March 21, 2003

Protest follies

I'm watching the roundup of the Saddam Hussein fan club meetings "peace protests" on ABC. The main attitude seemed to be: "The world isn't to our liking! Waaah!" Of course the way they have the footage stitched together makes it looks as if these gatherings of loons are 1) larger than they actually were, and 2) coordinated with one another. And then that Peter Jennings came on with his snooty little voice beeping something about "it's hard for Americans to understand the depths of the anger that--" Click, I changed the channel. Jennings has become a real sphincter in the past couple of years; I'd rather watch Dan Rather tear up then listen to Jennings saying "aboot."

Posted by Andrea Harris at March 21, 2003 12:08 AM
Comments

The pro-Saddam demos here in Portland last evening were classic example of how NOT to win friends and influence people. They blocked downtown streets and bridges at the evening rush hour thus ticking off a whole bunch of people who just wanted to get home after a hard day at work. AND some of the protestors attacked (shoving and yelling) the local TV crews for covering their demo!? When the TV commentary starts running along the lines of how this protest is interfering with the rights of the general public, you should realise that you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at March 21, 2003 at 07:41 AM

Puny Peter Jennings has been "a real sphincter" for several years. Or do you not recall his reaction to the congressional election results in 1994?

He compared those results to a tantrum by a bunch of three-year-olds.

Posted by: Kevin McGehee at March 21, 2003 at 10:22 AM

I clicked the remote last night when he was reporting on the war and started to sneer about Bush 'trying to make a connection' between Iraq and al-Quida (however it's spelled.)
On 9/12/01 I clicked him when he said (approximately) 'we must understand that we have our beliefs - and they have theirs.'
What a jerk.

Posted by: Ralph Miller at March 21, 2003 at 11:01 AM

I don't think Jennings' descent into sphincterhood is all that recent. He's practiced 'moral equivalence' for decades. Wasn't he the one who made 'freedom-fighter' type comments during the 1972 Munich olympics massacre? (Yeah, I'm old. What of it?)

Posted by: ellie at March 21, 2003 at 11:26 AM

I turned him off as he was interviewing some asshole from the UN who was going on about how the U.S. just didn't understand the complexities of the arab mind and the plight of the poor palistinians. Jeez, does he even have a green card?
It was that or shoot the tv in disgust!

Posted by: HJ at March 21, 2003 at 12:40 PM