This is pretty cool. My Congressman, Eric Massa (D-NY) an ex-Navy guy, just put a press release strongly criticizing Fox and Ralph Peters for Peters’ crazy remarks about PFC Bowe Bergdahl.
The more I think about it, the more offensive I think it is for a tv commentator to speak out in favor the murder of a serviceman.
Here’s the press release (I replaced the email a local blogger friend received with the one from Massa’s website).
Update. I’m not sure how I missed this, but Massa called for O’Reilly to be fired too. Ho, snap!
JGabriel
DougJ:
I totally agree. But, dude, you missed the bigger headline here: Massa demanded that they fire Bill O’Reilly too!
Not that I think it’ll happen, but I definitely think O’Reilly deserves it, and it’s good to see one of our state’s congresscritters doing the demanding.
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General Winfield Stuck
Yes, it’s one of those things that has to soak in a while, especially unacceptable coming from a former Colonel in the military. Maybe we are getting sensitized to this kind of rhetoric and just take it in course of all the other batshit stuff that comes out of wingnuts.. What a country, sometimes.
JGabriel
@General Winfield Stuck:
Lt. Colonel, actually. I don’t know the military ranking system very well, but from what my father tells me, and from what I’ve read elsewhere, apparently there’s a big difference between the two – a big jump in authority when one gets to Colonel.
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Indylib
Here’s the link to the original letter by all 22 Congressmen that was sent to Faux.
http://boccieri.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=216&Itemid=64
General Winfield Stuck
@JGabriel:
It’s been many years since I was in, but Full Bird Colonels are generally brigade commanders and light col’s run battalions in the Army, if I remember correctly. Plus it matters what area of the military your in and what service.
Keith
The Peters reaction unfortunately reminds me of how *fans* of Fox (and even some of their employees) reacted when Steve Centanni was captured and forced to denounce the US. There was this hostility exhibited towards Centanni because apparently he converted to Islam at gunpoint instead of spitting in their faces, telling them to fuck off, and then chanting “USA! USA!” as they cut his throat.
Bad Horse's Filly
The more I think about it, the more offensive I think it is for a tv commentator to speak out in favor the murder of a serviceman.
Didn’t take long for it to upset me, about 5 secs flat after I read it on BJ. Posted here in tears and remained upset all night.
Your congressman is my hero.
hells littlest angel
I wish Obama would de-credential all Fox News reporters. There are plenty of responsible journalists who deserve a shot to report on the White House from close up.Let Fox’s propagandists slander and smear while standing on the sidewalk like any other jerkoff or crankcase.
arguingwithsignposts
If there is anything that could possibly get one of these fox nuts fired, I think this would be it. While it would be nice for Peters to get the axe, it would be even nicer for O’Reilly to get it. I think Peters will be canned and O’Reilly will cop to one of those half-assed “apologies” that passes for contrition among the commentariat.
The Moar You Know
So some communist from New York City is demanding that Great American Patriot Bill O’Reilly, Decorated Combat Hero, be fired over a harmless bit of humor at the expense of some serviceman who is probably a Democrat and darker than linen, so who cares anyway?
Can’t you take a joke? Man, liberals have no sense of humor.
Zifnab
Massa was the guy taking the lead on Net Neutrality, wasn’t he? I know he did something that made me drop $20 in his collection hat, because now I get mail from him every other week.
Nethead Jay
@Zifnab: Ayup, he’s very active on Net Neutrality issues. Massa’s one of my favorite people in Congress and this just adds to it.
Ash Can
@hells littlest angel:
I understand your point and sympathize to a certain extent, but it’s just so much fun to see Obama smack these dipshits around in the pressers. I say keep ’em coming.
(Furthermore, I’d like to see the camera pan to the rest of the reporters after a Fox “reporter” gets left in a smoldering heap and see everyone holding up cards with score numbers on them, rating the smackdown.)
Seth Owen
Full Colonel is a significant jump in authority over a Lt. Colonel, but an LTC is still way senior enough to know better than say something so appalling.
JGabriel
Seth Owen:
Yes, well, I’m pretty sure that knowledge is supposed to come when one reaches the rank of sentient human.
