Surprisingly, or not so, Saturday's New York Times story reporting that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers may have been Saudi intelligence agents has been completely ignored all day by FoxNews. This is easily the story of the week, if not the year, and not a word on the "fair and balanced" cable network.
I overhead David Schuster of MSNBC tell Howard Dean spokesman Dorie Clark that he wanted comment from the candidate about the story at an event in Nashua this morning but I don't know if he actually asked the question during his live shot after the event. I will post the Dean story later on this week.
So what has FoxNews been reporting for most of the day?
Well, an environmental group allegedly torched an apartment building in California. Then, there was Kobe news and more about that crazy woman who said she was the missing kid of a Kansas family. And, the FDA will allow food companies to use the gut-ripping Olestra in products without labeling the product. So now, no one will know if the crap - no pun intended - is in a product. Well, at least they won't know until they get the runs the next day. But nothing about the Saudi/Sept. 11 connection. Makes you think, eh?
Speaking of Dean ...
Some hot news from political reporter Roger Simon US News and World Report last night: ["Dean Campaign to Run TV Ads--in Texas"]. It seems just a tad early to start running TV ads. But when you are sitting on millions - and millions more are rolling in - why not spend a little of that money? Plus, on prank value alone this is pretty great. As well, by broadcasting in the Austin area, Dean's admen are targeting the most liberal area of the state - early. And 226,000 volunteers? Wow, that is impressive. However, check out this little note at the bottom of the story and it tells you a lot about the current state of the Democratic Party and why Terry McAuliffe has got to go:
"Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe secretly went to all the campaigns a few weeks ago and said that when it was "mathematically clear" that the party had a nominee (a date he estimated would be no later than March 9) he wanted the losers to drop out, release their delegates and endorse the presumptive winner. Dean refused. He is going to the convention with his delegates pledged to him no matter what."
Go down to the link from The Washington Times earlier this week. It is shameful that the leadership within the Democratic Party is stealing the opportunity from voters to choose who they want to be the nominee. If they are going to rig the process, then have the guts and integrity to stop having primaries and go back to the "good ol' days" of smoke-filled rooms and rigged conventions. It is bad enough that the primaries are all lumped together in the beginning of the process, never mind McAuliffe twisting arms and ordering candidates around. For now, I will stand by my previous analysis of the primary process 2004: [1-5-3 "Contenders scramble: But which Democrat can lead the nation?"] [3-23-3 "Woodlief 2004 piece in the Boston Herald"]. Here is hoping that the primaries drag on and on and there isn't a clear winner until the convention!
