security Disability Income. Veterans groups blasted the proposal as “totally out of step with America’s commitment to our veterans,” and as something that shows “contempt for American servicemembers’ sacrifices.” Democrats outside her state even began targeting Bachmann’s proposal; Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) wrote her a letter which said her ideas were a “giant step in the wrong direction.” After days of similar criticism, Bachmann has finally retreated and withdrew that part of her spending reduction proposal today:
“One point on my discussion list was a $4.5 billion proposal that would affect payments made to our veterans,” Bachmann said in a statement. “That has received a lot of attention and I have decided that it should be removed from consideration. The problem of government spending must be solved, but not on the backs of our nation’s war heroes. I have always been a proud supporter of the United States military and I continue to stand with our veterans. In the months ahead I look forward to working with our Veterans Service Organizations to ensure that we fulfill our commitments to those who sacrificed so much in their brave service for our country.”
While Bachmann’s decision to retract her proposal is laudable, there are other elements to her proposal that are just as punitive to large groups of Americans: for example, she proposes reducing Pell Grants for college students (along with a complete abolition of the Department of Education). She also wants to eliminate the Maternal and Child Health block grant.