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fliegr
I have a little bit of a leg up on this since we’ve been searching non-stop (by remote control) for Pvt. Walkabout since the evening he wandered off, and my standard line is that I’m not sure who’s going to be harder on him at this point, the Taliban or the Army. But to outright wish for his death at the hands of his captors is to go overboard just to seem like a hardass Army guy, no matter what the circumstances of his capture. I hope we find him alive, and I dread what the Army’s going to do to him once he’s back.
steve s
If I were obama I’d add a lot of people like Greenwald, Froomkin, and other intelligent critics from the left, both to help pull the Overton window back in a sensible direction, and to get some tough, thoughtful questions in the mix. I would also suggest to the pool of reporters that reporters who ask “brain-dead” questions will receive fewer chances to ask questions down the road. The exception to that is, I’d probably invite a ‘reporter’ from WingNutDaily and FreeRepublic, because they enfoolish themselves without me even needing to say anything.
polyorchnid octopunch
Now, a well done montage on this issue would be a very good ad buy for a suitably endowed progressive organisation. You’d get to point out the blood lust of Fox News to a whole bunch of people.
Maybe cut in and out of those two clowns along with a picture of the prisoner, and maybe a few of the soldiers who got captured in the first Gulf War and paraded on TV back then, pointing out that back then nobody would have ever considered suggesting the prisoner be put out of our misery.
Think carefully about that last statement… because that’s exactly what Peters suggesting with the complicit assent of O’Reilly.
Heh, as a fantasy, it would be cool to have Oprah run something like that… get the Lysistrata effect happening.
Anyway, an ad like that could be a way to get some people to reconsider their assumptions. Maybe.
Rick Massimo
Hey, it’s not like he called him General Betrayus or anything. Lighten up.
Mike in NC
FWIW, when I first heard of Ralph Peters (writing in the Washington Post in the 1990s), I’m pretty sure he was identified at the time as a retired Major in Military Intelligence. Apparently he was able to pull strings and move up a paygrade at some point, which isn’t uncommon with the Army.
polyorchnid octopunch
Argh. I meant “Peters was suggesting”, not “Peters suggesting” in paragraph 3.
Anyhoo, maybe end it with a statement saying something along the lines of “Fox News: displaying unbelievable contempt for a fellow citizen who volunteered to serve.”
DBrown
Trade Peters’ for the POW – this A/O would be a bigger fish for the F’ers and we’d get our soldier back.
DougJ
I think Peters will be canned and O’Reilly will cop to one of those half-assed “apologies” that passes for contrition among the commentariat.
I think that’s about right.
Tsulagi
@fliegr:
That was a phony hardass comment by Peters and he’s an asswipe for making it. You don’t leave a man behind. Even if you’re not particularly proud of that man at the time. Could have had a PTSD moment. Who knows? I’m sure his CO would provide rapt attention listening to what motivated the private to walk off. Then drop the hammer.
“Pvt. Walkabout”? That’s pretty good.
margarita
I’ll be a contrarian here. Congresspeople really should refrain from sending gang press releases under color of their office calling for members of the media to be punished for expressing opinions. Especially with histrionic red flags about “aiding and abetting our enemies during a time of war,” blah, blah. It’s really not cool at all.
asiangrrlMN
@margarita: I disagree with you. There is a line, and Lt. Colonel Peters crossed it. I don’t want Congress people doing this willy-nilly, but this shit has got to stop. And it’s not until some of the powers that be start rumbling for it because the traditional media sure as hell won’t.
Yes, free speech, but there are consequences to said speech. At least, there should be.
D0n Camillo
Margarita,
I can understand your sentiments especially after some of the crazy shit that happened to anybody who so much as questioned W in anything less than reverential tones between 9/11 and Katrina. Still, openly calling on the Taliban to murder an American serviceman is crossing a line that even the staunchest defenders of free speech rights can reasonably have trouble with. This is the equivalent of egging on a hostage taker at a bank to go ahead and shoot.
Personally, I hope that PFC Bergdahl and or his family sue the living shit out of Fox for reckless endangerment
Ron
Sigh, wanna trade Congresscritters straight up? I offer one slightly used Michael Arcuri for Eric Massa. Please?
groundhum
@The Moar You Know: Actually, Massa’s from the southern tier–Corning, to be precise. There’s not a lot of komrades down that way.
Michael D.
You have to think about it more?
Paul in KY
JGabriel, O-5 to O-6 is a big jump. Probably the biggest in the officer ranks (until you make Gen. then 2 star to 3 star & 3 star to 4 star are very big also).
The LtCol Asshat on TV is a blot on the officer corp, IMO.
itsbenj
Massa is also holding up the health care bill, so he loses as many point as he had gained there…
Sophist
Yeah, he called for the murder of a US servicemember, but in Peters’ defense he probably has a yellow “Support Our Troops” magnet on his car. So it’s pretty much a wash, right?