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I found this on NewsBusters:

Sammon Excoriates Media on Katrina Video: “Journalistic Fraud” & Disingenuous”

Posted by Brent Baker on March 2, 2006 - 20:26.

The media at all levels on Wednesday pounced on video released by the AP of government conference calls held as Hurricane Katrina hit last August, with most stories portraying them as containing a smoking gun about how President Bush was warned about potential levee failure. But as FNC's Brit Hume noted on his show Thursday night, the video, which MSNBC's Hardball hyped Wednesday as “breaking news,” was hardly any such thing, or “confidential video” as the AP hyped, since the video was made public at the time and the sessions were open to the press.

During Hume's panel segment, Bill Sammon, fresh to the Washington Examiner from the Washington Times, excoriated his press corps colleagues for “journalistic fraud” as well as “disingenuous” and "bogus" reporting. Referring to the video of a meeting President Bush participated in from his Texas ranch, Sammon charged: “It's held out today and yesterday as almost a smoking gun. I would say not only is it not a smoking bun gun, it's actually a journalistic fraud for some of the reasons you've outlined where they suggested it was ‘confidential' videotape where it wasn't. It was open press. Also, they make Max Mayfield out to sound like he was sounding the alarm bells when clearly he was ambivalent in the extreme....So, to suggest that was the warning that Bush should have heeded and didn't, is disingenuous in the extreme.” Sammon also took on the press for denigrating Michael Brown as an incompetent, but now they want to “rehabilitate him because he's now willing to trash the Department of Homeland Security....This is disingenuous of the mainstream media to suddenly rehabilitate Michael Brown for their own political purposes."

It would seem that the enemies of America’s latest "smoking gun" that will sink the Bush administration is another dud. The irony is that the Left has an issue which it can use to raise legitimate questions about the president's judgment, the UAE port deal. There are good augments to be made pro and con, but Mr. Bush mishandled his initial response to the revelation of the proposed sale and left himself open to attack.

Democrats were given the gift of an issue which was understandable to the average person and had a broad based appeal. If the Left had avoided the temptation to try to fit the port controversy into a broader narrative of presidential incompetence and their whole “Republican culture of corruption” theme they could have forged a bi-partisan congressional movement to derail the deal. Then when the congressional elections began to heat up they could have used their leadership on the issue to establish national security credentials.

Instead they once again proved themselves incapable of self control, unable to pass up the opportunity to spew their hatred at anyone or anything standing even one inch to the right of center they have squandered what may be their last chance to damage the Republican Party.

It also doesn’t help that the Party of Treason’s presumptive 2008 nominee’s husband (himself the party standard bearer) is working to help the UAE make the port deal happen. Of course I’m talking about the fact that while Hillary Clinton is trying to use the issue to craft an image of national security hawk Bill Clinton is taking vast sums of money from the UAE and advising them on how make the deal a reality.

Once again the Republicans step on a landmine and the Democrats get blown up. Perhaps this constitutes proof of a benevolent God.